President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attended the Startup Island TAIWAN NEXT BIG awards ceremony on Monday. The National Development Council (NDC) has selected 13 model startup companies from more than 100 nominated candidates to honor in the ceremony. The awarded companies cover a wide range of fields from educational technology, health management, and AI use, to cybersecurity.

Tsai said the government has created a better investment environment to support startup companies during her presidency. She says she believes that Taiwan is speeding up to become the rising star of startups in the near future, and hopes Taiwan can be a world leader in innovation.

The NDC minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) highlighted that there are more than 7,400 startup companies in Taiwan today compared to around 2,000 in 2016. Total investment has also increased from US$400 million to US$1.9 billion.

The NDC launched Startup Island Taiwan in 2019 to attract investment and development of startup communities in Taiwan. The initiative has worked to lay out networks, promote exchanges, and enhance the invisibility of Taiwan’s innovation in international society.