Does Knowledge Evolution Matter? Reflection on Alpine Tribes Industry, Development, and Transformation

Abstract

Young aboriginals are emigrating from their homelands to cities to become laborers working in basic production-related jobs, hampering the sustainability of the alpine tribes. This study examines the critical demands of Tungpu Daigaz, an alpine tribe in Taiwan, through in-depth interviews and questionnaires. Based on the analytical results, we propose that for the alpine tribe, the government should further improve transportation, add value to featured tribal products, and close the consensus gap among tribes. Whereas previous studies have recommended strategies, including loans and human resource training, we believe that the improvements should be accomplished through acquisition, transmission, creation, and use. This study establishes a KBD model to construct industrial knowledge for Tungpu Daigaz. Knowledge translation is carried out by integrating new hunter knowledge with tribal opinions. Knowledge transmission is then performed to encourage group learning. Long-term development depends on knowledge creation by tribes. We suggest that the government build a hub for the industries connecting Tungpu hot spring with the tribal resources and enhance sustainable development through tribal mountain guides and the hunting culture of Tungpu Daigaz. The knowledge-hunting developmental model can balance Tungpu Daigaz while developing the culture and wisdom of alpine tribes, solve the problems of tribal development, and ensure environmental protection and sustainable development. This study establishes a circulation system of new hunter knowledge based on a comprehensive understanding of the demands of local development for knowledge creation and skill integration, cooperation with external expertise and young innovative knowledge of tribal youths, and co-management with self-media. This novel KBD model can promote tribe sustainability.

1. Introduction

From the perspective of tribes, the input of the external legal system and capitalism has turned the tribes into small gears in the national and capitalist economy. In addition, it has changed the politics of collective leadership among organizational and tribal recognition. As exotic enterprises invaded the lands that the tribes depended on for a living and brought in the monetary system, tribes have relied more and more on money for daily demands. The collapse of the existing tribal economy became the driving force for the natives to emigrate to the city. The change has driven the proletariat young aboriginals to be middle- and low-level workers in the city. As of now, at least half of the aboriginals live in urban areas [1]. Most of them work as laborers in basic and labor-heavy production jobs. This situation hampers the sustainability of alpine tribes.

Industries are now moving toward knowledge orientation, for which a knowledge-based development (KBD) model provides the critical social and environmental policies to accomplish sustainable development in a community. Therefore, many countries have city or regional policies to attract technical or knowledge workers. Human capital and company growth are widely believed to be highly correlated. Shaping a knowledge space can effectively attract knowledge workers to stay, creating power and strength for regional development. Knowledge workers flow from one place to another, normally selecting spaces that can develop as knowledge spaces, which therefore develop into clusters. Some studies have attempted to identify the innovative energy from the viewpoint of localization and collaborative space. Their analytical results indicate that innovation takes place through informal face-to-face interaction where knowledge workers from various professional fields collaborate [2]. Local workers can obtain external knowledge in a space containing workers from outside areas. In addition, external workers are capable of promoting new professional collaboration or innovative projects through experience integration with local workers. Consequently, a highly innovative space contains various activities to establish collaborative relations as the basis of tribal innovation. This study seeks to provide multiple development directions and possible changes for indigenous tribes by transforming economic structures. Such KBD modeling enables tribes to enhance the value of the local and traditional industries.

The sustainable development for alpine tribes must be supported by multidisciplinary participation and the full consideration of existing assets, such as the local knowledge and resources. This study begins with a literature review that categorizes the literature into three separate parts. The first part discusses the characteristics of tribal industry, and the second part includes a brief introduction of the characteristics of KBD. The third part integrates the relationship between KBD and tribal development. The research site selected for this study is Tungpu Daigaz, located in the center of Taiwan. To improve the understanding of existing local knowledge and assets and to incorporate the perspectives of local residents, this study is based on data analysis, questionnaire surveys, and in-depth interviews. Several interviews were undertaken with the village residents and chiefs in Tungpu, in addition to questionnaires being used. This study compiles the current status of public facilities and the structure of social organization, followed by the evolution of and difficulties in industrial development for the tribe. Finally, the industrial knowledge construction for the tribe is summarized using KBD, thus establishing a KBD framework for the tribes by identifying the critical demands of Tungpu Daigaz and investigating the effect of the critical demands of tribal development on knowledge (tribal culture) acquirement, transmission, innovation, and use.

