In this edition of the Intelligence Test podcast, ICF co-founder Robert Bell has a conversation with Julian Su, CEO, Cardinalrain, Grace Chao, Founder, Hearing Action Inc. and David Liu, CFO, Hoye Inc.
New Taipei City, which surrounds the nation’s capital of Taipei, is home to more than 4 million people, as well as five massive industrial parks and a host of smaller ones that, together, house 20,000 factories. You might think that such an industrial giant would have no time to bother with nurturing startups. But you would be wrong. Through projects like Digibase, the city has developed innovative ways to nurture new companies ranging from technology to the arts and social services. We speak with incubation experts and entrepreneurs about their collaborative approach to accelerating the next generation of Taiwanese success stories.
People have lived along the Tamsui River in what is now New Taipei City (NTPC) for 5,000 years, yet the city is only decades old. It was created in 2010 from 29 administrative districts surrounding Taipei to form a city of more than 4 million residents ringed by majestic mountains and interlaced with two main rivers and six streams.
The region that became NTPC has long been shaped by its relationship with the nation’s capital. The districts included residential areas, and its transport network was oriented to move people and goods into and out of Taipei. It was also home to traditional and often highly polluting industries. Many of them, like ceramics and glass-making, had faced severe competitive pressure from lower-cost countries for decades. While striving to transform individual districts into a unified metropolis, NTPC also faced the need to develop a knowledge-based, technology-centric economy to power its future.
