People today cannot live without their digital devices, especially, not without their GPS devices to help them navigate. However, GPS navigation has its limitations. For example, it does not work in tunnels or other areas with poor signal reception. To circumvent GPS navigation limitations, military weapon systems, aircraft, and large commercial drones are generally equipped with fiber optic gyroscopes (FOG) that are unaffected by environmental interferences. Combining inertial navigation and GPS navigation ensures that the aircraft stays on course and lands safely even without GPS signals.According to Aegiverse CEO Dr. Hung-Pin Chung, GPS navigation that many people are familiar with relies on satellites. When signal reception from satellites is blocked by buildings, it affects GPS precision or even causes GPS failure. A FOG calculates the rotation speed by measuring the phase difference caused by the rotation when light waves travel in a coil of optical fiber. Boasting superior precision and durability to traditional mechanical gyroscopes, FOGs, commercialized in the 1980s, have become important equipment used in military devices, aircraft, ships, and space probes for inertial navigation.However, conventional FOGs are bulky and costly. In view of this, many manufacturers are making efforts to develop next-generation FOGs that are smaller and cheaper. Aegiverse is among the few companies that have successfully achieved the goal. Its FOGs have entered commercialization and are being used in drones, underwater vehicles, and satellites.Multi-layered design realizes both footprint and cost reductionFounded in 2022, Aegiverse is a startup incubated by National Central University. Its in-house developed FOGs have been awarded multiple patents both at home and abroad. The Aegiverse team is completely capable of developing a product from concept to market. Aegiverse supplies FOGs and FOG inertial measurement units for use in mobility vehicles as an inertial attitude-sensing solution.Conventional FOGs are generally based on a discrete design integrating all functions. Such a design offers a complete range of functions but it also makes the product bulky and costly. In contrast, leveraging its experience and R&D strength, Aegiverse combined some function modules into a single chip and introduced a multi-layered FOG architecture. The approach allows Aegiverse to design circuit modules purpose-built for industrial, military, aerospace, and other applications. Not only does it effectively reduce the cost to replace an internal element but it also significantly slims down the product. As opposed to the round shape of conventional FOGs, Aegiverse's FOGs have a cubic shape and cost 50% to 70% less, making them extremely competitive on the market. Comprehensive customization services are also available.Foraying into the U.S. and India, Aegiverse looks for multi-sector partnership opportunitiesThe first-generation FOG that Aegiverse brought to existence was as big as a tabletop. With mechanical engineering specialists joining the team, Aegiverse was able to scale down the product to its marketable size today, allowing Aegiverse to secure more partnership deals. So far the company has more than 20 patents or patent applications and is working with partners to deploy its products in drones, submarines, and satellites.Dr. Chung co-founded Polaris Photonics with several industry veterans in 2016. In reminiscence of the experience, he said Taiwan's startup environment was more conservative at that time. Startups generally did not pursue angel investment, which was a big challenge to them. Taiwan's startup scene has significantly improved now with support from the National Development Fund and a large increase in the ratio of venture capital firms joining A-round financing. Aegiverse's application for the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Proof of Business (POB) program and participation at multiple Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) events proved to be beneficial to the company's development.Going forward, Aegiverse will actively expand into the US and India while staying committed to the ext-generation product R&D. It plans to introduce a FOG that is the size of a business card and expects to grab market shares with the product.Aegiverse's GP series FOGsThe Aegiverse team conducting a flight test

Taiwan's national health insurance system is well known in the world for its unparalleled quality and services. It allows equal access to healthcare for all citizens. Even the economically disadvantaged enjoy comprehensive coverage and need not worry about unaffordable medical bills. However, national health insurance budget constraints limit the scope of medical services that can be made available to patients. For example, if a patient is diagnosed as requiring rehabilitation or physical therapy, the national health insurance system covers up to six follow-up therapy sessions with only an NT$50 self-payment for each session. Due to limited resources, each therapy session may be short and ineffective in relieving the patient's affliction amid the lack of a tailored one-on-one care plan. Patients therefore end up seeking self-pay treatment solutions.According to Meco Technology Chairman Joseph Chang, muscle or joint pain can mostly be treated with a series of well-planned rehabilitation or physical therapies and without the need for surgeries. However, this is hardly achieved with the current national insurance coverage. In fact, many physical therapy clinics now offer self-pay services but most of them do not provide comprehensive care plans that include physicians, physical therapists, and athletic trainers to alleviate patients' pain. Meco Technology was founded with the aim to provide patients needing self-pay physical therapies with a comprehensive treatment plan that makes their musculoskeletal pain go away.A team of diverse talent targets the self-pay healthcare marketEstablished in 2019, Meco Technology is dedicated to providing services including medical consultation, business operation, integrated marketing, and digital healthcare solution development. Combining the capabilities to operate a business and develop technologies, Meco Technology aims to introduce innovative breakthroughs to the medical sector. The Meco Technology team comprises over 130 physical therapists, 15 medical specialists, and over 50 exercise coaches, allowing it to provide all-in-one physical therapy treatments and optimized healthcare services to self-paying patients.Chang noted that there are three pillars to Meco Technology's business operation - AI Care, which provides self-pay physical therapy treatments; healthcare information systems (HIS) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems designed for franchise self-pay clinics; Youdon, which is a smart physical therapy platform offering a home exercise treatment app and prescription system. AI Care operates pain treatment clinics and physical therapy clinics with a comprehensive and innovative muscle and joint pain treatment model. Already running 11 physical therapy clinics and two pain treatment clinics as of 2023, it plans to increase its number of physical therapy clinics to 26 and pain treatment clinics to four by year-end 2024.More and more healthcare institutions are exerting efforts toward self-paying patients. In view of this, Meco Technology offers HIS solutions to such institutions. Its HIS solutions can connect with CRM tools and official Line accounts to help healthcare institutions manage customer data, find target audiences using filters, and achieve digital