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Welcome to Taiwan
It was a big culture shock for me
when I arrived in Taiwan capital, Taipei, on the night of Sunday
July 22 after a three-hour flight from Narita Airport in Tokyo.
I'd heard Taiwan being described as a technological powerhouse,
but seeing is believing.
Neon lights bedazzled the night, skyscrapers were everywhere,
and vehicles of every description zoomed by on super highways.
In the distance, a juggernaut soared into the sky, which I
correctly presumed to be the 101-storey Taipei 101, the tallest
building in the world.
I was in Taipei to attend a week-long APEC Digital Opportunities
Centre (ADOC) Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)
Entrepreneurship Workship funded by the Taiwanese government.
Taiwan has a total land area of only 36,000 square kilometres, a
population of 22.7 million, and per capita income of US$15,659
(K47, 000).
It is the world's 17th-largest trading nation and has 1.25
million enterprises, 1.22 million (97.8 per cent) of whom are
SMEs.
While advanced Asian countries have emphasised large corporate
units, the Taiwanese economy is dominated by SMEs.
While this might seem a disadvantage, the industry is structured
in such a way that clusters of SMEs can service larger
enterprises.
The Taipei 101 epitomises Taiwan's reach for the sky to become
one of the most-prosperous and competitive economies in the
world.
With a height of 508 metres - and 101 stories above ground and
five stories - the Taipei 101 has surpassed the 462-metre Sears
Tower in Chicago and the 451-metre Petronas Twin Tower in
Malaysia to acquire the title "world's tallest building".
Designed by world-renowned architect C.Y. Lee, the exterior of
the building resembles bamboo segments, with eight stories to
each segment because the number "8" signifies prosperous growth.
Each segment is shaped like a sceptre, with ancient coins on the
exterior of the 26th floor to give this modern building a
Chinese style.
To prevent the building from swaying during typhoons or
earthquakes, an 800-tonne, US$4 million, ball-shaped damper is
used to dissipate lateral vibration to a spring system
underneath.
For the first time in architectural history, the damping system
is not hidden, but part of the building's design.
The world's largest damper ball has a diameter of 5.5 metres and
is visible from the 88th and 89th floors.
Taiwan is one of the most-prosperous and high-tech countries in
the world, and there is no such thing as poverty or
unemployment.
Its "cradle to the grave" health care and education systems are
rated as among the best in the world.
Everyone seems to have a mobile phone and computer, and there is
wireless Internet everywhere, meaning you can use the Internet
on your laptop anywhere, without the need for a wire connection.
Taiwan, in fact, is now the world leader in producing notebook
computers.
And yet, just 50 years ago, Taiwan was a resource-poor
under-developed tropical island.
Through sustained good policies over the past few decades, it
has lifted its population from poverty, joining the ranks of the
most-prosperous and competitive economies in the world.
Unlike Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong, it
was able to weather quite unharmed the Asian financial crisis in
1997.
Today Taiwan is a technological powerhouse that ranks among the
world's top producers of notebook personal computers, flat panel
displays, modems, motherboards, and other electronic components
and products.
In 2004 it ranked fourth globally in the production value of its
IT hardware.
It is also fifth in the World Economic Forum's 2005-2006 Global
Competitiveness rankings, with a strong showing in the area of
technology and innovation, ranking third in the world in the
technology index.
The 2005-2006 Global Competitiveness Report highlights Taiwan's
exceptional strength in technology issues, including an
impressive capacity for innovation, firm-level technology,
absorption, university/industry collaboration in research, and
its pre-eminent position in the use of the latest technologies,
from mobile telephones to personal computers and the Internet.
Taiwan's transition from a poor agricultural society into an
increasingly-sophisticated powerhouse of high-technology
manufacturing and the world's leading producer of information
and communication technology is, without doubt, one of the
most-compelling development stories of the past half century.
In his case study on Taiwan in the 2004-2005 Global Information
Technology Report, F.C. Lin traces the evolution of Taiwan's ICT
industry through the first economic miracle of Taiwan's
transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy
(1953-1986) and describes the second miracle of its industrial
restructuring (1987-2000), when low technology industries were
forced to relocate overseas and were replaced by
technology-intensive industries, particularly in the information
technology sector.
Lin attributes these to the following factors: strong government
leadership in maintaining a high growth rate and a strong fiscal
situation, manpower development with a high level of science and
technology graduates, the coalescing of high-tech clusters
following the model of Silicon Valley, the development of
venture capital supporting hi-tech small and medium enterprises,
and a highly-energetic private sector.
He identifies the future challenges as breaking into the
advanced industrial and research areas of application
integration, technological innovation, and standards formulation
as global competition reduces profit margins.
In addition to manufacturing them, Taiwan is already moving fast
to adopt ICT.
The Institute for Information Industry (III) estimates that
there were 8.92 million Internet users in Taiwan as of June
2004, with an Internet penetration rate of 39 per cent, growing
2 per cent the previous year, and showing signs of reaching
saturation.
About 12.2 million people, of 54 per cent of Taiwan's
population, were general Internet users - slightly more men (56
per cent) than woman (52 per cent).
As for age groups, 95 per cent of people between 15 and 24
years, but less than 10 per cent of people over 60 were Internet
users.
Papua New Guinea can learn so much from the Taiwanese experience
if we are to take our place in this ever-changing world.
 
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