In the world of technology, boundaries between countries, races, and classes disappear in an array of 1s and 0s.

Correspondingly, e-Learning has grown from a NTD 700-million to NTD 10-billion  industry within 5 years. As such, e-Learning offers Taiwanese industries an opportunity to step onto the global business stage.

Welcome to the world of 10x!

In his book “Only the Paranoid Survive” Andrew S. Grove, CEO of Intel Corporation, points out how, in an instant, competition, technology, customers, suppliers, co-industries and regulations change. In the 10x era, opportunities and challenges appear 10x faster than before, if not faster.

In the 10x era, or the knowledge-based economic era - as we might also call it - the amount of information released by the New York Times in a week is more than a person living in the 18th century would have received in his entire life. This era finds the amount of new technological information doubling about every 2 years. It’s no wonder then that former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley predicted that in 2010 the 10 areas of greatest employment need wouldn’t have even existed in 2004.

In order to keep pace with the rapid growth of knowledge, the European Union identified 8 key educational skills with which their peoples should be equipped. “e-Learning” and “learning how to learn” were particularly noted as skills essential to facing the challenges of this new era.

ePark: The Engine That Makes e-Learning Fly

Learning is the only way to remain competitive in this era and computers with internet connections are certainly the most efficient choice. With this in mind, the Taiwan government developed the “National Science and Technology Program for e-Learning,”(or Program) a 5-year program intended to boost industrial development, benefit people, and preserve culture through e-Learning.

Chao-Han Liu, head of the Program, stated that its purpose is twofold: to utilize the knowledge of academia in leading industry and to encourage industrial innovation, ultimately bringing Taiwan to the forefront of the global e-Learning market.

Under the Program, the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (or IDB, MOEA) and the Institute for Information Industry jointly supervised the establishment of “ePark”, a platform for industrial development designed to provide the following four services: quality certification, knowledge service, international connection, and legal consultation.

As a part of its “e-Learning Industry Promotion and Development Plan”, the IDB has, in the past 5 years, used ePark to host more than a hundred medium to large-scale e-Learning related activities. These activities involved at least 2,764 vendors and organizations and 8,194 attendees. Through incentives and funding, the plan worked to catch the attention of enterprises and create demand for e-Learning. Bringing together both the supply and demand sides of the industry, ePark established a model for the e-Learning industry. The success of ePark has not only increased the domestic share of the market to over 80% but has also led to impressive global achievement.

The Growing Power of e-Learning

Since the adoption of the e-Learning plan, output value of the e-Learning industry has increased from NTD 700 million dollars (in 2002) to over NTD 10 billion dollars (in 2007). The percentage of large-scale enterprises implementing e-Learning has also grown from 14% to 52%. In addition to the more than 4 million individuals who have become involved in e-Learning, businesses in numerous sectors such as the financial, service and manufacturing industries have also felt its effect. In these industries in particular, e-Learning has led to increase competitiveness.

The most profitable steel manufacturing company in the world, China Steel Corporation, will face a significant increase in the retirement of mid and high-level employees in the next few years. Yuan-Cheng Chen, president of China Steel, deeply believes that passing on the core values of the company is the only way to remain competitive and he further trusts that e-Learning is the way to do accomplish this. To this end, he has adopted e-Learning as the means to pass on essential knowledge. He believes that the learning and sharing of knowledge can boost innovation and mold China Steel into a unique global competitor.

ePark not only actively seeks the involvement of enterprises, but also encourages government sectors to join in as well. e-Learning-enabled government sectors not only provide a faster way for their employees to learn, but also allow regulations to be disseminated quickly. Adoption of e-Learning by government also creates an equal learning environment in online courses for residents, allowing persons with disabilities or those in remote areas to access information regardless of time or geographic location.

The achievements of the e-Learning industry in Taiwan are not limited to Taiwan alone. With the assistance of the government, Taiwanese e-Learning enterprises have become socially active on a global scale, have adopted SCORM standards, and have introduced new knowledge and trends from abroad. e-Learning enterprises have not only received orders internationally, but some such as OK Convenience Store and TransAsia Airways have also won Brandon Hall Awards - for “Best Results of a Learning Program” and “Innovative Technology” respectively.

The Requirements of a Knowledge-Based Economy

Alice Chang, CEO of CyberLink Co., a well-known global multimedia provider, describes the competition among industry to globalize as “finding the right lily pad.” She explains that when one company has already dominated a certain pad, there’s still a risk that the pad may sink gradually or in an instant; therefore, the company needs to find a new pad and dominate to survive.

So the questions to ask are, How does the company know its pad is sinking? How does it know which pad to hop to? and most importantly, after jumping to a new pad, How does it dominate? The answer is precise judgment and swift execution of plans. In order to possess these two abilities, knowledge and experience are necessary, and e-Learning is the best link between knowledge and decision.

It’s obvious from this analogy, why countries throughout the world are focusing so intensely on e-Learning. Many countries promote their e-Learning industries through incentives and the transfer of technology. Last year (2006), e-Learning market value reached USD 17.2 billion in the U.S. and  USD 1.2 billion in Japan. In 2002, the worldwide market value was only USD 6.5 billion; it reached USD 23.4 billion last year. The annual growth rate is 37% and continues to grow steadily.

The Power Driving the Trillion-Dollar Market

“Why Taiwan Matters”, a report that appeared in a May 2005 issue of Business Week, pointed out the uniqueness of Taiwan’s technology industry. Taiwan’s enterprises’ high level of cooperation coupled with high quality labor enable these Taiwanese enterprises to receive orders from around the world. Taiwan’s value and uniqueness in this respect have been compared to the irreplaceable oil of the Middle East.

For Taiwan, competitive industries that bring a trillion-dollar output value are assets. The behind-the-scenes role of e-Learning in the transmission and sharing of information, training, and innovation of these industries has enabled Taiwan to become more globally competitive..