transformation goals.The biggest problem hindering the effectiveness of physical therapies is that patients do not follow doctor's orders and do at-home rehab exercises. The Youdon smart physical therapy platform can work with the AI Care system and provide more than 1,500+ videos for users to continue doing rehab exercises at home, enabling extended rehabilitation effects.Meco Technology makes all-out efforts to add branch offices in Taiwan while expanding its app services to markets abroadMeco Technology may be a young startup, but each of its founders has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare. Not only are they keen on market trends, but they are also well aware of hospitals' pain points and patients' needs. In the early-stage development, the company chose to work with BE Accelerator, which helped boost its revenue performance, accelerate the expansion of branch offices, and secure funding from two venture capital firms, allowing it to maintain steady and healthy growth.Chang commented that in 2024, apart from establishing a base in Startup Terrace Kaohsiung, Meco Technology was also awarded a project by the Industrial Development Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, which will benefit the company's long-term development. Moreover, thanks to the assistance from Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) and BE Accelerator, Meco Technology will have several branch offices in operation in central and southern Taiwan this year and enter into partnerships with multiple medical universities. It is hoped that by exerting efforts through a diversity of channels, Meco Technology will secure a share of the enormous self-pay healthcare market in Taiwan. On top of that, it also plans to introduce Youdon to Indonesia, Singapore, and other overseas markets so as to build a solid foundation for the company's long-term development.Grand opening of AI Care Linkou officePhoto: Meco TechnologyAI rehabilitation equipmentPhoto: Meco Technology

Precise and complete physiological parameter monitoring plays a vital role in affecting the outcome of medical care and diagnosis.Medical institutions today use a variety of physiological monitoring devices. Without a way to integrate these devices, it is difficult to centrally manage patients' physiological data and this puts a burden on healthcare professionals.To address this, combining traditional physiological parameter monitoring and advanced ICT technologies, BROADSIMS introduces a 5G patient monitoring system featuring multiple physiological parameter sensors and connectivity with all kinds of medical applications and third-party devices. BROADSIMS' solution can significantly improve medical care efficiency and diagnostic accuracy.A synergy between traditional patient monitoring and ICT technologies improves medical care efficiency and diagnostic accuracyAccording to BROADSIMS founder and CEO Dr. Bruce Yu, a recent key trend for the healthcare industry is to develop smarter and higher-performance devices through the integration of ICT technologies with traditional medical devices as a way to improve medical care efficiency and optimize patient experience. In line with the trend, BROADSIMS applied its core strength and expanded physiological monitors commonly seen at hospitals into a smart platform that integrates a wide range of solutions from the healthcare ecosystem.BROADSIMS' 5G multi-parameter patient monitoring system checks basic physiological signals such as ECG, blood pressure, blood oxygen, and respiratory rate like traditional monitoring devices, and more importantly, it also supports all types of medical apps and third-party hardware through an open platform, allowing one device to monitor multiple physiological signals. Yu added that the system is like a smartphone for medical care. Not only does it have robust fundamental monitoring capabilities but it also features software and hardware expandability to accommodate the wide-ranging needs of different healthcare use scenarios. Healthcare professionals will greatly benefit from BROADSIMS' innovation, said Yu. They will be able to monitor multiple physiological parameters on a central platform and no longer need to operate several individual devices just to measure and track a patient's physical condition. Physicians have simultaneous access to a patient's complete physiological data, enabling them to make the right diagnosis.On top of healthcare efficiency improvement, BROADSIMS' 5G multi-parameter patient monitoring system also benefits physiological monitoring device manufacturers. Yu explained that single-feature medical device manufacturers face fierce competition. Even if their devices have been certified, they still struggle to overcome market entry barriers. By integrating with BROADSIMS' solution, the data collected by their devices can realize greater value, giving them another chance to penetrate medical institutions. Taiwan's positive startup environment supports BROADSIMS' global expansion while its open platform strategy expands application scenarios Yu revealed that BROADSIMS' ecosystem strategy has generated positive results. The company has actively engaged with ultrasound and video equipment makers for hardware integration on its open platform.It has also introduced a platform development kit (PDK) for use by medical research and academic institutions around the world to develop new applications. With close collaborations with global manufacturers as well as medical research and academic institutions, BROADSIMS continues to expand the scale and diversity of its ecosystem, hoping to start a positive cycle attracting more partners to get on board.BROADSIMS' 5G multi-parameter patient monitoring system was put to clinical use at NTU Hospital and Taichung Veterans General Hospital in 2021 and 2022. It officially passed medical device certification in May 2024 and entered the market.Close to half of the medical centers in Taiwan now use BROADSIMS' 5G multi-parameter patient monitoring system to optimize their healthcare efficiency. For example, Taichung Veterans General Hospital combines the system with mobile communication to continuously monitor the conditions of patients during transit and send the data back to the hospital.This significantly raises emergency care efficiency and patient safety. The solution also meets the needs of the home critical care program the Taiwan government is actively promoting. It enables the same quality of healthcare outside the hospital setting. Aside from Taiwan, BROADSIMS is applying for medical device certification in Southeast Asia and Europe while exerting efforts toward the US and other overseas markets.Looking back at the process of developing and bringing the system to market, Yu attributed the success to the BROADSIMS team's effort. He also considered Taiwan's startup environment and TTA's support critical in helping BROADSIMS secure a foothold in the market.Yu pointed out that with a multitude of accelerators and support programs, Taiwan's startup ecosystem is growing mature. As an important resource provider, TTA incubates startups by offering them opportunities to participate in international exhibitions and bridging them with mentors, media, prospective customers, and investors.Going forward, BROADSIMS will continue to expand its ecosystem and engage with more partners with its open platform strategy and PDK. Furthermore, it will actively strengthen its collaborations with medical institutions, hoping its robust technological capability coupled with the innovative application model will create a win-win situation for hospitals and patients.

