Taiwan’s cultural and creative industries are slowly emerging on the global stage. As companies and organizations from these industries continue to collaborate across subsectors and other industries, they will be able to innovate and create new products. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts; thus, successful collaboration will create a synergistic effect.
As the capital city of Taipei was most recently recognized in 2016 as a “World Design Capital” for its creative progress and capitalized on its theme of “Adaptive City – Design in Motion” in hosting numerous events, it also identified that it has limited resources in terms of space and funding. This is a concern across the entire nation, as anyone engaged in the
cultural and creative industries cannot dwell on what little they may have but must compete and strive for excellence against others.
One issue that Taiwan thus faces in developing its industries is access to capital. With low GDP growth in recent years, as compared to double-digit growth in the 1960s and 70s, and a stagnant wage level, individuals and organizations fight over pieces from a small pie. In the funding handbook provided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, only 22 programs were available for organizations in the cultural and creative industries to apply for. Programs are competitive, with only 63,339 total businesses, as of 2016. In addition, Taiwan is
geographically and politically isolated. Being an island nation makes it difficult for cultural exchanges to occur unless traveling by air, which may incur additional costs for both inbound and outbound travelers. One cannot also deny the political influence of China, as it has forced other nations to refuse Taiwan a place at the international diplomacy table, for example, in the United Nations, and this thus limits participation and opportunities for Taiwan to be recognized and subsequently interact with other countries.
However, Chen and Liuli both show that expanding into other distribution and promotional channels is key for global success, while the TotalBrand and HYC partnership shows that collaboration across disparate industries is possible for a company to reinvent its brand image and update product offerings. Thus, members of the cultural and creative industries should not merely strive to create and innovate on their own but must also look to synergistic relationships to grow their companies and stretch their creative minds. These case studies show that businesses must look both outward and inward in future endeavors to prosper.
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References
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DeLightful Time Home Decor. (2014, December 12). In Facebook [Business page].
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Dominguez, C. (2011, February 9). Collaboration: what does it really mean? [Blog post].
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HYC. Retrieved from https://www.hyc-king.com/en/index/index.html
Law for the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries. Retrieved from http://law.moc.gov.tw/law/EngLawContent.aspx?lan=E&id=8 Ch
Liu, P. (2015, December 14). Cultural and creative businesses thriving in Taiwan. Taiwan Business Topics. Retrieved from https://topics.amcham.com.tw/2015/12/cultural-and-creative-businesses-thriving-in-taiwan/
Liuli Gongfang. Retrieved from http://www.liuli.com/en-us/introduction.aspx Ministry of Culture. Retrieved from http://english.moc.gov.tw/
_____. (2017, July 25). “Bookstore Founder | Robert Ching-yu Wu.” Retrieved from https://english.moc.gov.tw/information_224_77005.html
_____. 2017 Cultural and Creative Industries Development Annual Report. Retrieved from https://stat.moc.gov.tw/Research.aspx?type=5
Ministry of Economic Affairs. (2018, January). Functional category programs joint briefing and MIT quality products exhibition. Paper presented in Taiwan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2018, March 8). MOC commits US$341.6 million to promoting Taiwan’s cultural and creative industry. Retrieved from
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Small and Medium Enterprise Administration. (2004, September). White paper on small and medium enterprises in Taiwan, 2004. Retrieved from
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TotalBrand+TotalDesign. Retrieved from http://www.totaldesign.com.tw/
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APPENDIX A: LAW FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Chapter 1 General Principle
Article 1 This Act is enacted to foster the development of Cultural and Creative Industries, to establish a social environment with abundant culture and creativity, to utilize the technology and create researches and developments, to strengthen talent cultivation of the Cultural and Creative Industries, and to actively exploit the domestic and overseas market.
The development of Cultural and Creative Industries shall proceed pursuant to the provisions in this Act. If there exists more favorable provisions than the content of this Act, the said provisions shall apply.
