Onwards to Silicon Valley! NDC Overseas Startup Hub + 1 Two-Way Link to Global Startup Ecosystem and Overseas Talent Recruitment

After setting up a new Startup Hub in Tokyo, Japan last year (2024), the National Development Council (NDC) further established its second overseas Startup Hub in Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley, on January 13 (Taipei time, Jan. 14). The event was hosted by NDC's Minister Liu Chin-ching and his delegation. More than 300 people, including representatives from Taiwan's start-ups and local companies, venture capital, universities, and associations attended the opening ceremony to witness a historic moment for Taiwan and U.S. startup exchanges.

In his speech, Minister Liu said that Taiwan's technology and innovation capabilities are evident to everyone in the world, with a global market share of about 90% for semiconductor processes and more than 90% of the world's AI servers coming from Taiwan. As a result, Taiwan has accumulated a lot of technical energy and talents, and therefore there are a lot of high-quality new startups in Taiwan that deserve the world’s attention. Especially in recent years, global startups have been facing the challenge of a capital winter, and global startup fundraising amounts in 2023 have declined sharply by nearly 40% compared to the previous year. In contrast, Taiwan's start-up fundraising in 2023 grew 10% against the trend and reached a record high of $2.8 billion, showing that Taiwan's new startup capacity and investment market had better results than the global market. In the future, Taiwan’s investments in startups are expected to grow by 20% annually, and by 2027, Taiwan will reach its goal of raising $5 billion in new venture capital.

To make Taiwan's startups more visible to the world, the NDC has chosen to set up an office in Silicon Valley, the center of global innovation. The establishment of Taiwan's new Startup Hub in Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley, is of symbolic significance, as it will establish a two-way bridge between Taiwan and Silicon Valley's startup ecosystem. In addition to bringing high-quality startup teams to Silicon Valley, it’s expected to introduce Silicon Valley's resources to Taiwan, and to promote innovation exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and the United States. In the future, Taiwan's new Startup Hub in Silicon Valley will play an active role as a bridge, connecting more than 1,000 community partners and assisting at least 100 startups to connect with local companies and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley within one year.

In addition, attracting priority overseas talents to Taiwan is also a key focus of the NDC's visit, and Minister Liu presented Employment Gold Cards to David Lam, a senior advisor at BRV Capital, an Asian investment platform, and Mark Birch, a former global entrepreneurial advocate at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Minister Liu emphasized that Taiwan not only has a key position in the global semiconductor and IC industries, which attracts international companies such as NVIDIA to set up their Asian headquarters in Taiwan, but also has inherent advantages, such as National Health Insurance, safety, good food, and beautiful scenery. It has globally competitive salaries and job vacancies and prospects for development on the stage of one’s career, which will make Taiwan the core of the global innovation in the future, and all the world's top talents are welcome to join us in Taiwan.

During today's opening ceremony, Dennis Liu, Managing Director of Startup Island TAIWAN Silicon Valley Hub, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sibyl Chen, General Manager of the Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator, which will deepen the linkage between Taiwan and the U.S.’s startup resources. Today's event was well attended by more than 300 representatives from companies and startup teams, including Google and Qualcomm from the U.S., JETRO and Japan Innovation Campus from Japan, the Global Yushan Science and Technology Association, and TSMC and Delta from Taiwan, demonstrating the innovative energy of Taiwan planting its flag in Silicon Valley.

Startup Island TAIWAN Silicon Valley Hub (SV Hub) provides a two-way bridge between Taiwan and Silicon Valley's startup ecosystems, including co-working space, conference and event venues, professional consulting, and entrepreneurial landing services, which are welcome to be utilized by all segments of the community.

Address：299 California Avenue, Suite 300, Palo Alto, CA 94306
Website：https://sv.startupisland.tw/
Email：svhub@startupisland.tw 

Figure 1. NDC Minister Liu Chin-Ching gives opening remarks at the opening ceremony of the Silicon Valley Startup Hub


Figure 2. Minister Liu (fourth from left) took a group photo with attending VIPs. From left to right are Sudeepto Roy, Vice President of Engineering, Qualcomm; Yotetsu Hayashi, Head of Office, Jetro San Francisco; Sibyl Chen, General Manager, SkyDeck; Scott Lai, Director of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, San Francisco; Employment Gold Card Holders David Lam, Senior Advisor BRV Capital and Mark Birch, Former Global Entrepreneurial Advocate, AWS; Fang-Guan Jan, Deputy Minister of the National Development Council of Taiwan (NDC).

Figure 3. Dennis Liu, Managing Director of Startup Island TAIWAN Silicon Valley Hub, and Sibyl Chen, General Manager of Berkeley SkyDeck, signed an MOU for long-term cooperation.

Figure 4: Minister Liu presented Employment Gold Cards to David Lam (left), Senior Advisor of BRV Capital, an Asian investment platform, and Mark Birch (right), former Global Entrepreneurial Advocate of Amazon Web Services. 

Figure 5. Group photo of VIPs writing Chinese New Year scrolls at the opening ceremony.

Figure 6. Photo of the Startup Island TAIWAN Silicon Valley Hub

 〔Original : National Development Council 〕
https://www.ndc.gov.tw/en/nc_8455_38781