2. Analyzing the Characteristics and Features of Tribes under KBD

2.1. The Characteristics of Tribal Industry and Knowledge Development

Taiwan is a multicultural, nationalist state. The people of Taiwan recognize Taiwan as their home regardless of whether they were born or temporarily live in Taiwan. Although the country has internal conflicts, the people understand each other’s different backgrounds and are sure of their belief in common existence [3]. Taiwan has developed economically and created job opportunities, but this has led to the expulsion of the aboriginals and plundering of their land and resources and the beautiful scenery to make money. These expelled aboriginals were subsequently hired as low-level laborers. The Xinyi Township (the location of Tungpu Daigaz), from April 2013 to April 2022, had 1606 immigrants, but also 2130 emigrants, revealing a trend of tribal population loss (Nantou County Government 2022), resulting in a strong threat of traditional knowledge disappearing due to the habitat being occupied and the culture invaded [4]. Accordingly, this study examined the history of Tungpu Daigaz through in-depth interviews, presenting the history of the tribe, the evolution of culture and lifestyle, and how the tribe has survived in their environment and created a unique development history. Most of the tribal industries were oppressed by the environment. The tribes hoped to collect different opinions of their own to analyze tribal development and further enhance their life quality and welfare.

Related studies have revealed multiple strategies, e.g., collaborations, loans, human resources training, and industrial transformation, to be the key to protecting the tribal environment and enhancing environmental awareness [4,5,6]. Multiscale planning helped in the protection of the tribal natural environment and cultural assets [7] and, additionally, delivered sustainable development for tribes. A related study indicated that the tourism industry had a significant impact on improving the tribal environment and economic development [8]. Hence, researchers promoted certain types of tourism, which assisted in protecting biodiversity and local culture and, meanwhile, provided environmental education to the tourists and residents to feature tourism in sustainable economic development [9].

2.2. The Characteristics of KBD

KBD is an important tool for preserving unique tribal knowledge, moving from the past capital-based economy toward a knowledge-based economy, and developing the potential of the local and traditional industry [10,11,12,13]. Since KBD focuses on both explicit and tacit knowledge, it provides the critical social and environmental policies to achieve sustainable development in a community. A knowledge-based economy aims to upgrade the life quality for now and the future through the use of knowledge [14]. The ability and efficacy of knowledge creation and application are more important than land and funding and drive continued growth and development of the economy. Therefore, knowledge acquisition and innovation through learning, creativity, and cultural nourishment support the community with multiple knowledge networks and further improve life quality and create new development opportunities and lifestyles [15]. Due to the attention given to tacit knowledge, knowledge-oriented development is similar to the evolutionary history of tribes. Cultural heritage is preserved by teaching or passing on through a common language [1].

By replacing the natural resources with innovative ability and technology as well as inputting non-labor-related factors and capital, knowledge transmission and the introduction of technology became the key for the development of tribal industries [16]. To encourage industrial and economic activities, human resources and the ability of organizations must be updated periodically, establishing the capability supporting environmental development. Learning led to creativity and innovation and enhanced industrial growth. Knowledge flow could be brought by local businesses, individuals, or professional organizations. Meanwhile, knowledge dynamics, which describes how the members with various backgrounds integrated, mobilized the knowledge and interacted to generate knowledge circulation, formed [17].

2.3. The Relation between KBD and Tribal Industries

Past studies have observed that the production activities of tribes and the development of social enterprise were in common. Social enterprises were established in response to the demand of vulnerable groups, the benefits to society, or social values, focusing on solving social issues and benefiting the values of society, economy, and environment. The development of social enterprise was in correspondence to the economic development of tribes. The development of the networks of society, economy, and environment profited the development of collaborative networks for the tribes [18,19].

In recent years, many aboriginals thought about how to recover the traditional wisdom and lifestyle that their ancestors owned. Moreover, they thought about rejuvenating tribal industries to support the dying economy and attract young aboriginals to come back to the lands and inherit the culture [20]. Better inheritance would result in the cultural relics not just being displayed in the museum. The emerging industry featured the protection of the land and environment. It also incorporated traditional ecological knowledge, culture, technology, and social values to be the base. The operation and marketing ideas for the mainstreamed tourism industry, organic agriculture, and cultural and creative industries were introduced to become the features of tribal industries [21]. The networks for the tribal industry in the future will focus on the interactions between collaborative enterprises and the tribes to enhance knowledge flow and innovation and further the sustainable development of tribes.

