The Immense Kindness of Buying Power, Society Comes Together to Purchase Gift Sets

In order to promote the development of social innovation and encourage public understanding towards the importance of Goal 12 "Responsible Consumption and Production" of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) has implemented a "Buying Power" campaign to encourage the purchase of social innovation products and services to urge enhanced cooperation with social innovation organizations. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, the SMEA partnered with ManFair Workshop and called on nearly 30 social innovation organizations to release the "Power Taiwan Gift Set", all of which were personally wrapped by adults with disabilities working in ManFair. The event successfully marketed products featured by Taiwan's social innovation organizations and surpassed 2,400 sales within 3 months.
The SMEA stated that the operations of social innovation organizations have also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the SMEA extended invitations to social innovation organizations across Taiwan that focus on social issues, environment protection, and responsible production. Through working and devoting their efforts together during this COVID-19 pandemic, we can support our society with love and prosperity. Corporates such as Shih Her Technologies, Pau Jar Group, Sabrina, KPMG Taiwan, Global Mall Zhonghe, and CoAsia Electronics Corp each purchased more than a hundred sets. This trend has also traveled overseas after the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Miami purchased 300 pandemic gift sets as their designated gift to commemorate the ROC's National Day. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Miami expressed that due to the severity of COVID-19 in the U.S., the planned celebratory banquet would be replaced with gifting Taiwan-themed pandemic products to guests who would have attended the event. They hoped that the gift sets could help tout Taiwan's extraordinary efforts to contain the pandemic as well as promote Taiwan's social innovation products to the world. As the sole physical distribution channel of "Power Taiwan Gift Set", Global Mall sold the product in their 7 locations across Taiwan and used the opportunity to promote the spirit of social innovation as well as post-pandemic lifestyles to the general public.
The SMEA began the "Buying Power Award" campaign in 2017 by issuing awards for the purchase of social innovation products and services over a certain threshold or partnering in projects for social innovation. The government's active efforts in promoting this initiative has enhanced awareness and understanding of government agencies, the general public, and private corporations towards social innovation organizations. The initiative encourages corporations to perform CSR by investing resources into expanding marketing channels for social innovation organizations to provide funding and continuously expand market opportunities.
The deadline for 2020 Buying Power Award applications is November 13. For more information, please visit the Social Innovation Website (https://si.taiwan.gov.tw/Home/buyingpower/start) for more details about the Buying Power Award.