According to a survey conducted by Global Views Monthly, more than 40 percent of young Taiwanese people have thought about being an entrepreneur. However, only about half of that 40 percent put their thoughts into action. The survey reveals the fact that currently in Taiwan, there is a serious lack of motivation for entrepreneurship. Even though Taiwan’s innovative inventions are constantly brining international attention and praise, domestic entrepreneurships seem dull and constrained by the limited scale, and the lack of global views and information technology.

At the 2013 Global Talentrepreneur Innovation & Collaboration (GlobalTiC) Seminar, prestigious speakers including entrepreneurs, business leaders and experts on the implementation of business incubator were invited to share their practical experiences as well as views on the challenges faced under varied entrepreneurship conditions. Among the speakers, Associate General Manager of LINE Taiwan, Sting Tao, shared LINE’s case of success. Tao indicated that after Japan’s 311 earthquake, LINE’s innovation team became conscious of the public need for instant communication and the raising importance of its convenience, time-effectiveness and independence. When emergency occurs, LINE can save lives by immediately delivering SOS messages from disaster area to rescue teams.That is exactly why LINE can accumulate a number of more than two hundred million loyal users in such a short time.

Taipei Tech is one of the first universities in Taiwan to establish the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. President Yao of Taipei Tech indicated that the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program has already kicked off to a good start, the curriculum is currently designed with the collaboration between Taipei Tech, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, and National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology. GlobalTiC’s valuable experiencs on holding various entrepreneurship competitions, and the practical innovation skills of Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) are intended to be included in the courses as well. Moreover, practical skills as well as business operational techniques will be heavily emphasized in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program in the future.

This year, twenty remarkable teams, from twelve different countries gathered at Taipei Tech for the 2013 GlobalTiC’s Innovative Entrepreneurship Competition. Each team presented their business proposals, most of which focused mainly on green energy and cloud computing technology. Since this competition is targeted for young entrepreneurs, the average age of the participants was between 28-30 years old. One notable team, Memofun, from Taiwan, has already aroused favorable affirmation from investors, and has successfully established itself as an official entity that already begun their initial operations. Memofun launched an online platform entitled “Offer More”, which invites famous chain restaurants and shops to share special discount information online. The platform shortly becomes very successful and even addictive to users as it creates a win-win situation that satisfies both the retailers and customers. The more friends you share the discount information with, the more discount you will get. And likewise, the more restaurants and stores are willing to offer, the more exposure and business opportunity they will get.

With the collaboration between school and industry, a demonstrative platform for youths in Taiwan is established for the exchange of valuable and practical knowledge which will produce young entrepreneurs. Undeniably, GlobalTiC generated positive competition and innovation, and are continuing to encourage young talents with great visions to not just create ideas but to take action. The hidden message that Taipei Tech is trying to convey through cooperating with GlobalTiC is to urge young Taipei Tech entrepreneurs to take their ideas to the international level and reach out to the world for greater success.