Premier hails work on emerging industries

Presiding over a Cabinet meeting February 2, Premier Wu Den-yih was briefed on the state of progress in promoting the Six Emerging Industries (biotechnology, tourism, renewable energy, medicine, high-end agriculture, and culture and creativity) and Intelligent Industries (cloud computing, smart electric vehicles, smart “green” architecture and patent commercialization). Reports were presented by the Executive Yuan Science and Technology Advisory Group, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Ministry of the Interior, the Department of Health, the Council of Agriculture and the Council for Cultural Affairs.

Six Emerging Industries

In biotechnology, the Department of Health has set up the Food and Drug Administration, while a biotechnology investment fund run by the Council for Economic Planning and Development will be accepting applications for funding from privately managed firms. Well-regarded overseas Chinese such as Impax Laboratories Inc. CEO Larry Hsu and former Andrx Corp. Chairman Chen Chih-ming have invested in Taiwan in this sector, while leading pharmaceutical firms like Novartis International AG, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Merck & Co. Inc. and Pfizer Inc. have drawn up plans to perform clinical trials at local medical centers such as National Taiwan University Hospital. This shows that medicine could become yet another stellar component of Taiwan’s biotech industry.

Meanwhile, the premier has called for the revision of related laws so as to encourage local producers and foreign pharmaceutical firms to conduct clinical trials in Taiwan. The government estimates that the biotechnology industry’s production value may double to US$8.13 billion by 2013.

The global tourism industry suffered the dual blows of a global economic crisis and the spread of H1N1 influenza in 2009. The number of tourists to the Asia-Pacific region reflected this, falling 2 percent. Visitors to Taiwan, however, climbed 14.3 percent—the most in Asia—thanks to the joint efforts of the government and the private sector. The total number of visits in 2009 topped 4.4 million. Premier Wu remarked that tourist safety must come first, even before benefits to industry operators. He called for the nation to create an even cleaner environment, and for the highest-quality service to be provided to tourists. If this were done, the premier said, visitors would come away with a better impression of the hospitality and warmth of Taiwan’s people as they took in the island and all of its splendor.

As preliminary steps toward making Taiwan a renewable energy land, the government passed the Renewable Energy Development Act in July 2009 and set wholesale prices for electricity from renewable sources. Further development in this area will center around making improvements through applying technology, making key investments, developing a supportive environment, expanding exports and boosting domestic demand. The development of the renewable energy sector will give new life to domestic industry as a whole, as estimates of renewables’ production value in 2015 reach US$36.19 billion, a manifold jump over the US$5 billion seen in 2008.

The health of the people being of primary concern to the government, the healthcare sector is being heavily promoted. In 2009, 15 percent of women in the 50-69 age bracket went for a biennial breast cancer screening, while 11 percent of people in the 50-69 age bracket went for biennial colorectal screenings. Moreover, the government purchased 10 million doses of a domestically produced H1N1 influenza vaccine. Last year, medical tourism jumped 159 percent, showing that initial results in this sector are being seen. The government will provide more incentives for this sector by promoting it and creating a friendlier regulatory environment. It will also expedite construction of the medical building at Kinmen Hospital and the Hsinchu International Medical Service Center. Through this, Taiwan is seeking to promote the international use of locally available medical services. By combining tourism and medicine, Taiwan will become better able to provide medical services to mainland Chinese and foreign nationals.

The Quality Agriculture Development Program has also been initiated. Its three focuses are “healthy agriculture,” “high-quality agriculture” and “LOHAS agriculture.” This program created roughly 5,000 jobs in 2009, when production value reached US$2.34 billion. The Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park has received applications from 147 biotech firms to enter the park, of which 73 have been approved. Of those, 25 have set up and begun operating. The August Floods following Typhoon Morakot in 2009 caused production value of grouper aquaculture to fall to US$62.5 million. However, great efforts are being made to help the industry recover, and production value is expected to more than double to US$181.25 million by 2013. This is US$119 million higher than original estimates and will benefit the aquaculture industry as a whole. Grouper exports are also set to see a boom. The Taiwan Orchid Plantation in Tainan is now home to 29 producers, of which 20 have begun operations. For “LOHAS agriculture,” the government is promoting agritourism and package tours in hopes of spurring 10 million visits to rural areas and creating a new and stable tourism niche.

Taiwan is a place full of brilliant, creative ideas. Showing the government’s commitment to helping these ideas flourish, Premier Wu shared that a filming assistance center would be established to help those in television, film and theater shoot high-quality films and programs. He then called for support for traditional acting troupes to help them create new works with international appeal, with the goal of having Taiwan develop its own Cirque de Soleil. The premier then directed the Minister of Economic Affairs to promote e-books, one segment of the digital content industry.

Intelligent Industries

Of these industries, cloud computing holds the most promise. In the middle of February, the Cloud Computing Development Program will be submitted to the Executive Yuan and a cloud computing alliance will be formed. The alliance is to include Inventec Corp., Wistron Corp., Infortrend Technology Inc., Promise Technology Inc., Acbel Polytech Inc., Accton Technology Corp. and other leading technology firms. The group will seek to bring together their myriad expertise in software and hardware to create energy-sipping container computers. Wistron is in the midst of developing a cloud computing operating system, and is cooperating with Foxconn Technology Group, Taiwan Fixed Network Co., Ltd. and others on establishing a flagship firm for cloud computing. Trend Micro Inc., Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. and the Institute for Information Industry are also working to set up a cloud computing firm. So that Taiwan will remain in line with the world in this key area, Microsoft, IBM, Trend Micro, Hitachi and other multinational firms have been invited to set up R&D centers on the island.

Promotion of the Six Emerging Industries and the Intelligent Industries is being carried out with an eye to business diversification and sustainable development. A framework has been presented to link these industries together, thus helping to achieve the greatest possible economic benefit. The Executive Yuan will conduct regular examinations of each program’s progress, seeking to meet the goals of economic development, more job opportunities and higher levels of investment.