Taiwan used to be well-known as the electronics manufacture/factory hub for many overseas companies (in particular, USA).  The island has been the strongest in all areas of computers and in component technologies. However, the business has been recessed due to cheaper labour and establishment costs offered by its neighbours such as Mainland China and Vietnam.

To protect Taiwan’s global competitiveness, in 2017, Present Ing-wen Tsai’s administration initiated a ‘5+2 Major Innovative Industries Plan’. It aims to move Taiwan’s industrial base away from its traditional concentration on contract manufacturing, and gear towards high-value-added and service-oriented business model. The new plan will be focusing on further development of the Internet of Things (IoT), Biomedical, Green Energy, Smart Machinery, Defence (as the 5 pillar industries) plus New Agriculture and Circular Economy (as the +2).

Currently, international corporations such as Google, Microsoft and Nvidia are expanding their business and expect to see more growth in Taiwan. In March 2019, Google has deepened their collaboration with Taiwan and revealed more new development plans, such as: establishing new campus (R&D centre) in New Taipei City, training and hiring more local individuals (in the area of AI and digital marketing), and helping bridge K-12* STEM and computer sciences education gap in Taiwan.

In response, this May, Premier Tseng-chang Su also announced an ambitious plan to train 10,000 talents to work in AI R&D each year to attract more global IT companies to invest in Taiwan. It certainly has drawn the potential investors’ attention – “Silicon Valley firms are setting up shop in Taiwan exactly because of that talent”, according to Forbes.

*Note: K-12 education in Taiwan refers to from Kindergarten to Secondary Education level in the UK.

Comments by Karen Hsu, Education Services Manager

Ever since Present Tsai announced ‘5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan’ 2 years ago, it has been reported that global IT giants such as Microsoft, Google and IBM have put their foot on the island’s doorstep to ensure they will take crucial part in Tsai’s vision - to make Taiwan as Asia’s Silicon Valley by 2023 for IoT development. With positive news about potential job opportunities open for local workers, the government predicted that the demand for talents in AI (e.g. big data & cloud), Digital Economy (e.g. FinTech, e-commerce, digital marketing), IoT related, Smart Machinery and Biomedical technology (for ageing population) will be increasing in a few years’ time.

Since the aforementioned companies are mainly American companies, many prospective students may assume the US as possibly the only destination that offers the best breeding ground for AI talent. Most of them may not know that the UK has the second largest number of AI talent after US and is offering more than 200 doctoral degree courses in AI, and is a well-established hub in its own right. Year on year, the UK attracts young scholars and researchers from all over the world successfully. The UK is therefore another destination that prospective students should strongly consider.

In terms of student recruitment trends, according to the latest HESA data, Business & administrative studies, Creative arts & design and Languages were the most popular subject areas amongst Taiwanese students at undergraduate level between 2015/16 and the 2017/18. Although numbers of students studying in Engineering and Technology courses dropped about 21.4% from the 2015/16 to the 2016/17, the student numbers bounced back slightly (an increase of 9%) in the following academic year. The cohort of Computer Science (at UG level) from 2016/17-2017/18 remained small – around 30 students.

Meanwhile, local agents and school counsellors have confirmed that subject areas such as Computer Science, E-Commerce and Digital Marketing are getting more and more popular with students. One of the school counsellors encourages UK institutions to highlight that the UK is a top European hub for global tech talent when promoting their courses to prospective students. At the same time, he advises academic staff a good approach to promote their institution would be to deliver a taster lecture in STEM related subjects and share how their course enhances students’ employability in the industry.

Sources:

Taiwan Will Train 10,000 AI Workers Per Year For Google, Microsoft And More To Meet Rising Demand, Forbes www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2019/05/26/taiwan-will-train-10000-ai-workers-per-year-for-google-microsoft-and-more-to-meet-rising-demand/#5d513b1e39b0  

More growth ahead in Taiwan, Google Asia
https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/more-growth-ahead-in-taiwan/