2.3.1. KBD for Tribes

The purposes of KBD are economic prosperity and sustainable development. Burton-Jones [22] indicated that the gap between rich and poor countries kept increased in the capitalist movements. Knowledge-based capitalism provided the opportunity to shrink the difference, allowing development without limited basic resources and making strategies for moving toward KBD.

The tribal knowledge system in the past was without specific characters. Inheritance through wording, changing along with different backgrounds, became a unique evolution process [23]. The advantage of verbal inheritance was knowledge internalization, which resulted in the evolution of the tribal society. The accumulation of tribal history and experience formed tribal knowledge, with the ability to adapt to different backgrounds, and led to the development of a unique system for tribes to survive according to the local conditions. Transforming the tribal spoken language into literary language could be achieved through preachers and elders. Accordingly, a standardized, improved, homogenized, and expended literary language was established and further became a universal language for the tribes [1], which explained and replicated the core values of tribes as well as shaped the foundation of development. The systemized mechanism urged the formation of concurring will for the tribes, not only bridging multiple gaps between organizations, but also providing the interaction channels for aboriginals and non-aboriginals [1].

In contrast to tangible resources, the main character of a knowledge-based economy was to manage intangible resources, which would end up being more valuable after use [15]. KBD and tribal knowledge system were similar. The development of knowledge networks was based on the establishment of technical infrastructure and complete innovative networks between individuals and organizations. Thus, knowledge clusters formed among knowledge networks, stimulating learning and resulting in a proper knowledge spillover effect [24]. The ripple effect generated by the input of new knowledge transformed the industrial structure and benefited sustainable development for the industries [13].

2.3.2. Development of Tribal Industries based on Knowledge

Current social and economic development is based on a knowledge-based economy. Industrial development, different from the capital- or labor-intensive demand in the past, is capable of grasping new knowledge, which assists in the sustainable development of the industries [13]. In other words, a knowledge-based economy is more diverse, helping in absorbing external changes and shocks. In addition, collaborations of the complex industrial networks allow the formation of clusters and stable growth of the industry [11]. The study proposed feasible options through domestic and international case studies in terms of human, financial, organizational, and technical capital improvements, encouraging a reduction in labor-intensive industries. Developing the community and economy through technical- or knowledge-intensive industries was suggested to improve life quality.

Alpine tribes are located mostly in remote areas with limited resources, resulting in the long-term marginalization of their economy and further making some vulnerable tribal communities short of sustainable industries [25]. Hence, the industrial development of tribes mostly focused on the primary industry. Since industrial development previously focused only on economic development and creating job opportunities, alpine tribes faced economic and social challenges in harmonizing the local and traditional industries. The objective of this project is to ensure the economic independence of the tribes, encouraging industrial transformation and reducing their dependence on government economic subsidies. The resources related to knowledge-intensive industries were incorporated [26] into the original tribal industries to develop a new chapter for the tribal economy. Tribal industries were enhanced through four aspects, namely cooperation, subsidies and loans, human resource training, and industrial transformation. The aim was to urge residents’ devotion and support to drive the tourism industry and enhance the overall development and cultural heritage of the tribes. By identifying and developing the techniques, resources, and knowledge, the communities successfully initiated KBD with the support of technologies and resources.

• Developing cooperation: Enabling members to participate in the decision-making process proactively and ensuring fair treatment, thus building consciousness of ownership and responsibility.
• Developing subsidies and collaborations: Seeking to maximize the market profits and surplus, as well as improving welfare, protection, and subsidies.
• Technical training: Helping to train the tribes, communities, and organizations for entrepreneurship to achieve the target, product positioning, and developmental opportunities.
• Industrial transformation: Inheriting the tribal culture and helping the tribes to gel by integrating internal opinions and communications with the characteristics of tribal culture.

