Internationalizing Taiwan has been one of our foremost objectives in recent years. Especially when it comes to startups, a diversity of talents, technologies, and markets can only help accelerate a country's innovative capacities.
For Taiwan, the entrepreneurial spirit has always been alive and well. “Taiwan has never lacked founders,” says AppWorks partner Joseph Chan, referring to the owners of the island’s many small and medium businesses. “The difference is that now more people recognize the value of the digital economy.”
Indeed, over the last decade with the advent of mobile and increasing ubiquity of the internet, local startups have proliferated, and along with them an end-to-end ecosystem with multiple pillars of support including funds, media, bootcamps, co-working spaces, and community groups.
At AppWorks, we've been at the forefront of that movement, now with 376 startups and over 1,100 founders in our ecosystem. It was only a few years ago that our batches comprised primarily of domestic startups. Now with the emergence of frontier technologies such as AI, blockchain, 5G, and AR/VR, we see each successive batch catering to more and more international startups--upwards of 70%--all looking to tap into Taiwan's quality (and affordable) talent pool and sizable digital economy.
It's no wonder why leading blue-chip tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM have all established some sort of R&D hub in the country over the last 2 years.
Moving forward, Taiwan's role of a technology hub will grow even more critical, particularly as regions like Southeast Asia undergo widespread digital transformation and look to embrace cutting-edge technologies.
-Jun Wakabayashi
Analyst, AppWorks
