Hi Audrey, Articles about the government’s handling of Uber and Airbnb are coming thick and fast. There are fears this will put people off the startup sector in Taiwan. Given how competitive the funding landscape is for startups, it would seem Taiwan needs to have a great reputation for being a good place for tech investors. Simple question (kind of), does Taiwan’s digital economy and startup sector have an image crisis?Thanks, Ed
Please refer to my previous answer of https://sayit.archive.tw/2016-11-16-徐發言人及唐政委與記者茶敘#s14253 — I think this issue is orthogonal to early-round funding of Taiwan startups.
Hi, Thank you for such a quick response. Just to be clear, you see these as independent issues? That would imply you do not see a connection between two of the world’s most-recognized startups potentially being pushed out of the country, and the message that sends to potential Silicon Valley investors? David Plouffe said when he was in Taiwan, "To be saying you want to be the Silicon Valley of Asia, and potentially pushing out other countries’ innovative companies, is not the right message.”
To me, the “Asia · Silicon Valley” plan is about linking with Asia and connecting to the Silicon Valley; it’s not about becoming the Silicon Valley of Asia.
I have discussed this (and much more) with David Plouffe in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQpUx5Ob1r8 