Samuel Yen-Liang Yin (; ) is a Taiwanese

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman and philanthropist. He is best known for the establishment of the

Tang Prize The Tang Prize () is a set of biannual international awards bestowed in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Nomination and selection are conducted by an independent selection committee, whic ...

, and as chairman of the Ruentex Financial Group.

Education

Yin studied history at

Chinese Culture University The Chinese Culture University (CCU; ) is a private Taiwanese university located in Yangmingshan in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan. CCU was established in 1962 and is one of the largest universities in Taiwan with an enrollment of about 32,000 ...

. He received a master's degree in business at the

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

in 1982, and a PhD in business at the

National Chengchi University National Chengchi University () is a public research university in Taipei. The university is also considered as the earliest public service training facility of the Republic of China. First established in Nanjing in 1927, the university was subs ...

in 1986. In 2004, Yin was named fellow of the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering. In 2008, he was invited to join Russia's International Academy of Engineering and awarded the Engineering Prowess Medal, the academy's highest honour. In 2010, Yin received the Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(ASCE) for his contribution in the area of construction technology research. He was the first person without an academic background in engineering to receive the award.

Career

Yin is the head of the Ruentex Financial Group which invests in Taiwan and China. Ruentex is most known for their construction investments as well as grocery, retail chain

RT Mart RT-MART International Ltd. (), trading as RT-Mart (), is a hypermarket chain in Taiwan. Its headquarters is in Neihu District, Taipei. The company opened its 23rd store in 2004. RT-Mart and Auchan created a joint venture, Sun Art Retail Group ...

. In Taiwan and China, he is recognized as a promoter of entrepreneurship and startups. In 2014, Yin was named as one of the key investors in

Gogoro Gogoro is a Taiwanese company that developed a battery-swapping refueling platform for urban electric two-wheel scooters, mopeds and motorcycles. It also develops its own line of electric scooters and offers its own vehicle innovations to vehicle ...

, an electric scooter startup in Taiwan.

Philanthropy

Yin has stated that he plans to donate 95% of his net wealth to charity, especially those relating to science, arts, law and politics. Yin established the

in December 2012, funded by US$100 million of his own capital. The prize is touted as the Asian equivalent of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

. The mission of the prize is to promote research that is beneficial to the world and humankind, promote Chinese culture and make the world a better place. The prize pays out the equivalent of US$1.7 million in categories of sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and rule of law. Yin also provides financial and leadership support for the following foundations in Taiwan and China: the Yin Xun-Ruo Educational Foundation, the Yin Shu-Tien Medical Foundation, the Kwang-Hua Education Foundation, and the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University. In 2016, Yin donated US$12.8 million to the

Scripps Research Institute Scripps Research, previously known as The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institu ...

to "contribute to the building of new state-of-the-art laboratories".

Personal life

Yin is married to Wang Chi-Fan (王绮帆) and has one son and one daughter. He is an experienced offshore sailor and commissioned the construction of two yachts, ''Sea Eagle'' and ''Sea Eagle II'', the latter being the world's largest aluminium sailing yacht.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yin, Samuel Living people Taiwanese billionaires 1950 births Businesspeople from Taipei Chinese Culture University alumni National Taiwan University alumni National Chengchi University alumni Giving Pledgers 21st-century philanthropists