Incubator program in Taiwan [new businesses]

Summary form only given as follows. In Taiwan´s industry, the small and medium enterprises play leading roles in economic development, being flexible in management, able to attend the needs of the markets, and capable of manufacturing diverse products on a small scale. However, Taiwan has limited land for industrial use, the raised labor cost and environmental protection cost, which gets more attention, increases the management cost that gradually convert small and medium enterprises from their traditional labor-intensive industry to technology-intensive industry with more competitive advantage. It is really a challenge for them to get their industry upgraded, due to the difficulty in getting new technology in addition to their limited scale, capital, and human resources. The establishment of incubators will mark the beginning of a new era in Taiwan. Incubators can provide new entrepreneurs an excellent environment for business incubations, lower the risk while commercializing an innovative technology, at the same time, contributing to the integration of technology resources. In order to make Taiwan´s second economic miracle possible, new ventures are encouraged to develop innovative technology with added value, an aim to changing Taiwan to be a technology island, at the same time, an Asia Pacific Operation Center. Up to April 1997, eight university based incubators, two nonprofit research institution-based incubators and one private incubator have been established since 1996. This research focuses on one of the effective ways to upgrade the technologies of small and medium enterprises as well as the orientation, content, and planning and progress of incubators in Taiwan