Shen Po-yang, the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for Taipei mayor, has rolled out three youth policies centred on cash savings, AI subsidies and resources for pursuing dreams overseas — measures that would benefit young people and students in Taipei.

• City Youth Fund: the city government would set aside money each month for Taipei residents aged 18 to 22, allowing them to accumulate a start-up sum of close to NT$500,000 by the time they graduate from university.
• Disadvantaged young people would receive larger monthly deposits, but would have to take financial literacy classes to claim the money; anyone convicted of drug or fraud offences during the period would get back only the principal they had saved themselves.
• A "Youth AI Card", modelled on the senior citizens' card, would give university and master's students a free monthly AI usage allowance, with additional quotas available on application for coursework or competitions.
• The city government would act as the first customer for Taiwan's AI start-ups, and would establish a "Taipei Research Institute" to bring overseas talent back to the city.
• The campaign is heating up in parallel: following the launch of support groups on the US East and West Coasts, a Japan support group will be established in Tokyo on 12 September.

Outlook: This package aimed at the youth vote is set to become a focal point of contention in the year-end Taipei mayoral race, with other candidates expected to put forward rival proposals.