I think the connection to the hub that I believe that Taiwan needs for that software, that digital nomads that land to hear about, word of mouth, to say, "Oh, I think Taiwan is the place to go. It’s cool. There’s people there."
"There’s a lot of things to see and do. The food is great, and the government allows me to work on my stuff without any kind of threat of deportation and things like that." It doesn’t have to be in Taipei. It can be in Yilan, where I live, or outside, less expensive.
Right.
It’s incredible. It’s a billion US dollars, right, to build that.
It’s, I guess, the idea would be it’s a live‑work space. The graffiti is welcome. It’s alternative San Francisco kind of bohemia ethic. That’s going to scare people away, because, "Oh no way. I don’t have my PhD or my...I’m not capable to do that." But something like this, if there was some PR, word of mouth...
You worked in Silicon Valley, right?
I know Freemont. It’s kind of near San Francisco.
Kind of a squat, right?
That’s Freemont, though, with the houses prices and...
Outside of Taipei?
Where would there be an attractive place...? There’s some mayors wanting that. They want to bring it in, but they’re against it. They want...
Mostly entrepreneurial, where they were trying to make money for themselves.
You need to offer incentives to...
Because you’re taking, sort of, national party power away?
Decentralizing...
Thank you. That’s a big picture approach to that, but maybe there’s a mayor out there who sees the light, and that wouldn’t be so expecting a windfall, wouldn’t be so greedy to put it in and to be very frank. They would see the advantage of having digital nomads coming in...
They what?
I need you. I need somebody to say, or even private sector counterparts, who could say, "Yeah, we think Yi-Lan." Yi-Lan Science Park, what’s going on with that? Not to change the subject, but I live next door to it, and it’s vacant. It’s gorgeous.
It’s supposed to be software, but...
Meaning science park kind of thing?
Hsinchu was so successful...
Some of them failed.
The tunnel’s been opened. There’s weekend traffic coming in to Taipei. It’s changing on that level. Tourism and traffic.
There aren’t any jobs necessarily. It’s actually impoverished. It’s kind of weird. It’s like this island by itself.
When I first sent my link ‑‑ I don’t know if you saw it, but I had a link, Taiwan software development company concept to do VR, film stubs to bring my two worlds together. I haven’t really been able to get any...
There’s interest, but there is nobody saying, "Yeah, we’ll help you develop, get some venture capital," or something like that. I’m a little bit stuck on that. I don’t know if you have any advice for me.
Not yet, because I don’t really have the funds yet.
I’m willing to do it myself, but I think it’s much more collaborative to do it with private sector.
You mean Taiwanese startups?
What if I don’t have a Taiwanese partner?
More than some, probably. [laughs]
I didn’t mean to imply you’re not doing anything. It takes time.
Big change.
For Taiwanese only?
What about private sector?
Because that doesn’t have anything to do...
That’s what you’re aiming, is to bring a bit of that cake here.
That’s you, right? You’re advising.
Can you recommend? Can you suggest? Can you say, "Hey, talk to this guy. Have a meeting with him."
Sweet. What’s working the best in your mind, of the record? I know we’re on the record, but what’s really happening? I’m acting like a journalist now, but what’s the sweet spot?
In all your activities now. Where you see the most progress.
There are challenges. You’ve got legacy government bureaucracy, red tape, etc., laws.
The world is changing so fast, and Taiwan’s kind of behind the curve, isn’t it?
What if you compare Berlin, compare London, compare Seattle.
For Asia.
Would that be something possible to have here, where you could have the digital nomad land, and get to work?
Yeah.
Why, though?
In salaries...
You mean the digital side?