Article 2 To promote the Cultural and Creative Industries, the Government shall strengthen artistic creation and cultural preservation, reinforce the combination of culture and
technology, emphasize on a balance development between cities, counties and regions, value local characteristics, elevate the citizens’ capacity for cultural appreciation, and enhance the popularity of cultural art so to comply with the international trends.
Article 3 The “Cultural and Creative Industries” referred to in this Act means the following industries that originate from creativity or accumulation of culture which through the
formation and application of intellectual properties, possess potential capacities to create wealth and job opportunities, enhance the citizens’ capacity for arts, and elevate the citizens’
living environment:
1. Visual art industry
2. Music and performance art industry
3. Cultural assets application and exhibition and performance facility industry 4. Handicrafts industry
5. Film industry
6. Radio and television broadcast industry 7. Publication industry
8. Advertisement industry 9. Product design industry
10. Visual communication design industry 11. Designer fashion industry
12. Architecture design industry 13. Digital content industry 14. Creativity living industry
15. Popular music and cultural content industry
16. Other industries as designated by the central Competent Authority.
The content and scope of the industries in the preceding paragraph are to be stipulated by the central Competent Authority in consultation with the central relevant competent authorities.
Article 4 The “Cultural and Creative Enterprise” referred to in this Act means a legal entity, partnership, sole proprietorship or individual engaging in Cultural and Creative Industries.
Article 5 The “Competent Authority” referred to in this Act refers to the Council for Cultural Affairs of the Executive Yuan in the central government, the municipality government in municipalities, and county government in counties.
18 Article 6 The central Competent Authority shall formulate a development policy for Cultural and Creative Industries and review and revise the policy every four years for the Executive Yuan’ approval so as to be the policy basis to promote the development of Cultural and Creative Industries.
The central Competent Authority shall, in conjunction with the central authority in charge of the end enterprise concerned, establish a statistical scheme on the Cultural and Creative Industries and publish annual report on Cultural and Creative Industries every year.
Article 7 To promote the development of the cultural and creative industry, the Government shall contribute to establish the Cultural and Creative Industry Development and
Research Institute. The establishment rule thereof is to be stipulated otherwise.
Article 8 The Government shall endeavor to develop Cultural and Creative Industries, and secure the relevant and necessary funds.
Article 9 Certain portion of the National Development Fund shall be withdrawn to invest in Cultural and Creative Industries.
The regulations governing the review and approval of the investment in the preceding paragraph, withdrawal scheme, achievement index and the relevant matters are to be stipulated by the central Competent Authority in conjunction with the authority in charge of the end enterprise concerned.
Article 10 The Government shall promote the concept that cultural creativity is valuable fully exploit and utilize cultural and creative assets, and further implement the related policies.
When the economic utility of the expenditures spent by the Government on tangible or intangible cultural and creative assets exceeds two years, the amount of that expenditure shall be earmarked as an expense budget of capital items.
Each central authority in charge of the end enterprise concerned shall stipulate varieties of incentive or measures of assistance to support public and private companies along with Cultural and Creative Enterprises, and to convert creative works and cultural and creative assets to actual production or application.
Article 11 To nurture cultural and creative enterprise talents, the Government shall fully exploit and exercise the human resource of cultural creativities, integrate varieties of teaching and research resource, and encourage Cultural and Creative Industries to proceed with
cooperation on research and talent cultivation between industries, government and academia.
The Government may assist local governments, colleges and Cultural and Creative Enterprises to enrich cultural and creative talents, encourage the establishment of relevant developmental facility in respect of Cultural and Creative Industries, establish related courses, or proceed with creative experiments, creations, exhibitions and performances.
