Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park 5.04

The Hsinchu Science Park is an industrial park established by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on December 15, 1980 to foster cutting edge state of the art scientific and technological innovation. It straddles Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County in Taiwan.The idea of the establishment of Hsinchu Science Park was first proposed by Shu Shien-Siu, the former President of National Tsing Hua University and Minister of Science and Technology. After Shu became the Minister of Science and Technology in 1973, he traveled to the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea to learn and study their conditions of the development of science and technology. In 1976, Shu came up with the idea of building a science and technology park like that of Silicon Valley. President Chiang Ching-kuo proposed to build the park in Longtan District because of the potential future benefits that could be drawn from National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology and the military. However, Shu argued that the technology and science park should not be close to the military as the primary goal of the founding of the park is to expand the size of private economy and creative vitality of Taiwan. Shu's idea was to build the park in Hsinchu next to the National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University like the Silicon Valley, which is adjacent to Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Shu's idea was ultimately approved by Chiang and the park was built and opened in 1980 in Hsinchu.