Science Park ESG Forum: Revitalizing Hakka Communities

With the support of the Hakka Affairs Council, this Science Park ESG Forum was held under the theme “Revitalizing Hakka Communities”, aiming to establish a regional sustainability platform based on collaboration among central and local governments, the private sector, and civil society. By integrating policy resources from agencies such as the Hakka Affairs Council, the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Science Park Administration, the forum sought to enhance coordination and overall implementation effectiveness. The forum content is outlined as follows:

A Public–Private Collaborative Platform Linking Science Park ESG and Hakka Community Development

After decades of development, the Hsinchu Science Park has contributed to long-term structural imbalances that have led to industrial stagnation, the erosion of cultural heritage, population outflow, and weakened public services in surrounding rural areas, thereby widening the urban–rural divide. In response to this situation, Hsia Jung-sheng, Director of the Hsinchu Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, proposed “platform-based governance” as a strategic pathway. He advocated for the establishment of a public–private collaborative platform involving central and local governments, science park enterprises, and civil society organizations. By integrating policy tools with corporate ESG initiatives, the platform aims to promote industrial innovation, ecological governance, educational and cultural development, and language revitalization in Hakka communities, enabling enterprises to move beyond one-way contributions and become co-practitioners of local sustainability.

Huang Yi-juan, Section Chief at the Agriculture Department of the Hsinchu County Government, then presented Hsinchu County’s policy experience in introducing locally sourced ingredients into school nutrition programs. From the perspectives of educational governance and food and agriculture practice, she demonstrated how institutional design can concretely support local agriculture and sustainable diets. Through agricultural cooperative matchmaking, supply coordination, and subsidy mechanisms, Hsinchu County has steadily introduced locally produced organic vegetables, organic rice, and seasonal agricultural products into school lunches. This approach lowers procurement barriers for schools while ensuring stable income for farmers. By embedding these practices into daily school meals, students gain a lived understanding of the “farm-to-table” concept, allowing food and agriculture education to move beyond classroom activities and become a sustainable part of everyday learning.

ESG Project: Hakka Community Industries

Chuang Kai-yung, Founder of Dashan Beiyue Co., Ltd., shared the transformation journey of the Dashanbei area in Hengshan Township, Hsinchu County. Reflecting on the region’s history—from abandoned school buildings dating back to the Japanese colonial period to population outflow and eventual transformation into a model site for local revitalization—he emphasized that local challenges stem not from a lack of resources, but from the absence of reorganization and visibility.

Through long-term commitment, Dashan Beiyue has transformed abandoned school facilities into multifunctional spaces integrating dining, education, culture, and community interaction. With over a decade of local engagement and hundreds of events hosted, the initiative has attracted large numbers of visitors and re-established the area as a place where people can live and work. This transformation was not achieved through isolated development, but through community participation, youth return initiatives, and cross-sector collaboration.

At the industrial level, Chuang used the metaphor of “unwanted ugly oranges” to illustrate how Dashan Beiyue reimagined second-grade agricultural products that had been rejected by the market. Through processing, branding, and content translation, these products were transformed into diverse offerings and culinary applications, increasing agricultural value and providing farmers with more stable incomes. From production to market, this approach has built a resilient and integrated local value chain.

Through corporate partnerships, strategic alliances, market networks, and media exposure, Dashan Beiyue has gradually formed a system that supports local sustainability. Its value proposition extends beyond product sales to the creation of replicable models for local governance and industrial transformation, enabling corporate ESG investments to meaningfully address local development, environmental conservation, and cultural preservation.

ESG Project: Hakka Community Environment and Ecology

Chen Chih-chung, Co-founder of Hengshan Good Living, Lu Chih-han, Group Leader at the Natural Valley Environmental Trust Base, and Chen Chin-ling, Executive Director of the Taiwan Clean Water Action Alliance, jointly presented a set of ESG initiatives centered on “trails, habitats, and watersheds.” From cultural reconnection and ecological conservation to water resource governance, these initiatives collectively illustrate local responses to sustainability challenges faced by Hakka communities in the Greater Hsinchu region.

By restoring long-abandoned historic trails, local communities—guided by elders and joined by returning youth and volunteers—have reconnected everyday memories with the land. Through ecological surveys, art curation, and small-scale eco-tourism, these efforts have strengthened local identity and cultural value. At the same time, initiatives focused on forest and habitat conservation integrate environmental education with community participation, ensuring that ecological stewardship becomes a shared daily practice rather than a specialized endeavor. From a watershed perspective, the Touqian River was highlighted as a case study revealing the impacts of water diversion, discharge, and pollution on domestic water supplies and ecological safety, underscoring the importance of holistic watershed governance to ensure water quality and environmental resilience.

Together, these initiatives point toward a sustainability pathway that is place-based and people-centered, while also providing science park enterprises with tangible opportunities to engage in ESG collaboration. Through such partnerships, urban–rural co-prosperity can be advanced, paving the way for a more resilient and sustainable future for the Greater Hsinchu region.

ESG Project: Hakka Community Education and Culture

The education and culture segment introduced two projects that approach sustainability through language revitalization and food heritage combined with land restoration, demonstrating how Hakka communities leverage culture and food to address structural challenges such as aging populations, industrial decline, and land abandonment.

The project presented by Tai Yun-szu, Supervisor of the Hsinchu City Indigenous Languages Promotion Association and a certified Hakka language mentor, focuses on Hakka storytelling and life education, using language as the starting point for cultural action. In response to the decline in Hakka language use and the weakening of linguistic environments in families and communities, the project organizes self-formed Hakka language groups and collaborates with local industries, farms, and artisans to bring language learning back into everyday life. Through Hakka-language walking tours, forest interpretation, and storytelling activities, language becomes a tool for cultural equity, community cohesion, and local co-prosperity. The project also proposes incorporating language and cultural initiatives into corporate ESG and governance frameworks, positioning cultural action as an integral part of sustainable decision-making.

The second project, shared by Hsu Mei-yu, Chairperson of the Shuiji Community Development Association in Beipu Township, Hsinchu County, centers on “the terroir-based cuisine and land restoration of the Shuiji Elders’ Group.” This initiative illustrates how a highly aged Hakka community revitalizes connections between land and daily life through agriculture and food. Through long-term eco-friendly farming practices, the community has restored abandoned land and developed distinctive local crops such as the Hakka “three herbs” (mugwort, perilla, and houttuynia) and golden-hook radish. Combined with traditional craftsmanship and culinary culture, these products have been transformed into the community brand “Shuiji Elegance.” Revenue generated from these products is reinvested into elder care and land restoration, allowing agriculture to serve as the foundation for community care, cultural continuity, and aging in place.