3. Site Selection and Current Status

3.1. Research Scope and Site

The selected site for the study, Tungpu Daigaz, is located in southern Nantou County. Nantou County lies at the geographical heart of Taiwan and is the only county that does not border the coast. Tungpu Daigaz, located where Chenyoulan River and Salisian River meet and 1100 m above the sea level, is one of the villages at the highest altitude in Xinyi Township (Figure 1).

3.2. Reason for Site Selection

The selected site is located at the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu, at a high altitude, in Nantou County in Taiwan. Its evolution history spans traditional agriculture to ecotourism and organic farming. However, due to natural disasters, severe aging of the population, and declining birthrates, agricultural productivity suffered from lacking people dedicating to agriculture. The high cost of tribal agriculture and the difficulty of exporting produce crops owing to road damage by natural disasters worsened the situation. In addition, the interview revealed the truth of tribal agricultural products procured by a single dealer. Single sales channels resulted in a high potential for the price of produce crops not being transparent.

3.3. Current Status of the Industries

3.3.1. The Development of the Primary Industry: Agriculture

In the past, the Bunun people were mostly self-sustainable. Only some crops and prey were used to exchange household essentials or commodities with the Han people. The Bunun people barely saved money because the income from work or festivals would be the shared resources. Currently, the tribe adopts conventional agriculture and greenhouse planting for cabbage, cauliflower, sweet potato, green bean, pepper, and tea. Ninety percent of the income comes from agriculture. The crops are purchased by dealers or directly sent to Taipei for crop auctions.

“Young aboriginals went out for studying and returned after graduation. Land levelling began in March every year. Planting began in April or May and harvesting was from July to October. Most of the young aboriginals went out to work in the daytime and came back at night.”

—Indicated by interviewee A

3.3.2. Hot Spring Industry

Tungpu has been famous for its hot spring since Japanese occupation. The hot spring industry was developed from the 2nd to the 5th neighborhood of Tungpu (Figure 2). There were three hot springs, Tungpu hot spring, Lelegu hot spring, and Shibazhong River hot spring. The last was flooded. The spectacular natural views and unique resources of Tungpu hot spring have attracted many tourists to visit.

“Connecting the attractions with hot spring. There were confrontations between the tribe and the hotel industry in the hot spring area. Hoped there would be collaborations.”

—Interviewees A and C

3.3.3. Tourism Industry

The area of Tungpu contains multiple tourism resources, including human and natural resources. Additionally, the results from the questionnaire and interviews show that many residents in Tungpu were interested in startups associated with the tourism industry, while the literature declared that tourism is a useful tool to enhance the environment and economic development [27]. However, no tourists have so far experienced ecotourism. Tribes lack talent cultivation and collaboration. In addition, technology toward organic agriculture, marketing, and tourism are not fully implemented.

“Integrating attractions with ecotourism. The tribe provides route guidances and tribal accommodations for experience.”

—Interviewees A and B

3.4. Current Status of Public Facilities

A basketball court and Tongkong church located in the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu are the main places for activities. The community center for childcare, exercise, rest, and meetings is located outside of the office for the chief of the village. Ninety percent of the residents in the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu are Christians. Worship gatherings on Wednesday nights, women’s fellowship on Thursdays, bible study and prayer on Fridays, youth gatherings on Saturdays, and resident gatherings on Sundays are scheduled. The rest of the time is planned for farming.

3.4.1. Tongkong Church-Center of Tribal Belief and Spirit

Christianity has replaced witchcraft in the Bunun tribe since it was introduced in 1950. Daily activities and festivals focused on the church then.

3.4.2. Sport Court and Community Center

The community center is located in the northern 1st neighborhood of Tungpu, next to the Batongguan historical trail. The basketball court in front of the community center is also the place to hold events or festivals. Right next to the community center is the only slate house preserved. It is a critical landmark for residents to gather or hold events.

3.4.3. Exhibition Center

There are spaces and seats available for rest and dining outside of the exhibition center for tribal crops.

“The exhibition center for tribes was established by the Council of Agriculture, providing a space for selling tribal crops. However, the Han people took over the center after invading the area. Tribes wondered why the center became other’s as it was originally designed for the Bunun tribe.”

—Interviewee A

3.5. The Structure of Social Organizations

3.5.1. The Social Class System

(1)

The Family

The Bunun tribe was a patriarchal society. A family, usually consisting of two generations with patrilineal relatives and their spouses, was considered to be the smallest unit of a clan. A family, sharing a barn and working and sharing together, featured a typical big family.

