Taipei City Government

Mayor Ko Wen-je attended the NPO Hub Taipei housewarming party on July 8 and expressed that a new milestone had been reached, because repurposing unused space in Taipei City in conjunction with public NPOs serves multiple purposes, one of which is allowing the new to meet the old.

Formerly the teacher’s dormitory at Taipei First Girls High School, the city government has carried out renovation after the building was abandoned and made it available to the public. The project is also a form of public-private partnership, where Taipei City Government has sought collaboration with NPOs. Lastly, it is also a sharing of space, in line with the concept of sharing economy which is now a global trend embodied in services such as Uber, Airbnb, and co-working spaces.

When designing NPO Hub Taipei, former Commissioner Hsu Li-min gathered numerous NPOs to engage in several rounds of discussion. Now, the first floor consists of commercial space while the second, third and fourth floors offer large offices, office desks, as well as a number of activity venues and conference rooms. Basically, the facility has become the co-working space for the NPOs.

Ko attributed the huge success to the support of all parties involved, including I-Mei and Carrefour. He also hopes that the organizer will not merely serve as a subtenant in charge of collecting rent—it needs to organize classes, lectures, and more importantly, assistance to help seek sponsorship from enterprises, so as to ensure the sustainability of NPOs in Taipei City—therefore public-private partnership is very important in this respect.

According to the mayor, one cannot simply leave everything to the government; with the city government cooperating with external organizations, the work involved is also tourism-oriented, therefore the complex comprises 3 critical components: new meets old, public-private partnership, and sharing space.

He also thanked many NPOs, social enterprises, and new startups in Taipei City for participating in public agendas, and it is hoped that the NPO Hub Taipei will continue to forge ahead. This is the first time that a building has been overhauled for all the NPOs to work under one roof. While total space is insufficient to accommodate all of the NPOs in Taipei, it is nonetheless a start, and the city government will assess the benefit generated by this program before planning ahead for the future.