The agreement was inked by the Hsinchu Science Park in northern Taiwan, Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung City and National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in the western county of Yunlin with the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. HSP Director-General Wayne Wang, CTSP Director-General Chen Ming-huang, Yunlin university President Yang Neng-shu and IITH Director Uday B. Desai signed the pact on behalf of their respective organizations.
According to the HSP, the accord will promote the internationalization of Taiwan’s research environment while fostering academia-industry cooperation between the two nations in line with the government’s New Southbound Policy. A central plank of President Tsai Ing-wen’s national development strategy, the initiative aims to deepen agricultural, business, education, tourism and trade links with India as well as the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, five other South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.
Under the agreement, the HSP will establish a space in the park for Indian startups and introduce measures to help Indian nationals studying in Taiwan find job opportunities upon graduation. In addition, the Taiwan science parks will work toward recruiting roughly 100 engineers annually from India as well as help resident companies explore new business opportunities in the nation.
The pact will also facilitate greater information sharing between the Taiwan institutions and Indian university through such measures as joint training courses and conferences.
Taiwan-India ties have expanded significantly in recent years, with total bilateral trade volume increasing from about US$1.2 billion in 2000 to US$5 billion in 2016, statistics from the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs show. According to BOFT data, India was the country’s 17th largest trading partner last year, when Taiwan recorded exports to the South Asian nation of US$2.8 billion and imports of US$2.2 billion. (KWS-E)
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