(2)

Presbyterian Polity

Compared to the elites in the tribe, the elders were usually the leader for activities. They provided, made, and delivered the dream pictures of tribal lives [1]. Consequently, the elders are still respected. Although the modern election system has been introduced in the tribe, the elders still have an important function in communication and the integration of events and activities. In most situations, the elders are capable of reaching a consensus for all the residents and leading the tribal development.

3.5.2. Tribal Organizations

Due to the migration and reorganization of the Bunun tribe for a long time, the tribe contains different clans. Military organizations similar to the youth center appeared to protect against the invasion of other tribes in the Bunun living areas due to insufficient lands and too many people. Community organizations currently existing in Tungpu Daigaz are the household organization, the church organization, the tribal work team, patrol, the group for the development of organic agriculture, etc.

4. Investigation of the Evolution and Difficulties of Industrial Development for Tungpu Daigaz

Data analyses, interviews, and questionnaires were employed to investigate what the difficulties were in terms of industrial development in the past and the thoughts that residents in Tungpu had toward the development of Tungpu. About 85% of the residents in the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu had startups, although the startups rarely succeeded. Based on the questionnaires, residents in Tungpu were interested in startups associated with the tourism industry (73.3%), processing of agricultural products (63.3%), and online marketing and others (50.0% for each). The topics included the hot spring industry, ecotourism, food, and handicraft. Further investigation regarding their concerns about startups indicated the difficulties of not understanding the market demands (53.3%) and whether their knowledge and technologies (33.3%) meet the requirement for startups (Figure 3).

Residents in Tungpu seem to be familiar with entrepreneurship. This view is related to the Economic Sociology tradition. For instance, Sombart, Weber, and Schumpeter believe that marginalized people tend to start businesses to climb up the social and economic scales. Sociologists previously classified such informal entrepreneurs as “marginalized” but have gradually changed their perception around the middle of the twentieth century, defining some as opportunity-driven entrepreneurs [28]. This study reduced the knowledge and skills gap and improved the coordination among organizations and activities through a comprehensive understanding of the dream startups and current difficulties experienced by residents in the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu. The following describes how the residents expected the startups to develop, the current status of startups, and connections among them.

4.1. Agricultural Development: The Inconvenience in Transportation Obstructed Marketing Channels and Transformation of Produce Crops

Tungpu is located on a mountain. The climate and geographic environment made tribal produce crops hard to export and deficient in the marketing channels. The industrial development focused on farming and locations to sell products, and the shipping rates were decided and led by the elders. Tribal people were only involved in the early stage of industrial management and, therefore, lacked the experience of industrial leadership. As a result, the tribe had to rely on the assistance of the people living in the plains for tribal development for a long time. In addition, the elders did not have sufficient knowledge or information about online marketing.

“Considering the logistics, handicraft, and processing of agricultural products. Attracting tourists by advertising the attractions on social media.”

—Interviewees C and D

“I think the startup that is most suitable for the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu is ecotourism and the processing of agricultural products.”

—Interviewee B

4.2. Development of Local Tourism and the Hot Spring Industry: Featured Products and Added Value to Be Developed

Tungpu Daigaz, although containing unique tribal culture, spectacular natural environment, and featured industry, required a lot of improvements and innovations in development. The improvements increased the added value to the products. By delivering tribal characteristics and features through social media, the tribe could control what to show or display on the media. Taking the geographic advantage of the Yushan entrance, the residents and young aboriginals explained the uniqueness of the trail to the tourists and let them experience and soak in nature. Ecotourism promoted the development of featured products and added value to the industrial development of the tribe.

“Developing tourism industry by volunteers, integrating tribal opinions, recruiting volunteers to create featured tribal activities.”

—Interviewees B, C, and D

“Time conflict for tourism and going to the church. There are 10 guides now, but the ecotourism holds only once a year.”

—Interviewee A

4.3. Traffic and Environment Not Favored for Developing Tourism Industry

The location of the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu in the mountain makes it less accessible compared to other cities or landscapes. Heading to the area costs a lot. Moreover, there are insufficient traveling packages, such as hotels and transportations. Even though located at a high altitude, the tourism industry is not the only choice for industrial development for Tungpu. Instead, multi-developments for the industries, along with the environment and tribal demands, need to be considered.