For most consumers today, checking online content to decide whether to visit a restaurant has become a usual practice. Therefore, one of the most challenging tasks for restaurant owners might not be serving delicious signature dishes, but rather putting effort and time into managing social media platforms to attract potential guests' attention and encourage them to walk through their restaurants' doors.As a third-generation family member in the restaurant business, Eric Fung deeply understands restaurant owners' pain points. Drawing on 15 years of experience in the tech industry in Silicon Valley and his entrepreneurial spirit, he founded Colega AI with partners, and leverages AI technology to provide solutions that help restaurant owners easily manage social media platforms and create promotional content. Starting with Taiwan as the base, the startup is gaining growth support from TTA and SparkLabs Taiwan, and achieving some success in the market."I've been in the AI industry since 2018, and we've seen so much progression in AI, especially with ChatGPT coming out and all those technologies." Eric, the Co-founder & CEO of Colega AI, said, "I'd like to see how I can combine my knowledge in AI and apply it to Industries that still need to be innovative and catch up to modern technology, and what better industry than the industry that I grew up in?"According to Eric's observations and experience, most restaurant operators do not understand new technologies or think it will be quite difficult to learn how to use them, particularly small and medium-sized businesses with tight human resources. Therefore, his philosophy is to provide AI tools that are easy to use even for those who do not know technology, allowing restaurant owners to focus on what they do best: providing delicious food and a welcoming atmosphere for their guests.Colega AI's users don't need to know programming or go through the cumbersome process of registering, obtaining an account, and filling out numerous forms. They just need to connect with Colega via instant messenger like LINE or WhatsApp, link their social media accounts, and gain an exclusive 24/7 Social Media Manager who creates engaging content to attract online attention for their restaurant.Building exclusive AI model for the F&B industryOf course, the effort and technical expertise required to create such a simple and user-friendly tool is beyond what the end users can imagine. In creating an AI assistant specifically for restaurant owners, Colega chose open-source large language models as the foundation and retrained them with the datasets collected by themselves. During the initial launch phase of Colega's service, they also did extensive manual work on the model fine-tuning to ensure the correct and fluent language they provide, especially the Traditional Chinese used in Taiwan."We take a very careful approach to train our AI model, it's because we want our AI-powered social media manager to be like you're essentially talking to a Taiwanese person." Eric explained, "So everything we do revolves around that. One of the big features that Colega AI can do is proactively tell you, give you ideas or suggestions of what to post, and the data sources come from what's happening around you in Taiwan."For example, if an international superstar recently came to Taiwan, Colega's users will get a message and give suggestions to create a post to capitalize on this hot topic. "So, we have to understand the local events and trends, even the weather. When it comes down to language, we don't just do a lot of manual work at the moment to make sure that the tone, slang, and phrases or grammar are consistent with the everyday language used by people in Taiwan. We can also learn the users' habitual expressions and preferences from their social media posts to create personalized content for them. It takes a lot of work, but we plan to apply this standard and approach to every international market we enter. It's about respecting each country's nuances," Eric added.Establishing a foothold and expanding to broader marketsColega AI is still in a very early stage. The team is currently gaining experience and continuously improving service quality through close collaboration with both independent restaurants and restaurant chains based in Taiwan. According to Eric, Colega AI offers its services through a monthly or annual subscription. In addition to providing suggestions for social media content posts, the company can also offer customized reports on post engagement and follower analysis. This allows F&B operators to gain valuable insights into how social media tools can help their business.Currently, Colega AI's services are already operating in Taiwan and the United States through LINE and WhatsApp. The startup also plans to enter Japan, where social media marketing and LINE usage are prevalent, and they have already received ongoing interest from restaurants there and across Asia. As for other industries beyond the F&B business that also need social media management, Eric mentioned that while Colega AI hopes to serve a broader market, building datasets and training custom models for specific industries is a demanding task. Therefore, the team will first focus on the areas they are familiar with, and establish a solid foothold before considering longer-term future developments.

