Taiwan Government supports International Startups and Incubators, Integrated Multiple Preferential Measures SPONSORED

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Taiwan has built a solid startup ecosystem in recent years. To strengthen the international connections of domestic innovation and entrepreneurship industry environment, the Taiwan government provides “Registration Mechanism of International Incubators of Ministry of Economic”, which integrated cross-ministerial administrative preferential measures, providing one-stop service by the Institute for Information Industry.

An institution having been successfully registered as an international incubator, or a startup incubated and recommended by the abovementioned international incubators are all qualified to apply for the preferential measures.

Three types of measures are available. First, for institutions only. Institutions would have the privilege to preferentially reside in the Startup Terrace. Also, they are eligible to be recognized as "accelerated incubators" under the “Small & Medium Enterprise Incubator Development Program”. Besides, it can be exempted from the inspection of self-use goods, commercial samples, and exhibition products.

Second, institutions and startups are both qualified, such as the Business Travel Card of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Foreign Academic & Business Travel Card. General courtesy customs clearance in an international airport, express customs checkup & clearance in an international airport, work permits for foreign professionals, employment Gold Card and many more are also included.

The last kind of scheme is only available to startups. Startups can get extra points and increase the loan guarantee percentage when applying for “Subsidies under Small Business Innovation Research and Development Program”.

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1. Exclusive privileges to institutions

Institutions that have been successfully registered and certified as an international incubator by the Ministry of Economic Affair, will be qualified to be identified by the competent authorities of the government into an “accelerated incubator”, and can be entitled to support for an exemption from inspection products, including the commodities for own-use, commercial samples for an exhibition.

Moreover, the Ministry of Economic Affairs provides financial subsidies for these institutions. Not only privileged for preferential bonus points in “Small & Medium Enterprise Incubator Development Program“, the project's subsidiary beneficiaries (donees) include legally-established sole proprietorships, partnerships, companies, legal entities, and colleges and universities but also an application unit may apply based on its resources and memorandum through an individual application or by organizing the “Incubator Alliance”.

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2. Exclusive Privileges Sharing by Institutions and Startups

To encourage international startups and incubators setting up locations in Taiwan, the government relaxed visa requirements, as shown in the following table:

Foreign Academic & Business Travel Card	Characteristics of measures Visa-waiver privileges for multiple accesses to Taiwan up to five years Privileged to express customs clearance through the designated inspection counter Qualification requirements for an applicant The chairman (including the president), general manager, vice general manager serving with its enterprise in Taiwan Professional technicians, academicians teaming up with its enterprise in Taiwan in a cooperation program for a period longer than one year Holding a valid passport of a foreign country Maximum validity period 5 years Each stay: 90 days Fees 0
Employment Gold Card	Characteristics of measures Four-in-one Employment Gold Card, i.e., work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit Qualification requirements for an applicant Specific Foreign Professionals (the same as the preceding Paragraph) A managerial officer or a department head level personnel Maximum validity period 3 years Fees As the respective application cases may justify
Express customs clearance with the inspection at an international airport	Characteristics of measures An employer is free of the restrictions in the paid-in capital and annual sales turnover An employee is free of the restriction in the number of years in working experiences Qualification requirements for an applicant Foreign professionals (Performance of works as specified under Subparagraphs 1~6, Paragraph 1 of the Employment Service Act.) Maximum validity period 3 years 5 years in case of a Specific Foreign Professional Fees NT$500/case (disregarding the number of people)

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Scan QRcode to learn more about “Registration Mechanism of International Incubators of Ministry of Economic.”

3. Exclusive privileges to startups

The project loan for startups is provided by the Small & Medium Enterprise Credit Foundation, including a special credit guarantee up to 80% as the minimum, up to 90% as the maximum, in case of a startup having been incorporated less than five years. If a startup If the startup has won an award or is granted under a specific program, the guaranteed ratio is 95% within the limit of NT$5 million.

It's worth noting that startups can apply for the loan program through a direct guarantee, and will be entitled to bonus points in evaluation items upon application for subsidies under Small Business Innovation Research and Development Program.

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List of Registered International Incubators with Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs of 2020

※ Click the company name to visit the official website

#	Region	Company name
1	Taipei	i2i (Innovation to Industry)
2	Hsinchu	Industrial Technology Research Institute
3	Taipei	DIT Startup
4	Taipei/Tainan	Well Buyout Inc. (Hour Jungle Co-working)
5	Taipei/Tainan	StarFab Accelerator
6	Taichung	Footwear & Recreation Technology Research Institute- Innovation Incubation Center
7	Taipei	iiiNNO
8	Taipei	Formosa TV-FTV Accelerator
9	Taipei	SYSTEX Corporation-AI+ Generator Program
10	Taipei	SparkLabs
11	Taipei/Hsinchu/Tainan	Mighty Net
12	Taipei	TA (Taiwan Accelerator)
13	Taipei	Acer BYOC (Acer Cloud Technology)
14	Taipei	ABA (Asia Blockchain Accelerator)
15	Taipei	Microsoft Taiwan
16	Taipei	Epoch Foundation
17	Taipei	BE Accelerator
18	Taichung	FOR MORE MAKER SPACE
19	Taoyuan/Hsinchu/Tainan	PWC
20	Taipei	CDIB (Capital Innovation Accelerator)
21	Taipei	AeSa Taiwan
22	Taipei	BOOST X
23	Taipei	APT (Asia Pacific Telecom) 5G Accelerator
24	Taipei	HaoShi Foundation
25	Taipei	Taiwan Startup Stadium
26	Taipei	Nankang Biotech Incubation Center, NBIC
27	Taipei	ABA (Asia Blockchain Accelerator)
28	Hsinchu	CardinalRain (New Taipei City-Amazon Web Services Joint Innovation Center, NTPC-AWS JIC)

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