“Inheritance of traditional culture is significant. It will be perfect if that comes along with making money.”

—Interviewees C and D

“Agriculture dominates in the tribe. Some people would go for part-time or risky jobs, such as logistics in the mountain.”

—Interviewee C

4.4. The Quality of Tribal Agriculture to Be Promoted to the Next Level

Concerning the uniqueness of produce crops of the 1st neighborhood of Tungpu, different from those planted at low altitudes, online marketing can be incorporated for increasing the profits. Market segmentation, which brings high prices and high profit, and lowering the long-term costs will benefit the crops sold in the market. The introduction of appropriate innovative mechanisms and technologies agreed to by the elders will result in more support from tribal people. The tribal industry and market will expand accordingly. It is critical to build a sales channel for the featured produce crops and create an exclusive brand.

5. Conclusions: Investigation of Industrial Knowledge Construction for Tungpu Daigaz Using KBD

The alpine tribes face the problem of talent loss [1] due to limited industrial development, hindering the sustainable development of the alpine aboriginal tribes. We propose that for the alpine tribe, the government should improve transportation, add value to featured tribal products, and address consensus gaps among tribes to tackle the dilemma. Unlike strategies proposed by previous studies, including loans and human resources training, we believe that the improvements should be accomplished through knowledge acquisition, transmission, creation, and use.

Previous research has shown that face-to-face exchanges of knowledge from talent across disciplines can lead to innovation, which can bring revitalization and sustainability [2,13,15]. Meramveliotakis and Manioudis (2021) concluded that the dialectical relation between knowledge/innovation (human capital) and nature (natural capital) accelerates the course of economic change. Both innovation and nature play a pivotal role in accessing sustainable economic development [29]. Although alpine tribes face a dilemma of population loss, they have useful natural assets and local knowledge. This study rethinks the new kinetic energy of the industrial development of alpine tribes. The past literature has mentioned that the exchange of tacit knowledge is costly for industries in urban areas, so industries in cities often relied on the innovation of explicit knowledge. Unlike the radical innovation brought about by the exchange of explicit knowledge in most metropolises, tribes have the potential to facilitate the exchange of both explicit and tacit knowledge and to foster more diverse forms of innovation.

This study takes the Tungpu Daigaz tribe in Taiwan as the research region and proposes a KBD-based model based on questionnaires and in-depth interviews to be adopted as a reference for the revitalization of the peripheral regions. The study indicates a comprehensive understanding of the current status and difficulties of the tribal industry by sorting the alpine environment and the community resources of Tungpu Daigaz. The mechanism for the development, operation, and competitiveness of tribal industry was accordingly analyzed by KBD.

5.1. Making Policies for the Development of the Tribal Industry by Participating in the Planning

A field study was carried out to understand the lifestyle of the tribe and how the industry was operated. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were implemented to create development policies corresponding to the local conditions. The interviews with the elders, residents, and opinion leadership allowed a more comprehensive understanding of how the operation ran and the difficulties they encountered. The transformation of the industry would lead the tribe to the next level. However, this requires recognition and mutual understanding. The study investigated the potential development of interactive knowledge innovation in terms of KBD and proposed industrial development for the tribe based on its demands.

“The elders used to lead the industrial development for the tribe. Industrial transformation may occur but requires some time to integrate and break in the thoughts of the elders and young aboriginals.”

—Interviewees A and C

5.1.1. The Hub for the Industries: Connecting Tungpu Hot Spring with the Tribal Resources

The tribal agricultural technologies, profits from product sales, and local energies accumulated in the tribe enhance talent cultivation and multiple collaborations. The transportation hub for carpooling passengers and goods can be achieved through the integration of the marketing demands of produce crops from Tungpu and the traveling demands. A customized and flexible plan of transportation can, therefore, be proposed, enhancing the professional knowledge and the ability to initiate a startup or industrial upgrading.

5.1.2. Enhancing Sustainable Development through Unique Tribal Knowledge, Mountain Guides, and the Hunting Culture of Tungpu Daigaz

Talent is the key to industrial development. Strengthened connections triggered the economic development of the tribe. Meanwhile, the inheritance of traditional tribal knowledge and culture was accomplished. The feedback enabled finding the balance for sustainable development of the industry. Multiple services can be achieved through the integration of the unique natural resources of Yushan, traditional tribal culture and lifestyle, and a combination of new and old knowledge.