Chapter 2 Assistance, Reward and Subsidy scheme
Article 12 The Competent Authority and the central authority in charge of the end enterprise concerned may provide Cultural and Creative Enterprises with suitable assistances,
rewards or subsidies in respect of:
1. Formation of legal entity and relevant tax statement registration 2. Creation or research and development of products or services
19 3. Entrepreneurship and incubation
4. Improvements on agency system in the Cultural and Creative Industry 5. Circulation and application of intangible assets
6. Upgrade of operation and management capacity 7. Application of information technology
8. Cultivation of professional talents and recruitment of international talents 9. Enhancement of investment and commercial participants
10. Collaborative cooperation of enterprises 11. Expansion of markets
12. International cooperation and communication 13. Participation in domestic and overseas competition 14. Industry cluster
15. Utilization of public real estates
16. Collection of industry and market information
17. Promotion and dissemination of fine cultural and creative products or services 18. Protection and application of intellectual property rights
19. Assistance of reviving cultural and creative products and services
20. Other promotional matters on enhancing the development of Cultural and Creative Industries.
The regulations regarding the subject, qualification, application scope, application procedure, review standard, revocation, abolishment of subsidy and other relevant matters of the
assistances, rewards or subsidies indicated in the preceding paragraph are to be stipulated by the central authorities in charge of end enterprises concerned.
Article 13 To elevate the citizens’ capacity for art and cultivate the popularities
of cultural and creative activities, the Government shall provide schools which are below the senior high school level with artistic and cultural creativity appreciation courses and arrange for relevant educational activities.
Article 14 To promote the consumption habits relating to arts and invigorate the Cultural and Creative Industries, the central Competent Authority may earmark budgets to subsidize students viewing and appreciation of artistic and cultural exhibition and performance, and issue and distribute tickets to artistic and cultural experience events.
The target of the aforementioned subsidy and ticket distribution and the implementation regulations thereof are to be stipulated by the central Competent Authority.
Article 15 The Government shall encourage the Cultural and Creative Enterprises to provide original products or services at favorable prices so to develop domestic Cultural and
Creative Industries, and the price difference between the original price and the favored one are to be subsidized by the central Competent Authority.
The identification and subsidy regulations regarding the original products or services scope in the preceding paragraph are to be stipulated by the central Competent Authority.
Article 16 The central authorities in charge of the end enterprises concerned may reward or subsidy the public to provide suitable space, set up each kind of creation, incubation
and exhibition and performance facility for usage by the Cultural and Creative Enterprises.
The reward or subsidy regulations in the preceding paragraph are to be stipulated by the central authorities in charge of the end enterprises concerned.
Article 17 When the Government procures cultural and creative products or services via the
20 method of public selection, the creativity and arts of the cultural and creative products or services may be included as part of the evaluation factors.
Article 18 The competent authorities in charge of the stations or the relevant facilities of public transportation systems shall preserve certain percentage of advertisement space at the said stations or on the relevant facilities as priority space for cultural and creative products or services. The advertisement space shall be offered at a favorable price. The percentage and usage fee thereof are to be stipulated by the Competent Authority.
Article 19 The central Competent Authority shall coordinate with the related governmental departments, financial institutions, and credit guarantee institutions to establish an
investment, loan, and credit guarantee scheme for the Cultural and Creative Enterprises, and shall provide favorable measures to induce the infusion of private funds to support those Cultural and Creative Enterprises in various operational stages to acquire their needed funds.
The Government shall encourage business enterprises to invest in Cultural and Creative Industries so to facilitate the cross-field communication in the areas of operation strategy and management experience.
Article 20 To encourage Cultural and Creative Enterprises to establish their own brands and actively cultivate the international markets, the central relevant competent authorities in charge of end enterprises concerned may coordinate with each of their overseas offices to assist the Cultural and Creative Enterprises in establishing international brand image, attending reputable international exhibitions and performances, competitions, expositions, cultural arts festivals, etc., expanding the related international markets, and promoting sales.
