According to the latest Taiwan Cancer Registry published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) in November 2023, lung cancer has overtaken colon cancer as the most common type of cancer in Taiwan. It is also one of the leading causes of death around the world. One of the reasons that lung cancer has such a high mortality rate is that it is often only diagnosed in later stages when the best time for treatment has lapsed. Therefore, early screening is of utmost importance. The DeepLung-CAC developed by DeepRad.AI employs multimodal AI technology, utilizing low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) imaging It aims to achieve the goal of preventive medicine by detecting lung nodules and simultaneously predicting the risks of coronary artery calcification.DeepRad.AI is a spin-off company of Taipei Medical University founded by the university's former president, Professor Cheng-Yu Chen, a specialist in AI research. The company's research and development are centered on reducing case fatality rates through early detection and prevention, aiming to optimize the utilization of healthcare resources in society. Yao-Chi Chang, the CEO of DeepRad.AI, emphasized that the earlier lung cancer is detected, the higher the chances of recovery. With conventional X-ray technology, locating nodules is challenging, and by the time symptoms are identified, the cancer often progresses to stages three or four, resulting in a survival rate of only 10-30%. The widely used LDCT is highly effective and capable of detecting stage one or even stage zero lung cancers, significantly boosting the survival rate to over 90%.Nonetheless, the evaluation of LDCT lung cancer screening results currently relies on radiologists. The latest CT scanners can now offer up to 640 slices, resulting in a significant increase in the number of images for analysis. This surge in workload poses a substantial impact on doctors' productivity. In contrast, the DeepLung-CAC optimizes the clinical workflow to address these challenges.According to Yao-Chi Chang, DeepLung-CAC can provide doctors with preliminary results within five minutes after the completion of the LDCT scan. The patient's old and new images can also be compared to identify any nodular changes, assisting the doctor in explaining the screening results to the patient. Furthermore, DeepLung-CAC can automatically generate lung cancer screening reports that align with the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) standard. This significantly reduces the time required by doctors for analysis and report generation, enhancing the accuracy of test results and overall productivity.In addition to lung cancer screening, the DeepLung-CAC can simultaneously assess coronary artery calcification risks. Coronary artery calcification serves as a crucial indicator for evaluating the risk of cardiovascular disease. DeepRad.AI utilized paired data (i.e., examination data from simultaneous screening for lung cancer and coronary artery calcification)to train DeepLung-CAC. This enables the platform to simultaneously detect early-stage lung cancer and assess coronary artery calcification risk in a single LDCT scanning session. Following four years of research and analysis, DeepLung-CAC is now capable of screening for these two diseases, which rank as the first and second leading causes of death in Taiwan, using a single LDCT scan.The platform is currently undergoing clinical trials in anticipation of TFDA approval, expected to be granted in 2024. Clinical trials are underway at Taipei Medical University Hospital and Shuang Ho Hospital, where the platform has demonstrated improved CT interpretation efficiency.As for the market potential of DeepLung-CAC, approximately 500,000 people in Taiwan are categorized as high-risk for lung cancer, but only 50,000 underwent government-funded screening last year. If the concept of preventive health gains widespread acceptance, this could lead to a tenfold increase in overall screening volume in Taiwan. However, with only 1,600 radiologists currently available, there is an urgent need for AI to reduce their workload and enhance the quality of care. DeepRad.AI aims to assist and optimize the overall process for radiologists using AI. By improving the efficiency of lung cancer screening and early detection rates, the vision of successful lung cancer prevention and treatment can be realized.DeepRad.AI has made progress in screening for lung cancer and coronary artery calcification. The next step is to proactively develop predictions for osteoporosis and dementia. The company aims to contribute to innovative breakthroughs in the fields of preventive health and diagnosis.Yao-Chi Chang pointed out that the team's hard work and Taiwan's innovation-friendly environment are the two main factors to success. In addition to a focus on research and development, precise and effective market planning is crucial for start-ups to promote their products. He expresses hope that policy support from government agencies will attract the attention of foreign investors to DeepRad.AI's technology and platform, facilitating successful commercialization. Looking ahead, he envisions Taiwan refining its laws, regulations, and auxiliary policies to leverage its capabilities in technology and healthcare sectors, creating an even greater competitive edge in smart healthcare.DeepRad.AI utilizes a single LDCT examination and multimodal AI technology to conduct a one-time scan of the lungs and heart, enabling automated lung nodule detection and prediction of coronary artery calcification risk. The examination concludes with a standardized text report for doctors' referencePhoto: Company

