GEAR8

GEAR8 is a website planning and production team established in Sapporo, Hokkaido in 2009. GEAR8’s first branch office was established in Bangkok, Thailand in 2016, and its second branch office was set up in Taipei in 2018. The Invest Taipei Office (ITO) interviewed Mr. Yuta Umeki, the General Manager of GEAR8 Taiwan, to further explore why GEAR8 has chosen Taipei to set up a branch office.

With the popularization of globalization, websites and marketing are no longer used only by people in that country, and products are not only sold to local people. As in Japan, the ability to plan the most suitable design from different cultural perspectives is a prime requisite. With this context, Mr. Umeki mentioned that one of the main reasons for GEAR8’s overseas deployment is to bring diversity to the team. The planning and creativity from different perspectives are intertwined to provide value and services that other companies do not have. GEAR8 is more than just designing a website, it attaches more importance to discover customers’ real necessities during the communication to enhance the value of services and products.

Mr. Umeki further pointed out five major reasons why GEAR8 has chosen Taipei City for its overseas deployment. One reason is “advanced design capacity”. There are many talents with skilled design capacity in Taipei City which makes the recruitment process smoother; the second reason is “high brand awareness”, compared to other countries, GEAR8 feels that Taiwan has a strong awareness of its own company’s brand. GEAR8’s technology and knowledge are very helpful when assisting companies to build their brands; the third reason is “laxer foreign investment regulations”, the regulations on business types and capital in Taipei are laxer than other cities in the world, therefore it’s much easier for small and medium-sized overseas enterprises such as GEAR8 to enter the market; the fourth reason is “complete assistance system for startups”, led by the ITO and the Center for Innovation Taipei (CIT) where GEAR8 Taiwan is currently located, provide a very good environment and assistance for startups; the fifth reason is “integrated infrastructure”, Taipei has a profound infrastructure such as IT and transportation, and it’s easy to find accommodation. Whether you are living or doing business in Taipei, you can easily make use of the infrastructure here.

At the end of the interview, Mr. Umeki gave a few words for foreign companies who are interested in investing Taipei, “Taiwan, which is close to Japan in terms of geography or psychology, is one of the hubs for Asia’s expansion. As the foreign investment regulations are more relaxed in Taipei than other cities, so the difficulty for overseas SMEs to expand in Taipei is relatively low. In addition, ITO offers complete service for startups, assisting companies to remove barriers for entering Taipei and reduce costs.”