5.2. New Hunting Knowledge—The Identity of Tribal Knowledge Industry and Talent Cultivation: Co-Management of Tribal Self-Media

Tribes are the smallest basic unit of the community operation. The Bunun believes in a sharing lifestyle that shares all the works, resources, and profits. Hence, tribal development must be a collaboration between the public and private sectors. Considering the deficiency of wealth and talent of Tungpu Daigaz and the respect for tribal traditions, the study preserved tribal traditional culture and enhanced tribal identity through knowledge hunting by hunters. Other professional information was then brought in for tribal development.

The evolution of knowledge development of Tungpu Daigaz was from the single-way delivery of hunting knowledge in the past to a reversible way in which interactions enhanced the formation of new hunting knowledge, such as knowledge insight, evaluation, action, and feedback (

Table 1. Knowledge evolution of Tungpu Daigaz and future development.

	Past	Now	Future
Mode of Knowledge Transmission	Delivering in a single way	Deliver in a single way→Interactions	Interacting in a reversible way
Knowledge Type	Verbal (Tacit)	Verbal (Tacit) Characterized (Explicit)	Verbal (Tacit) Characterized (Explicit) New Media
Source of Knowledge	Opinion Leadership Presbyter Ruler (the Han/Government/Priest) Elder		Opinion Leadership Presbyter Ruler (the Han/Government/Priest) Elder Tribal Youth/Volunteer Feedback from Experience Self-Media Platform (Social Interactions)

). The revolution benefited the tribe by maintaining the existing lifestyle while building the win–win sustainable growth of the tribe.

The industrial development in Tungpu was achieved through co-management by the government and the tribe, emphasizing the independent development of the tribe. Government (Council of Indigenous Peoples and Council of Agriculture), local organizations (community development association, village office, and agriculture association), and self-media collaborated to build up a long-term interactive and accountability system, ensuring a trustworthy relationship and credibility. Cutting in from the industrial perspective,

Table 2. Evolution of hunting knowledge and the development details in terms of unit.

Unit	Function of Knowledge	Description	Time to Execute
Tribe	Knowledge Translation	Emphasizing the independent operation and enhancing tourism development and managers for operation management in terms of funds and human resources. Agricultural development under contract; assisting in processing of agricultural products, food sanitation, and brand establishment, etc. Integrating the tourism industry with marketing, operation, and management, creating a cultural immersion trip on the cultural uniqueness.	Promoting in the short term
Media/Self-Media or we media	Knowledge Transmission	Improving industrial marketing, human resources, research and development, finance, and information management (smart applications). Multiple participation and integration through knowledge transmission and operation management. Establishing organizations; expanding sales channels, marketing brands, and e-commerce applications; planning industrial tours; and integrating food, hotel, travel, shopping, and transportation to strengthen the industrial competitiveness and the added value.	Promoting in the middle to long term
Government	Innovation Knowledge Creation	Monitoring the subsidy applications for agriculture transformation to organic or eco-friendly farming and product verification. Training, education, and industry counsel on and continuous monitoring of the environmental and social issues generated from tribal development.	Continuous promotion

summarizes the functions of each collaborator.

The collaboration triggered the flow of tribal knowledge and talents. New hunting knowledge of the tribe was incorporated to guide the industrial transformation of Tungpu to a knowledge-based industry. Below are the details of how the development occurred.

The first step was to have a comprehensive understanding of the demands of local development for knowledge creation and skill integration. This enabled the indigenous people to grasp the occupational training in terms of the development status and characteristics and continuously promote the strategies for sound development of the tribe.

Secondly, the traditional local knowledge of tribes, which they have inherited from generation to generation, was integrated with external expertise and the young innovative knowledge of tribal youths. Knowledge translation was completed. This preserved tribal languages and traditional culture while adding innovative knowledge for the enhancement of the level of information and local imaginations.

Finally, in the era of new media, knowledge transmission was effectively completed through the application of the Internet, self-media marketing, digital tools, and skills. The mid- to long-term promotion of the use of media will lead the tribal industries toward KBD.