Semiconductor process technology advancements have enabled extreme miniaturization of electronic devices. Coupled with battery technology breakthroughs and AI algorithm maturity, these developments have given rise to increasing popularity of unmanned vehicles. In particular, the market of unmanned aerial vehicles is of the largest scale.According to the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone market is projected to reach US$140 billion in ten years. Aside from drones, unmanned vehicles are being designed and used for a wide range of application scenarios. For example, governments around the world are investing into autonomous driving vehicles as part of their efforts to improve public transportation. Automated guided vehicles (AGV) are also widely used at warehouses and factories to raise efficiency and reduce labor costs.DROXO CEO Chun Lin Liu noted that drones are used to do many things, for example, spraying pesticides, shooting videos and delivering packages. There have been a multitude of successful use cases. However, drones have limitations such as inability to navigate confined spaces. For the routine maintenance or repair of industrial equipment made of carbon steel such as petrochemical storage tanks, large vessels and wind turbines, purpose-built unmanned vehicle solutions are required.This market segment currently does not offer a lot of choices. Existing solutions are mostly provided by foreign device suppliers and generally do not deliver satisfactory results. DROXO is among the few suppliers capable of providing complete smart storage tank maintenance solutions. Its products have been used to successfully address customer needs in Taiwan. DROXO is also in talks with overseas partners to expand its footprint worldwide.DROXO builds special-purpose solutions to overcome challenges in large storage tank maintenanceStarting out its business developing drone technologies, DROXO chose to endeavor on agriculture drones with a lower entry barrier when it was first established in 2019. It was able to commercialize its agriculture drones and made significant progress within a short period of time. On the foundation, DROXO independently developed wall-climbing intelligent vehicles which received the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Business Startup Award - Innovative Traditional Industry Category 2023.On the basis of the outstanding achievements, DROXO continues to fulfill customer needs by integrating all types of sensors, mechanical designs and automation accessories while staying committed to technological advancements and innovations. On top of that, DROXO leverages its robust hardware mechanical design and software/firmware development capabilities accumulated over time to develop smart vehicles for industrial applications. Not only has DROXO had its R&D results validated but it has also mastered critical technologies.According to Liu, DROXO's wall-climbing intelligent vehicles enable the maintenance work on storage tanks to be performed without the need for scaffolding. Leading chemical suppliers have approached DROXO for the labor cost savings its solutions can bring when they are used to inspect or service large storage tanks. Multiple leading Taiwan-based manufacturers including China Steel, LCY Chemical and Chang Chun Chemical have adopted DROXO's solutions for the purpose of eliminating the risks and uncertainties when using human workers to service or inspect storage tanks.AAROW series of storage tank maintenance solutions. Credit: DROXOForaying into Japan and the Middle East, DROXO taps immense maintenance opportunitiesDROXO has recently introduced a whole-new and complete range of intelligent storage tank maintenance solutions, including AAAROW Scan, AAROW Blast, AAROW Coater and AAROW DECK. Among them, AAROW Scan adheres to the tank wall using neodymium magnets and checks the wall and coating thickness with non-destructive inspection equipment. The inspection results are presented in 3D visualization on ARROW DECK. DROXO's unique product received the 2024 Taiwan Excellence Silver Award.Liu commented that the traditional approach of using human workers to perform storage tank maintenance is very risky. First of all, workers might fall from a scaffold or inhale harmful fumes when doing coating. Furthermore, workers manually measuring tank wall thickness might make mistakes and fail to discover weak spots that will soon crack. The traditional approach also does not allow manufacturers to build 3D models of the tank. Each one of these challenges can be addressed with DROXO's intelligent storage tank maintenance solutions. DROXO operates by providing services instead of selling products. Apart from Taiwan, it is also working with partners in Singapore, Japan and the Middle East to provide services in the local markets.DROXO has focused efforts on technology R&D. Thanks to the assistance from flyingV, stationed in TTA, not only is DROXO able to strengthen its financial planning and business operation skills, but it also gained access to funding from venture capital firms, allowing it to secure market presence in the competitive unmanned vehicle sector.