Article 21 To foster the development of Cultural and Creative Industries, the Government may provide public cultural and creative assets that are under the custody and management of the Government, and such assets may include books, historical documentations, preserved cultural and historical relics or video and radio information, by leasing, authorizing or through other measures so long as it does not violate the relevant regulations on
intellectual property right. The management authority that provides the public cultural and creative assets in accordance with the preceding paragraph shall create an inventory list on assets that are being provided to the public, and shall publicize the said inventory information in a suitable manner.
The management authority may preserve a portion of the benefits gained through its compliance with the first paragraph and spend it on management maintenance, technology research and development, and talent cultivation. Such expenditures are exempted from the restriction set forth in Article 7 of National Property Act and local government regulations on public property management.
If public cultural and creative assets are utilized for non-profit purpose, the management authority may provide the user with favorable prices. The regulations or municipal rules regarding the lease, authorization, benefit preservation and other relevant matters of public cultural and creative assets are to be stipulated by the central authorities in charge of the end enterprises concerned, municipality or county(city) competent authorities.
Article 22 To assist in securing locations for cultivating and supporting artistic creators and their exhibition and performance, and when the required real estate is publicly owned but not for public use, such real estate may be directly leased by the management authority in charge after the approval of the relevant competent authorities in charge of the end enterprises concerned. Such lease is to be exempted from the restriction stipulated in Article 42
21 of National Property Act and local government regulations on leasing methods of public property management.
Article 23 For a pledge on copyright originated from the Cultural and Creative Industries, the establishment, transfer, alteration, extinguishment or disposition restriction on that pledge may be registered with the copyright competent authority. If the pledge is not registered, such pledge will not be a valid defense against any bonfires third party. The foregoing provision will not apply if the pledge is extinguished by reason of a merger, or is extinguished by the extinguishment of the copyright or the guaranteed credit right.
Any person may apply to review the preceding content registered.
The registration regulation in the preceding first paragraph and the review regulation in the preceding second paragraph are to be stipulated by the Competent Authority under the Copyright Act.
The copyright competent authority may appoint private institutions or groups to deal with the matters stipulated in the preceding first and second paragraphs.
Article 24 If a copyright user uses its best effort but fails to obtain a valid authorization from the copyright owner due to either the identity or the location of the copyright owner being unknown, the user shall clarify the reason for its failure to obtain such valid authorization to the copyright competent authority. After the completion of an investigation conducted by the copyright competent authority and if as a result of the investigation the user has obtained the permission and authorization from the copyright competent authority, the user may utilize the work within the permitted scope if it has withdrawn the amount needed for usage
remuneration.
The copyright competent authority shall pronounce the authorization permission in the preceding paragraph with suitable method and publish it on the government report.
The usage remuneration amount in the first paragraph shall be commensurate with the freely negotiated amount of reasonable and payable usage remuneration for a general work.
A replica of cultural and creative products which is made by obtaining the authorization and permission in accordance with the first paragraph shall indicate the permission date, number and the qualification and scope of the permissible usage issued by the copyright competent authority.
The regulations regarding the application of permission and calculation method of usage remuneration in the first paragraph and other matters which shall be complied with are to be stipulated by the Competent Authority under the Copyright Act.
After obtaining the permitted authorization based on the first paragraph, if any inaccuracy on the application is found, the copyright competent authority shall revoke the permission.
After obtaining the permitted authorization based on the first paragraph, if the user fails to utilize the work incompliance with the methods permitted by the copyright competent authority, the copyright competent authority shall rescind the permission.
Article 25 The Government shall support in the establishment of cultural and creative villages, and shall as a priority assist core creative and independent workers to situate in the said villages. The Government shall, through the clustering effect by involving different groups, further promote the development of Cultural and Creative Enterprises.
Chapter 3 Tax Incentives
Article 26 If a profit-seeking enterprise contributes and donates for the reasons stipulated in the following and in an amount that is below NTD 10,000,000 or ten percent of the amount
Article 26 If a profit-seeking enterprise contributes and donates for the reasons stipulated in the following and in an amount that is below NTD 10,000,000 or ten percent of the amount