GEC+Taipei Global Entrepreneurship Conference Opens, Showcasing Taiwan's Entrepreneurship Strength

Vice President Chen, Minister Audrey Tang, and Minister Shen welcome hundreds of global entrepreneurs to create a new Asia-Pacific startup community in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Oct. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC), the world's largest annual entrepreneurial event, is being hosted this year in Taipei on September 27th and 28th at the Taipei International Convention Center. The theme for GEC+ Taipei 2018, is "Enabling Social Impact with AI+ IoT".

Hundreds of entrepreneurs from over 22 countries/regions are attending GEC+ Taipei 2018 to create, celebrate and explore a new regional cooperation model that will drive future global economic growth though entrepreneurship. Attending today's grand opening were Chien-Jen Chen, Vice President; Audrey Tang, Minister without Portfolio, Executive Yuan; Jong-Chin Shen, Minister of Economic Affairs (MOEA); William Brent Christensen, Director of the American Institute in Taiwan Affairs (AIT); Eugene Cornelius Jr., Senior Advisor to the Office of International Trade, Small Business Administration (SBA); Wu Ming-Ji, Director of the Small and Medium Enterprises Administration (SMEA), MOEA; Jonathan Ortmans, President of GEN; H.C. Hsu, Chairman of Board of the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (NAYE), and a number of experts and representatives from around the world.

Vice President Chen announced that the authoritative organizations are dismantling regulatory barriers to encourage more innovation and entrepreneurship in Taiwan. For example, they have relaxed the cap on the shareholding ratio of banks to venture capital from 5% to 100%, and has amended the "Company Law" and "Financial Technology Development and Innovation Experiment Act" (the "Sandbox"), "Statute for Industrial Innovation" and "Pharmaceutical Affairs Act", which are designed to give entrepreneurs greater room to operate.

Minister of Economy Jong-Chin Shen emphasized that innovation and entrepreneurship are the real drivers of economic growth. According to the "2018 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEI)" report, Taiwan ranks third in the Asia-Pacific among 137 economies in the region.

The purpose of the Executive Yuan's Digital Nation and Innovative Economic Development Plan is to create a favorable environment for entrepreneurship development in Taiwan, invite the world to treat Taiwan as a new entrepreneurship platform, develop more integrated hardware and software solutions through innovative entrepreneurial models, and create more opportunity for the development of the Smart AI+IoT industry, thereby allowing abundant resources from home and abroad flood into Taiwan.

Taiwan's Linkou International Startup Terrace opened on September 18 of this year. The park combines office space and accommodations, provides rental incentives and other subsidies to select domestic and international accelerators and startups, and provides one-stop service. The service assists new entrepreneurs in handling administrative procedures such as visas and company registration. At the same time, the Linkou Startup Terrace actively links eight industrial areas within 5 kilometers, introduces new innovations and a living lab as well as test beds within 2 kilometers around the site. The driving force behind it is Taiwan's AI and IoT manufacturing industry. In the future, the Linkou Startup Terrace will serve as a base for international linkages, enabling new, globalized cross-domain cooperation, bringing Taiwan to the next level in the global economy.

Jonathan Ortmans, Chairman of GEN, believes that the development of a new, international ecosystem will play a very important role in the future and will become the most innovative and influential platform in the Asia-Pacific region. Taiwan and GEN Asia are co-signers of the "gAsia Digital Entrepreneur Card" agreement.

H.C. Hsu, Chairman of the Board of NAYE, emphasized that close cooperation between the authoritative organizations, private enterprises, and other nations, will create a dynamic new environment while allowing the economy to continue to flourish.

GEC+Taipei 2018 is great step forward for entrepreneurs, as the cooperation agreements between Taiwan and other Asia-Pacific countries/regions will not only help Taiwanese entrepreneurs to go international, but also introduce international technology, energy and talent to Taiwan.

SOURCE Small and Medium Enterprise Administration of MOEA, Taiwan