In the face of growingly intense market competition, companies began to sell gift cards or vouchers decades ago to maintain steady growth.This approach allows them to get paid in advance while encouraging consumer spending. Today almost every consumer has a mobile device so electronic vouchers or tickets are replacing the printed version to become the mainstream.Especially when COVID-19 gave rise to zero-contact shopping, e-vouchers became something that consumers preferred. Seeing that e-vouchers might be susceptible to cybercrime, more and more vendors now integrate blockchain with e-voucher systems and expand their business footprint into the global market.Two groups of vendors combine blockchain with e-vouchers. The first group comprises blockchain startups. They generally don't know the industry well enough to win the favor of international sales channel operators. The second group comprises the original distributors of printed vouchers.They generally work with ICT solution providers but they may not be technically proficient enough to communicate with their ICT partners. 3T GDS is among the very few vendors that have the experience and technical caliber to integrate blockchain with e-vouchers. It was recognized and funded by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in 2022.According to 3T GDS CEO Eric Ko, blockchain enables traceability, immutability, and irreversibility. It has been widely used across a diversity of fields. Blockchain integrated with e-voucher systems prevents fraudulent use of e-vouchers and protects consumers and businesses.The security feature will undoubtedly attract partnership opportunities. Safeguarding e-vouchers with blockchain will also help companies expand their footprint globally as overseas consumers can rest assured that their purchase and use of the e-vouchers are protected against cybercrime. This is what distinguishes 3T GDS from the other e-voucher platform vendors.3T GDS offers more than 5,000 electronic commodities with its global network of 15 channel partnersAs consumers increasingly opting for e-vouchers gives rise to the rapid growth of the e-voucher market, 3T GSD, a startup founded in 2020, endeavors to realize borderless living with digital assets and tourism banking solutions. Leveraging the popular blockchain technology on top of the team's 20 years of experience, 3T GDS brought together cross-border service providers and formed a big league of international e-voucher suppliers.3T GDS's team of seasoned experts has built a global e-voucher purchase and sales platform providing travel commodity trust and reservation services, aiming to deliver higher quality service and stronger guarantees for every aspect of the travel experience. The company currently operates the 3TEZ online ticket point-of-sale platform, the 3TET e-voucher shopping site, the 3T GDS global distribution system, and the 3T GDS CRM distribution management platform. In collaborations with Trip.com, Ctrip.com, Alibaba, ezTravel, and a slew of other internationally known channels, 3T GDS helps them accelerate the distribution and preservation of electronic tickets or vouchers.According to Ko, not only does 3T GDS enable cross-border merchants to manage their inventory on all international channels, but it also helps them digitize their commodities or services and make them available on all international channels. It consolidates all the orders from the international channels and provides them to the merchant so that the merchant does not have to worry about exchange rates and cross-border payment clearing issues. 3T GDS is currently in partnership with more than 35 channel operators, marketing over 8,000 commodities in Taiwan and over 5,000 commodities abroad.Successfully foraying into Singapore, 3T GDS signed an agreement with a prestigious banking groupDespite the widespread popularity of e-vouchers around the world, only Taiwan and Japan have a complete system to regulate e-voucher execution to protect consumers from fraudulent bankruptcy. 3T GDS learns from the system and has signed an agreement to work with a Singaporean banking group to provide escrow services for e-vouchers, creating a multi-win situation for merchants, consumers, platform operators, and financial institutions.Ko noted that without laws and regulations in place, there have been incidents in Singapore where e-voucher sellers went out of business maliciously and consumers demanded financial institutions for refunds. In view of this, when expanding into Singapore, 3T GDS signed escrow agreements with financial institutions and merchants to safeguard against such incidents. The Singaporean banking group therefore quickly agreed to the partnership with 3T GDS.Thanks to the assistance from Foodland Ventures, based in TTA, 3T GDS was able to add many partners in the food service sector, helping them issue e-vouchers and unlock new revenue streams. Going forward, 3T GDS plans to work with TTA and Foodland Ventures to keep expanding OTA, EC, social media, and payment channels in different countries as part of its efforts to build a solid foundation for long-term growth.

In recent decades, cancer immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the host's immune system to eliminate cancer cells, has marked a significant advancement in cancer treatment. This approach offers a more precise and personalized therapeutic option compared to traditional chemotherapy and targeted therapies.However, emerging evidence indicates that the metabolic dysregulation within cancer cells creates physiological conditions in tumors that suppress anti-tumor immunity by reprogramming the tumor microenvironment (TME) to be more immunosuppressive. This challenge hampers the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy, highlighting the importance of targeting immunometabolism—ushering in a new chapter for cancer treatment.Metabolism is a core process underlying essentially all biological functions. The integration of metabolism with immunity, known as immunometabolism, is at the forefront of immunology research, as it continues to transform the field.Given its novelty and potential in cancer immunotherapy, immunometabolism is garnering increasing attention from the global medical and biotechnological industries. According to Raven Lin, co-founder and CEO of Pilatus Biosciences, cancer cells predominantly consume essential nutrients and produce harmful metabolic waste, thereby altering immune responses within the TME.By dissecting immunometabolism, we can understand how the interplay between immunology and metabolism impacts the functions of T cells and other immune cells. This understanding can lead to the development of innovative treatments aimed at reprogramming the TME and enhancing the effectiveness of immunotherapy.Pilatus Biosciences is advancing preclinical studies and translational medical research in the field of immunometabolism at globally renowned research institutions and medical centers. The company has also developed multiple pipelines aimed at creating innovative treatments that target immunometabolism.Unveiling outstanding PLT012 preclinical resultsFounded by Prof. Ping-Chih Ho and Dr. Raven Lin at the Ludwig Cancer Research (Lausanne), Pilatus Biosciences pioneers the development of first-in-class biologics targeting metabolic checkpoints. These cutting-edge innovations aim to advance cancer immunotherapy and tackle the current challenges in cancer treatment. The Pilatus Biosciences team boasts extensive knowledge and experience in immunology, oncology, and biotechnology, providing a solid foundation for its biologics research and development. Continuing