Marine Industry Promotion Strategy Study

There is a keen focus in Taiwan on the country's Blue Economy and establishing and developing ocean sustainability and, alongside this, promoting economic growth, jobs and livelihoods. Ching-Hui Chen, Pei-Chi Chu, Hsuan-Wen Chen and Shin-Yi Lin are industry researchers of the Metal Industry Research and Development Centre (MIRDC), an agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and are collaborating with Professor Shih-Ming Kao of National Sun Yat-Sen University (NSYSU) and Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) to help develop the local marine industry. The team is working to establish an assessment and guidance mechanism for local governments that will push forward marine development. This involves far-reaching collaboration to improve understanding of the current status of the 19 coastal counties and cities in Taiwan, each of which has its own different marine resources and characteristics, and identifying potential areas for development and bottlenecks. The researchers are building inventories of local marine industries using the PEST (politics, economy, society and technology) overall environmental model. They are using different data, including relevant procurement bids from the past decade and organised five marine industry focus symposiums to which representatives from industry, government, and academia were invited to discuss and identify the developmental needs and directions of local marine industries.