The Sunday Review

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Taiwan way to knowledge economy not for S'pore

Islands have different industrial strengths

SHOULD Singapore take the same route as Taiwan in its quest to be a knowledge economy? In Professor Sun Chen's view, Singapore and Taiwan are not alike and will have to adopt different strategies tailored to their own conditions.

Speaking in an interview in Mandarin, the chairman of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) notes that 97 per cent of the country's companies are small and medium-sized businesses which are known for their vigour, flexibility and entrepreneurial spirit.

Singapore's industrial strength, however, lies in its multinational companies and government-linked corporations.

He says that Taiwan, which has a bigger population of 21 million and a more diversified economy, has decided to "home-grow everything -- even 40 years ago, when the country was still poor and backward".

On the other hand, Singapore is much smaller and "has decided to be very open from the beginning, so it could tap the best resources of the world".

The scholar thinks that Singapore's manpower strategy of recruiting talent from the world might make a better choice.

"Do you know why the kingdom of Qin (headed by China's first emperor -- Qin Shi Huang) was able to defeat all the other kingdoms of the Warring States period, and unite China?" he asks.

"Because it had the best talents, recruited internally and from abroad. I think Singapore has also used this strategy very wisely. I wish Taiwan could have such an open mind, especially in recruiting Western-trained talent from mainland China."

He says that the industrial structures of the two islands are very different, so it is difficult to compare their strategies.

But if their differences make it impractical for them to emulate one another, they make for an excellent case of synergy, argues Dr James Lee, a Taiwanese researcher working in Singapore who knows both places well.

The man, who was Dr Sun's student as well as a former staff member in ITRI, believes Singapore's strength is application, while Taiwan's is research.

"The two really complement each other, which means lots of opportunities for cooperation."

The 45-year-old director of strategy at Kent Ridge Digital Labs thinks Taiwan's culture is closer to that of America's Silicon Valley.

"The business culture in Taiwan is like the motorcycle fleet there -- unruly, weaving in and out of traffic looking for the smallest opening. If you fall, you get up and try again.

"So, if there is but a 30 per cent chance of success, people will rush into a new opportunity. "But here, the culture is very kiasu -- you do not go ahead unless you are 90 per cent sure of success, and you wait for someone else to get their feet wet first."

Still, he breaks into a smile: "The people in Silicon Valley, Taiwan and Singapore are all immigrants, and the spirit of enterprise is in all their blood."

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