to push the frontiers of cancer medicine, Pilatus Biosciences is committed to delivering more effective and safer treatment options to conquer cancer's greatest challenges.Pilatus Biosciences' first groundbreaking antibody, PLT012, was developed to block CD36-mediated fatty acid uptake, driving immunometabolic reprogramming in the TME. This leads to remarkable anti-tumor efficacy and inhibits the growth and spread of cancer cells. Pilatus Biosciences has presented preclinical proof-of-concept data of PLT012, particularly in the context of liver and colon cancer, at several international medical conferences.As a leading research group in immunometabolism, Prof. Ping-Chih Ho, co-founder of Pilatus Biosciences, focuses on studying how immune cells' metabolic adaptations are regulated or modulated in response to the tumor microenvironment. Prof. Ho's in-depth research on T cell metabolism in the tumor microenvironment has laid a solid foundation for Pilatus Biosciences' development of innovative immunotherapy and played a critical role in Pilatus Biosciences' remarkable achievements.Three major bottlenecks in today's immunotherapy are: (1) exhaustion and dysfunction of anti-tumor immune cells, (2) immunosuppression within the tumor microenvironment, and (3) the challenge of selectively activating anti-tumor immune cells without affecting systemic immunity in the body. Pilatus Biosciences' PLT012 addresses these issues by blocking CD36-mediated fatty acid uptake. This immunometabolic mechanism selectively activates anti-tumor immune cells and reduces immunosuppression, effectively overcoming the current limitations of immunotherapy. Credit: Pilatus BiosciencesPilatus Biosciences establishes a Subsidiary in Taiwan to strengthen R&D and fundraising effortsLeveraging its strong expertise in immunometabolism research, Pilatus Biosciences further works with a renowned European cancer center to establish an ex-vivo patient sample culture platform. This platform retains the tumor microenvironment and cell populations of patients' cancer tissues, enabling efficacy assessment across various cancers.As part of its strategy to enhance R&D capabilities, Pilatus Biosciences plans to build a lab in Taiwan starting in July 2024. Pilatus Biosciences' endeavors not only provide more precise data for personalized medical care but also facilitate the selection of indications and biomarkers during biologics development. This approach can significantly reduce the risks of biologics development while greatly benefiting the advances of personalized medical care.According to Lin, Taiwan has cultivated a comprehensive industry ecosystem for pharmaceutical industry from translational research disease model, manufacturing, pre-clinical testing, and clinical development, gradually establishing itself as a global leader in this field. To accelerate its development, in 2023, Pilatus Biosciences partnered with Mosaic Venture Labs, a startup accelerator based in TTA.This collaboration aims to leverage Mosaic Venture Labs' influence and resources in the Asia-Pacific region to drive the company's growth and advancement through every stage of R&D. Pilatus Biosciences is now collaborating with multiple Taiwan-based research institutions and aims to build a strong and agile operation team in Taiwan that will connect with the global research community.Phase-one human clinical trials for PLT012 in Taiwan and the US are scheduled to begin in early 2025. Mosaic Venture Labs is assisting Pilatus Biosciences in a round of funding aimed at raising US$10 million. The startup accelerator's network of biotech venture capital partners in Taiwan will help Pilatus Biosciences build up a solid foundation for its subsequent development. Hopefully, all these efforts will enable Pilatus Biosciences to present more treatment options and opportunities for patients through its biologics development achievements.

In the rapidly changing business world, data-driven strategies have become crucial to how companies can increase revenue. Digital marketing tools that play an instrumental role in data-driven strategies are also rapidly evolving.AccuHit, committed to MarTech solutions, offers three MarTech platforms including AccuNIX, AccuCDP, and Accu3DM. It has recently introduced AccuFLOW.ai, developed on the foundation of its AI strength. According to AccuHit's associate technical director Bing-Jin Lin, featuring no-code AI, AccuFLOW.ai provides tools that enable companies to build their own generative AI platforms for a diversity of use scenarios with no need for specific expertise. Developing AI-enabled MarTech innovations, AccuHit provides three major platformsAccording to Lin, AI is making giant strides and the launch of ChatGPT at year-end 2022 has spurred a wave of generative AI developments. This has profoundly impacted MarTech.The business world is now paying attention to how to incorporate generative AI into their marketing strategies to thereby make their marketing channels and models more intelligent and boost overall productivity and performance. Moreover, businesses have been making efforts to slash the costs of developing applications in recent years. This has also been driving them to increasingly adopt AI.AccuHit has developed three core products to meet MarTech's demand. AccuCDP is a multi-channel customer data platform that collects and consolidates data from various sources. It processes both structured and non-structured data and thereby tracks each user's interactions across different channels to provide companies with complete insights into the traces of users' activities, therefore enabling companies to create highly personalized user experiences.Accu3DM is a data-driven decision engine combining a URL-shortening tool and AI-based analysis. Not only does Accu3DM quickly generate and manage short URLs, but it also uses short URLs for in-depth analysis of user behavior. Its target URL management model integrates multiple short URL data generated by a batch of target web pages to provide companies with a global view of marketing effect analysis.AccuNIX is an all-encompassing conversational commerce platform featuring chatbot support on multiple social media networks and seamless integration with CRM systems to boost management efficiency. It also provides a wealth of marketing tools that effectively increase user engagement and brand stickiness. Companies can also use their data analysis capability and labeling system to precisely divide customers into target groups and create highly personalized marketing campaigns.AccuHit's latest AI solution AccuFLOW.ai. Credit: AccuHitLeveraging generative AI to raise MarTech application performanceIn early 2023, AccuHit formed a dedicated AI team that developed AccuFLOW.ai, following its three core MarTech platforms. Lin pointed out that AccuFLOW.ai focuses on generative AI applications and works with AccuNIX and AccuCDP to bring greater benefits. It empowers AccuNIX for marketing through social media networks. AccuCDP collects and analyzes user data from various channels and conducts user profiling. AccuFLOW.ai then uses the user profile data from AccuCDP to generate customized marketing content.AccuFLOW.ai supports a diversity of corporate use scenarios. For example, customer service departments can use AccuFLOW.ai to build an AI chatbot that responds to product inquiries and redirects customers to human agents when appropriate. It can also help backend support agents quickly find answers to customers' questions. AccuHit's platforms together form an end-to-end smart system that enables companies to collect and analyze data, perform precision