I’m looking for potential employers in Taiwan in the fields of defense, aerospace or materials. I was educated in one of the top universities in the world. I have about 15+ years of R&D experience in defense. I am open to working at universities (as a researcher, less keen on lecturing), govt. institutes or companies, preferably in the Taipei area. I’m a Gold Card holder.
For now, I’m looking for contract work to test the relationship with the employer (probably something like 3 days/week) with clearly defined boundaries on Intellectual Property ownership (the employer only owns what I am paid to research). I would like to spend the remaining time setting up my own lab and getting funding to develop the next Unobtanium or autonomous drone swarm.
Furthermore, it is likely that my employer in my country of origin would also want me to work part time a year back home because I am needed for some ongoing and future projects. So I would probably be in Taiwan half of the year; to clock time towards Taiwanese PR on a Gold Card (185+ days/year, for 3 years), and half a year back in my country of origin.
I would consider working in the Taiwanese defense sector but it is not a given. I understand my requirements are a bit irregular. Basically I am keeping an open mind on everything and will weigh all options.
I would be most grateful for any pointers and tips
Sooo… You want a part time, part of year, professional gig, where you’re working for another company, potentially in the same field, while you simultaneously work to set up yet another company, and you want them to agree to very advantageous to you ip rights? Hmmm, best of luck!
I did outline the ideal, and also said there is room for flexibility on my part.
I have commitments to my present job which calls for an orderly departure. If I just packed up and left, apart from burning bridges it would also leave the projects underway at my present employer in a mess.
You work in defense in the US now? Have you run this by your boss yet? Honestly, if it’s not a mom and pop shop, they’ve dealt with people who thought they were very important leaving thousands of times. It’ll be ok. It’ll probably be easier to actually leave clean - if it makes you feel better, think of it as stepping side so someone else can step up.
As an alternate approach, it sounds like this is a transition role you’re looking for, so have your thought about stepping away from research and taking another role at a defense company? Some of the US defense companies that sell to Taiwan have a presence there, so a sweet ex-pat gig might be a good fit.
Yes I leave with the blessing of my bosses. They still prefer an orderly wind-down of the projects I am currently involved in.
In any case let’s be realistic, I don’t know the language and the culture. I’m middle aged, and am not so quick to learn languages anymore. The Taiwanese I’ve met have all been wonderful but what if I don’t cope in Taiwan? So perhaps it is better to take a step first, rather than a leap.
I am 100% nerd with limited abilities to do marketing and no tolerance for administrative work
my personal opinion is that moving to TW on your own as western PHD researcher is a bad career move. but i guess you do this for other reasons, not career building.
the industry and budgets in your field here are not developed enough, i wish you all the best.
your "outlier " credentials will require a lot of footwork on your side, and trying to meet the right people directly. headhunters will not be too useful, since defense is a very limited niche here. they could direct you to other r&d roles though.
These are often subcontract and project management type roles.
Circling back - what class of drones and what market are you talking about? There are a gaggle of drone companies out there - have you been to drone world / commercial uav expo? I’ve been there multiple times, representing drones my company sells, meeting with customers of ours, and talking with potential vendors, and I was still constantly shocked by the multitudes of drones out there and their capabilities. If you’re potentially targeting defense, staying US based wouldn’t be a bad bet.
Thank you Izzy. It may be the case and you may be proven right, but the fact that the industry is not developed enough means it is a good opportunity for the right person to help develop the relevant industries further
Precisely because the defense, aerospace and materials science industries in the West are well developed, it means if I remain here, I will be just another employee in the vast system.
I am humbled by the opportunity to have done my undergraduate and doctorate in a top university. But I have met exceptional people from other universities as well. And let us not forget many highly successful people are college drop-outs.
One reason would be that it is at the sweet spot of: being a high-tech country, being free & democratic, being welcoming to expats, having nice people, being survivable just speaking English (while I work on my Mandarin), liberty to open a start-up company with a Gold Card and not be tied to an employer and having the money + a pressing need to modernize/develop certain domestic industries.
i think that SG will probably tick these boxes more than Taiwan.
Liveable, nice, friendly - all these are correct. but based on my experience, in terms of ease of doing business, especially in a new field, Singapore is probably better.
Given the flexibility you’re looking for I think academia would be your best bet for now. Find someone with the relevant labs and bring your own funding. You can build form there.
You have a similar background to me (work experience and phd from top global uni) but different field. Any academic lab it Taiwan will be happy to have you.
yes, but discussing this will derail the thread.
SG is not democratic as Taiwan is, but still maintains important civil liberties, is not corrupt and its judicial system upholds the rule of law.
You may be right in almost all fields except defense. Singapore has few problems buying top of the line equipment from the West, which means that a defense start-up has to compete not only with the local defense industry but also foreign companies.
Taiwan as you know, has a complicated relationship with the rest of the world because of an elephant in the room. The best solution to getting independence in terms of acquiring defense materiel is to develop domestic R&D and production capabilities.
Also, it seems that the start-up ecosystem in Singapore is somewhat saturated, although the Singaporeans are very entrepreneurial as well. A good start-up among many other good start-ups simply would have to compete to get a slice of the market.
But drone development is crazy in Asia - being US based may actually be a discriminator. You might also find it much tougher to source certain sensors.
Edit: might take a look at uavfactory - super smart dudes running it, very well run company, based in riga, that had a really good vertical stack where they could develop just about everything themselves - airframes, engines, tracking antennas, launchers, payloads, etc… Some of that they had to develop, whether they liked it or not and they still had to sell to a US based concern to try and get where they wanted to be, as it was tough getting the sales they wanted. A lot of small uav companies are doing cool stuff, but this was one of the few I was impressed with, as a company that I wanted to do business with, but it ended up I couldn’t…
