The Hsinchu Science Park (HSP; ) is an industrial park established by the government of Taiwan on 15 December 1980. It straddles Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County in Taiwan. History The idea of the establishment of the 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, and Japan 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 the (then) 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. After the original idea of the establishment of the science park and the location of the park were settled, Chiang Ching-kuo assigned the task of constructing the Hsinchu Science Park. Irving Tze Ho () (1921–2003) was tasked to set up the park in 1979 and serve as its first director. Li Kwoh-ting, former Finance Minister of the Republic of China, was among those who significantly contributed to the founding of the park, as ordered by Chiang. Inspired by Silicon Valley, Li consulted Frederick Terman on how Taiwan could follow its example. From there, Li convinced talents who had gone abroad to build companies in this new Silicon Valley in Taiwan. Among those who returned is Morris Chang, who later led the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and founded TSMC. Li also introduced the concept of venture capital to the country to attract funds to finance high-tech startups in Taiwan. Overview The park houses more than 400 high-tech companies, mainly involved