marketing, and provide smart customer service. With AccuHit's platforms, companies can increase their marketing effectiveness and raise customer satisfaction. AccuHit's AccuFLOW.ai is being used in a wide range of applications. For example, a leading automaker uses AccuFLOW.ai for employee training, automobile sales, and maintenance services to optimize its internal processes. There are also companies in the finance and insurance sector as well as cosmetics retailers that use AccuFLOW.ai to process data traffic and use AI chatbots for customer service and product sales.AccuHit expands overseas at a steady pace, said Lin. By joining forces with customers and partners abroad, AccuHit has made contact with companies in Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan to gradually introduce its products to foreign markets.Since its establishment in 2018, AccuHit has been enjoying rapid growth in both the applications of its products and the revenue it generates. The growth is a result of the fact that AccuHit's products and their quality meet companies' marketing needs. More importantly, Taiwan's startup environment and TTA's support also play a critical role.Lin noted that the government ramping up subsidies and knowledge-sharing programs has greatly benefited startup teams. Furthermore, TTA offering workshops and venue spaces also helped AccuHit strengthen its operation and management skills and increase its product visibility. Lin therefore hopes the government will extend and expand its policies to provide even more powerful support for Taiwan-based startups.Going forward, although AI will be the center of market attention, following cutting-edge technologies will not be AccuHit's only focus. Lin emphasized that AccuHit develops products to solve real-world problems. It endeavors to help companies raise operation efficiency and competitiveness in the digital era using the most suitable solutions.

Many consumers find it difficult to navigate through today's flourishing e-commerce landscape and have trouble comparing prices across shopping websites. BigGo's price comparison search engine allows users to quickly find and compare over 3 billion price listings and discounts, delivering best-of-breed, high-performance, and valuable shopping assistant services that help consumers easily compare offerings across major e-commerce platforms and make smart purchase decisions. According to BigGo CEO Dewei Yen, BigGo's intelligent search capabilities enable a diversity of applications to help both B2C and B2B service operators deliver premium user experience end to end.Yen founded BigGo in 2016, when Taiwan's e-commerce landscape underwent significant changes with foreign e-commerce operators expanding into Taiwan one after another. At that time, consumers had to switch between different online shopping platforms to compare prices. Yen developed a price comparison system for his own use when shopping for his family.Seeing how his system could also make online shopping more efficient for other consumers and this could be a good business opportunity, Yen decided to commercialize it by launching the BigGo price comparison website. Online price comparison was exactly what Taiwan's e-commerce market needed at the time so BigGo was enthusiastically embraced. Its single-month active users exceeded one million within just one year after launch. Leveraging comprehensive price comparison services, BigGo expands its footprintYen noted that BigGo is much more than a price comparison website. It is an all-encompassing shopping assistant offering cross-platform price comparisons, BIRSE image search, social media comment checks, price monitoring, and product description generators. For price comparison, users can quickly compare prices of goods on major e-commerce platforms, whether it's B2C or C2C. Its image search engine is based on advanced technologies similar to LLM-based AI systems.Instead of simply comparing images by colors and shapes, BigGo's image search engine accurately captures the images' content and style so it is particularly good at conducting searches for merchandise not easily described in words. Furthermore, BigGo incorporates searches for social media posts and short videos so that users can check unboxing videos before they decide to place an order. With these features, BigGo services cover the entire shopping process from start to finish.It was found that users generally compare prices on BigGo five minutes before they decide to make a purchase, added Yen. BigGo hopes to expand its footprint and play a more vital role in users' shopping process, starting with initial information gathering, mid-stage price comparison, and final purchase decision-making. On BigGo, users can search for goods using texts or images, check social media posts, compare prices and discounts across different platforms, and finally go to the platform of his or her choice to complete the transaction.As to the business model, BigGo generates revenue from advertisements and commissions. For example, it gets paid for the Google AdSense banners on its website. It also gets paid by e-commerce operators when consumers directed from BigGo make a purchase on their platform.Apart from the two revenue sources, BigGo continues to actively expand its service offerings. In 2021, it began to develop price monitoring services that help e-commerce operators keep an eye on their prices against those of their competitors. With such services, e-commerce operators can stay aware of market changes and remain agile with their pricing strategies.Boasting comprehensive services, BigGo enjoys an 80% share of Taiwan's price comparison website market. It is also making active efforts toward overseas expansion with a focus on Southeast Asia. It is the No.1 price comparison website in Thailand and Indonesia while operating online services in the US and Japan.According to Yen, built on a uniform platform design, BigGo provides services in different languages to meet local market needs. Among the world's very few cross-border price comparison websites, BigGo will endeavor to provide even more comprehensive services.BigGo home page and short video interface. Credit: BigGoA positive startup environment nurtures BigGo while TTA and Orbit Startups provide valuable supportYen thinks the support from Orbit Startups and TTA plays an instrumental role in driving the successful commercialization of his search engine and helping BigGo gain a foothold in the fiercely competitive market. Orbit Startups' Lifetime Program is aimed at not only initial-stage funding but also long-term partnerships. Orbit Startups keeps watching BigGo's progress and helps find business opportunities whenever BigGo introduces new services.TTA gave BigGo assistance when it was first established. For example, TTA offered a promotional platform for business partnerships, a venue for BigGo to hold product/service launch events, the use of office space, and especially opportunities to participate in all types of events and presentations. These have greatly benefited BigGo and other online service providers.In sum, Yen thinks Taiwan's startup scene is developing in a positive cycle. He hopes that industry-government-academia collaborations will continue to improve Taiwan's startup environment and invigorate Taiwan's e-commerce and technology development.Going forward, BigGo will continue to endeavor toward big data analytics and machine learning algorithms and strengthen its leadership in the price comparison website as well as e-commerce markets. It will stay committed to creating more intelligent and convenient shopping experiences for consumers.

