Taiwan Social Innovation Entrepreneurship

What is Social Innovation?

Social innovation refers to using innovative methods, such as using technology and cross-disciplinary cooperation to find effective solutions to social and environmental problems. We hope that social innovation could prosper economy, society, environment, indigenous culture in Taiwan, while adherering to UN’s sustainable development goals.

Social Innovation in Taiwan

In Taiwan, social innovation has gradually budded under the influence of the global trend with diverse forms, including non-profit organizations, cooperatives, and companies. According to a survey in 2017, social innovation enterprises in Taiwan consist mostly of new micro-enterprises, which are established within the last three years and have a capital less than $160,000. Their operation objectives focus on food and agricultural innovation, environmental sustainability/protection, and social care.

Taipei

Social Innovation Lab

Taoyuan

Social Business Center

Taichung

Social Innovation Unit

Our Goals

To create a supportive environment, Taiwanese government has launched three action plans.

Social Enterprise Action Plan (2014)
Social Innovation Action Plan 1.0 (2018-2022)
Social Innovation Action Plan 2.0 (2023-2026)

The main goal of these acts is to establish a socially innovative and integrated ecological environment, explore more social innovation models, and follow the lead of UN’s sustainable development goals.

What we achieved

Awareness

We organize various competitions to source and support new solutions to societal challenges, and thereby raise awareness about social innovation. One such example is the first “Presidential Hackathon” that encourages the Taiwanese government to put innovation in practice and address the need for social innovation.

Funding

We offer subsidy, investment, and financing tools to support social innovation, and link CSR resources to cooperate with social enterprises in marketing, procurement, etc.

Incubation

We established the Social Innovation Lab on 18 October, 2017, as an incubator and accelerator that provides resources for social innovation organizations.

Regulation

We improve the conditions for social innovation and social enterprises in Taiwan through the Startup Regulation Harmonization Platform and Deregulation Platform.

Promotion

We strengthen the cooperation between the private sector and government. The goal is to initiate, introduce, and disseminate government policy to foster and encourage social innovation in the private sector.

Networking

We collaborated with private sectors to hold “2018 Asia Social Enterprise Summit” on May 5th and 6th. Next year, we will continue to run this event to promote conversations, exchange, and cooperation with international partners.