Taoyuan aims to build market-oriented startup ecosystem

Taoyuan Mayor Chang Shan-cheng has announced a strategic shift for the city's startup ecosystem, moving from a subsidy-based model to a market-oriented approach. During the launch of the ‘Meet Taoyuan+’ initiative, Chang emphasized that the city government's role is evolving from a mere administrator to a resource integration platform.

The initiative, a collaboration between the Taoyuan City Government, Digital Age, and Meet Startup, aims to connect startups with venture capital, local industrial resources, and international accelerators. By leveraging Taoyuan's position as a major industrial hub with over 12,000 factories, the city seeks to help startups find their first real customers rather than just relying on government grants.

AppWorks Chairman and Taiwan Mobile General Manager Lin Chih-chen participated in the event, noting that for startups, the most valuable resource is a real-world environment to validate products. He advised entrepreneurs to focus on finding product-market fit and maintaining financial discipline during the current global venture capital cooling period.