•Publication Date：07/12/2011
•Source： Taiwan Today
•By Aaron Hsu
Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin broke ground July 11 for an information technology park expected to become the biggest of its kind in Asia after its completion in 2013.
Modeled after the world-famous electronics center Akihabara Electric Town of Japan, the park is expected to cost NT$3.8 billion (US$132 million), with IT giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., the developer, footing construction costs.
Hau said the park will feature an incubation center that will form a bridge between the research laboratories and the market.
The still unnamed park will be ideally located close to Guang Hua Digital Plaza, a communications, computer and computer electronics shopping district in the heart of Taipei, the mayor said.
National Taipei University of Technology, one of Taiwan’s leading technical institutes, is also located nearby, he added.
“Here researchers and innovators can fulfill their ideas,” Hau said. “The market will also be able to respond to their inventions immediately.”
Hon Hai officials said the main building in the park will be 12 stories high and contain 6,060 square meters of office space, half of which is slated for IT firms.
“The building will be equipped with a well-organized data center and a facility specializing in cloud computing,” said Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou.
The structure will provide young entrepreneurs with workstations at fair rent for them to create innovative products, Gou added.
Through a build-operate-transfer contract, Hon Hai will have control over the park for 50 years, until 2063.
Government officials estimated that the park will create 1,500 jobs and generate NT$9.75 billion in tax revenues. (HZW)
