Nankang Software Park

The Nankang Software Park 南港軟體園區(NSKP) or Nangang Software Park 南港软件区(NGSP) is located in the 87-hectare Nangang Trade and Economic Park.

Location

The Nankang Software Park is located on east side of Taipei City. The park is accessible by three highways, one expressway, two MRT lines, the train, five commuter buses, and more than 30 public bus lines. There are several restaurants and public art works located in the park. The park is open to the public, but access badges are required for the office floors.

Overview

NSKP was designed by the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) a division of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Century Development Corporation. The Software Park was developed three phases. Phase I of the Software Park was completed in October 1999. Phase I consists of five connected buildings with 187,334 m2 of floor space on 3.97 hectares of land. IBM, TECO, Tradevan, NXP, and YAO5DX are a few of the 107 companies located in Phase I. Phase II was completed in September 2003 with 252,525 m2 of floor space on 4.18 hectares of land. Siemens Medical, HSBC, Sony, AMD, and two Biotech Incubator Facilities are located in Phase II. Phase III was completed in August 2008, and has 171,500 m2 of floor space on 1.52 hectares of land. This Phase is home to one of the Asian Headquarters for HP, the Greater China Headquarters of Yahoo, the Microsoft Innovation Center, Asia Pacific Telecom, Alcor Semiconductor, TDK-Epcos, Freescale, IBM, INTEL, ASE (USI), A-10 Networks, and several other technology firms.

Nankang Software Park, Phase III

Distinctions

Wired Magazine profiled the Nankang Software Park in 2000, when it named Taipei City the Number 1 Digital City in Asia (No. 8 in the World). In the article, it sited NKSP as one of the primary reasons for Taipei City's strong rating. The Software Park has also been profiled in Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, and Business Today (Taiwan). In 2005, the Nankang Software Park was named one of the three Intelligent Buildings of the Year by the Intelligence Community Forum (New York, NY, USA). In 2008, the Economist Intelligent Unit ranked the Nankang Software Park as the top rated software park across four categories among a select group of Asian Software Parks. NKSP is highly regarded for the annual production it adds to the economy each year, the strength of the companies in its incubator centers, and the mixture of local and international clients. In 2007, the park contributed around Six Billion US Dollars in production annually and employed approximately 14,000 people. It is estimated that with the inclusion of Phase III the Park's production will increase to approximately Nineteen Billion US Dollars and employee over 20,000 technology workers.

The Nankang Software Park and the Hsinchu Science Park are often credited for being the catalyst in the development of Taiwan's high tech industries and the dramatic increase in Taiwan's share of intellectual property.

Difficulties and challenges

The Nari Typhoon brought flooding to large portions of Taipei City including the Nankang Software Park in 2001. During that flood, some of the electrical systems in the basement of the Software Park were damaged. The Taipei City government has built a large pumping station in along the Jilong River to reduce the risk of flooding. Phase I was retrofitted with flood gates to help reduce the risk of future flooding. In addition, new sections of the park have been designed with protection above the 200-year flood line.