If the founder of computer giant Acer has his way, Taiwan will be jumping into the smart city fray backed by public-private partnerships.
An article by iTech Post reports on recent comments by Stan Shih that urged Taiwan toward further smart city development through collaboration with the private sector.
Shih was speaking at a seminar on the advancement of smart cities hosted by the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Shih urged the Taiwanese government to foster more smart city projects by fully embracing the potential of public-private partnerships.
He said that Taiwan’s smart cities initiatives are strongly positioned to take advantage of the thriving technology ecosystem offered by the country’s private sector.
Specifically he highlighted the country’s advanced position in such fields as information and communications technology, software and administration design. This technological advantage in the private sector should feed into collaborative efforts by the government to build out its smart city strategy.
One of the key outcomes that these smart city initiatives should be that there is greater support for the country’s youth, says Shih. This can be done by backing industrial clusters and innovative business models that allow the talent of tomorrow to succeed.
Taiwan smart city efforts are building
Shih’s comments come against the backdrop of a recent report that suggests cities in the U.K. could access nearly $7 billion in funding if they were better able to access private capital.
“Cities around the world are increasingly engaging in smart development to improve efficiency of local services, enhance sustainability, improve the lives of their citizens and develop their competitiveness,” said Chris Wilkinson of Siemens Financial, which prepared the report. “Private sector asset finance allows cities to make the full range of SmartStart technology investments in a timely manner.”
The Acer founder’s vocal support of greater smart city support follows news this spring that Taiwanese investment firm Fu Hwa Securities is launching a $625 million global investment fund that focuses on Internet of Things (IoT).
Fu Hwa said its new fund will target the plethora of opportunities that are emerging from IoT technologies such as self-driving cars, big data, smart logistics, cloud computing and advanced manufacturing. As well, It added that it will be exploring investments in such sectors as pharmaceuticals, energy, environmental and biotech.
