Taipei City's Global Pass: A New Partner Channel for Global Startup Spaces

TAIPEI, Dec. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As cities compete to attract internationally minded founders, one of the more notable developments in East Asia is the rise of Taipei City's Global Pass, a government-backed programme that quietly created a curated stream of globally capable startups moving across Asia, the US and Europe. What makes the programme relevant for global coworking operators, accelerators and investors is not the subsidy itself, but the fact that it offers a structured way for overseas partners to engage with Taipei-based companies that are actively seeking international expansion.

Launched in 2024 by the Taipei City Government's Department of Economic Development and administered through StartUP@Taipei, Global Pass helps Taipei-based startups access overseas coworking spaces, local soft-landing services and community networks. The programme provides a subsidy of NT$60,000 (approximately US$2,000) per company, but its deeper value comes from the simple reality that participating teams already have clear international goals and a concrete intention to operate abroad. In just over a year, the programme has attracted 650 registered members, with 45 companies completing overseas landings through Global Pass. Taipei now collaborates with around 120 partner spaces across 11 countries and 22 cities.

For international operators, this means Global Pass functions as a pre-screened pipeline of founders who are not "ecosystem tourists." They tend to have practical motivations—clinical trials in the US, media and commerce partnerships in Southeast Asia, proof-of-concept opportunities in Korea, or enterprise deployments in Singapore. Their industries range from AI video, smart-city systems and industrial automation to precision oncology, agritech data and gaming. Across sectors, the common traits are technical depth, cross-border fluency and a partnership-driven mindset rather than a quick market test and retreat.

Among the various Global Pass cases, two illustrate the type of long-term engagement that international spaces say they want from incoming foreign teams.

Kenkone, a Taipei medical-technology company, used Global Pass to enter Japan—one of Asia's most demanding markets for foreign startups. Through the programme, the team was matched with a suitable Tokyo startup space, received assistance with application procedures, and began working inside a professional community where introductions and trust matter as much as product. Over several months, the Tokyo hub became more than a desk provider; it acted as an informal advisor, a bridge to legal and accounting partners, and an interpreter of business norms. These relationships reduced the friction of incorporation, and Kenkone ultimately established a Japanese entity. For Japanese space operators, the case demonstrates what Global Pass companies are looking for: not transactional seat rentals, but long-term operational bases where local knowledge, networks and administrative navigation matter as much as facility quality.

A second example, TOII Games, shows how Global Pass can also move beyond traditional tech verticals. TOII, an AI-driven gaming and IP studio from Taipei, used Global Pass-supported matching activities in Seoul to enter the Korean content ecosystem. Rather than treating Korea as an export destination, the team engaged with local gaming partners, explored collaborative production models, and designed AI-enhanced workflows that aligned with Korean studios' needs. This approach opened doors in Busan, where the company ran proof-of-concept projects with local partners. For Korean content hubs and gaming-focused coworking spaces, TOII's experience signals that Taipei companies are not arriving with rigid commercial structures; they come prepared to co-develop pilots, adapt products and embed themselves into existing cultural production chains.

Beyond these two longer cases, other Global Pass companies illustrate the programme's breadth. CancerFree, a precision-oncology startup, and METAIAM, an AI solutions firm, entered the US market with the help of Global Pass and used access to overseas spaces to conduct joint development, meet clinical partners and lower initial operational costs. In Singapore, agritech data company DATAYOO launched a new product line and leveraged coworking networks to reach markets beyond Asia. At the same time, Global Pass has supported Taipei's digital nomad communities—such as the Taiwan Digital Nomad Association—in running activities inside Japanese startup spaces, creating technical meetups and remote-work gatherings that increased foot traffic and built new user segments for host spaces.

These examples collectively point to an important trend: Taipei's founders increasingly treat startup spaces not as temporary addresses but as gateway institutions—places where regulatory guidance, partner introductions, sector-specific communities and soft-landing assistance converge. For international operators, the value of partnering with Taipei lies in accessing these founders early, when they are shaping their expansion strategy and deciding where to anchor long-term operations.

What Global Pass offers to overseas partners is straightforward. First, by engaging with the Global Pass programme, overseas partners gain a direct channel to Taipei-based startups that are actively pursuing international expansion. Second, its selection mechanism ensures that only teams with actual overseas commitments make use of the programme. Third, because Global Pass subsidises part of the initial landing cost, partner spaces see higher conversion rates from inquiry to multi-month residency. Finally, the programme positions overseas operators as preferred collaboration partners, effectively opening a recurring channel for hosting Taipei founders, digital nomads, pilot teams and even Taipei-driven events.

For global coworking operators, accelerators, innovation campuses and venture investors, this means that Taipei is building a city-supported export mechanism for startup talent—one that is deliberately designed to connect with spaces like yours. Many Global Pass companies are actively looking for new soft-landing partners, programme hosts, event collaborators and local advisers.

Spaces interested in collaborating with Taipei's founders or welcoming teams through the Global Pass network can contact the Taipei City Global Pass programme directly. As more cities experiment with new ways to internationalise their startup base, Taipei's model shows that coordinated public-sector support, combined with high-quality founders, can turn a soft-landing programme into a cross-border ecosystem bridge—one that global startup spaces may want to plug into sooner rather than later.

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SOURCE StartUP@Taipei