Driver behavior management is a key part of logistics company operation. Unsafe driver behavior not only threatens road safety but also damages the company's reputation, and worse yet, it might incur large legal expenses.OmniEyes provides a total, flexible, and cost-effective fleet management solution built on Edge AI technologies to help logistics companies create a next-generation fleet system by optimizing their resource allocation and intelligently raising their management efficiency.OmniEyes was founded in 2019 by Chun-Ting Chou, Ai-Chun Pang, and Shou-De Lin, three professors at the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, National Taiwan University. The startup was established with the support of a project jointly promoted by the Ministry of Education and the National Science and Technology Council to encourage scholars to commercialize their research achievements and vitalize Taiwan's startup scene.According to CEO Chun-Ting Chou, OmniEyes was founded to use AI-based image recognition for real-time analyses of images captured by dashboard cameras. The team then progressed to focusing on commercial fleet management solutions built on Edge AI technologies for instant detection of driver misconduct such as running a red light and parking illegally to help fleet owners stay on top of driver behavior management.MyFleet Web Portal featuring an interactive driver-coaching platform. Photo: OmniEyesBoasting software and hardware strengths, MyFleet enables three fleet management advantagesBuilt on both software and hardware strengths, OmniEyes' fleet management solution MyFleet runs on an AI Box PC, featuring a Qualcomm chipset, LTE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth communication modules, and Android OS. The device supports front and rear cameras and a variety of sensors to deliver all-round monitoring capabilities.In terms of software features, MyFleet is equipped with OmniEyes' in-house developed AI image recognition system that processes video data at the edge in real-time and then sends the event-triggered information to the cloud platform for users to access through a web browser.Chou noted that OmniEyes' MyFleet enables three major advantages. First, by detecting images of driver behavior and vehicle surroundings, reminding the driver to stop before passing through an intersection, and alerting the driver of a red light ahead, the solution provides not only warnings beforehand but also analytics afterward. Fleet owners have access to complete data, allowing them to enhance fleet management efficiency and performance.Second, by equipping the in-vehicle device with Edge AI image processing capabilities, MyFleet significantly reduces data transmission costs. Third, built with a software-centric design, MyFleet supports Over-The-Air (OTA) updates and upgrades, thereby reducing the need for hardware replacements. Furthermore, OmniEyes also provides customized design services to help fleet owners create a fleet management platform suited to their requirements.MyFleet is available in two business models. Customers can make a one-time purchase of the AI box and then pay a monthly fee for using the SaaS MyFleet web portal. Alternatively, they can pay a monthly fee for the use of the hardware and software. Customers have the flexibility to choose a model based on their capex and opex.OmniEyes' solutions have been adopted by well-known third-party logistics companies such as Taiwan Pelican Express and Ally Transport, first-party logistics such as Youbike (Giant Group) as well as taxi and rehabilitation bus fleets to optimize their management efficiency. Customer feedback indicates a 75% reduction in traffic accidents and a 70% reduction in traffic tickets and liability expenses since their adoption of MyFleet. This proves that not only does MyFleet improve fleet management efficiency but it also effectively lowers operation risks, bringing substantial benefits to logistics companies and commercial fleets.In terms of overseas expansion, OmniEyes has made significant progress thanks to its differentiation strategies. Its MyFleet platform has been adopted by the India branch of an international logistics fleet for its fleet of 370 trucks. Validation projects with potential customers in Japan and the U.S. are underway. OmniEyes expects definite results in the near future.A positive startup environment nurtures OmniEyes while TTA boosts its visibilityFor the successful real-world applications of OmniEyes' technologies, Chou gave thanks to the OmniEyes team for their effort. He also identified Taiwan's growingly complete startup environment and TTA's support as key contributing factors. Taiwan has an increasing number of startup accelerators and incubators that guide startup founders on everything including business operation, customer development, fundraising, and organization management.The startups also form an ecosystem where they share experiences and learn from one another. With TTA's support, OmniEyes can increase the visibility of its technologies and products and reach out to more potential investors and customers. Chou emphasized that the increased visibility is critical to the company's early-stage growth. He concluded by noting that Taiwan's startup scene is developing in a positive cycle. He hopes that industry-government-academia collaborations will continue to improve Taiwan's startup environment and invigorate Taiwan's economy.