The EIU, a division of The Economist magazine, published an article titled "Parks and Valleys: Growing Asia's Software Industries," in which it examined the effectiveness of four parks--Cyberjaya in Malaysia, Dalian Software Park in China, Nankang Software Park in Taiwan and Quang Trung Software City in Vietnam--in promoting start-ups and domestic software firms, and the extent to which they foster innovation.
According to the results of the survey, the NSP was found to have the highest survival rate for start-up businesses more than two years old, at 80 percent, and an occupancy rate that stood at an "enviable 98 percent."
The CEPD said that the EIU's evaluation showed not only that the promotion of knowledge clusters was one of the major keys to success for the development of industries, but also that Taiwan's efforts at cluster development and innovation were gaining recognition from international organizations. The CEPD pointed out that the country was also ranked first in the world in terms of the state of cluster development in the Geneva-based World Economic Forum's global competitiveness report for 2006 and 2007.
The development agency said that in order to boost Taiwan's industrial competitiveness in the international market, the government will continue cultivating and upgrading high-technology clusters to help create more job opportunities and to serve as an engine for economic growth.
As a knowledge-based industry cluster, the Nankang facility is now home to more than 260 local and international enterprises, according to Ling Yun-sheng, chief executive officer of the Administration Department of Northern Industrial Parks under the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Industrial Development Bureau. Among the businesses operating out of the park are Siemens Ltd. Taiwan, International Business Machines Taiwan Corp. and Infineon Technologies AG, as well as the Taipei branch of the Hsinchu-based Industrial Technology Research Institute. The ITRI is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1973 by the MOEA. "About 13,000 employees work at the park, which generated an annual production value above US$5 billion in 2006," Ling said April 29.
With the launch of the Taipei World Trade Center Nankang Exhibition Hall this past March, Ling believed that the district would lure more enterprises and investment, especially as a new mass-rapid-transit line would be ready to serve the area by 2010. "The software park is expected to be a software center for the Asia-Pacific region in the future," he said.
Opened in the Nankang district of Taipei City in 1999, the NSP is now in its third phase of expansion that involves focusing on the specific market niches of digital content and biotechnology. It is one of Taiwan's two software parks, with the other being located in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Along with the nearby Taipei Neihu Technology Park, the NSP forms part of Taiwan's high-tech corridor that extends to the Hsinchu Science Park located about 75 kilometers southeast of Taipei City.
Write to Edwin Hsiao at edwinhsiao@mail.gio.gov.tw