With the coming Internet of Things (IoT) era, a large number of devices will be connected to the Internet. While this trend brings convenience, it also brings an increased risk of equipment being hacked and chips being illegally copied. Faced with such threats to information security, the Taiwanese start-up Jmem Technology (Jmem Tek) has developed various products, such as MSOTP and PUF, that can help companies raise their storage density, prevent physical attacks, and generate random data for higher unpredictability, to meet the market's high demand for security.John Chang, CEO of Jmem Tek, pointed out that there are several pain points in information security for chips. First, most memory chips are very similar in their structure, while the main difference is the firmware. This similarity makes it easier for hackers to crack. Second, a large amount of firmware is stored in OTP (one-time programmable) memory. Protecting firmware has thus become the current key to information security. Third, chips are exposed to the risk of reverse engineering. Hackers can easily obtain chip data by removing the coating or using physical methods such as X-ray. Jmem Tek's technology can solve those pain points.Jmem Tek was co-founded by four graduates of the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University—John Chang, Paul Lo, Johnny Lu, and Jerry Chang, with their product concepts originating from John Chang's doctoral thesis. The company currently houses a team of about 15, whose member's backgrounds include electronic engineering and other professional fields. John pointed out that, in its early days, the Jmem Tek team actively participated in competitions to promote its innovative concepts and technological achievements. And it did quite well—for example, this year (2023), it was invited to participate in the City-Tech.Tokyo event for startups, the world's largest urban technology exhibition, hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. In September, it was selected as second place in the TW-SG Startup Exchange Program and was invited to the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH). Then, in November, it was selected into the TINVA TOP 10 Startup by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) New Venture Association (TINVA), showing the company's potential for development.John then introduced Jmem Tek's major technologies. Its patented MSOTP is a major innovation in the field of anti-fuse OTP memory. Each device unit in MSOTP can store two bits of data. That means fewer transistors can store the same amount of data as in traditional methods. In addition, the structure Jmem Tek designed makes it difficult for physical attacks such as X-ray and decapping to attain the storage status of the MSOTP. Since it is also highly compatible with the CMOS logic process, the technology requires no additional photomask during the manufacturing process, meaning production costs can be reduced.MSOTP's low power consumption and small surface area are particularly suitable for IoT, where space is limited and devices are distributed. Applications for MSOTP include secure data storage, key storage, sensor fine-tuning, parameter setting, function selection, etc. In addition, users can also integrate MSOTP and traditional OTP to avoid brute force cracking and meet higher security level storage requirements.In addition to MSOTP, Jmem Technology's patented technology also includes hardware security technology PUF. PUF is a hardware security technology derived from non-uniformity in the wafer manufacturing process. The unique "uniqueness" and "unpredictability" of PUF can generate random sequences in the trust system, effectively reducing the risk of being cracked by the algorithm. Jmem Technology's patented PUF technology relies on its innovative structure to reduce chip area and improve performance, making it highly competitive in the market.The technologies of MSOTP and PUF make the chip almost impossible to crack by reverse engineering, greatly improving the security strength. The company's current business model is to provide design services to IC manufacturers, John pointed out. This technology is particularly suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises or start-up teams that cannot easily obtain relevant resources from large IC design manufacturers. Jmem Tek can assist customers with limited scale to quickly meet the security needs of the market.Regarding future development, John said that Jmem Tek will focus on the two major areas of the Internet of Things and vehicle-mounted systems, as well as AIoT protection algorithms and solutions that combine the algorithms on the device side to avoid algorithm theft. There are a large number of edge devices in the Internet of Things, and the functions of chips are single and there are many cost considerations. The company's solutions help manufacturers in this field create economical and simple systems. The automotive market has taken off rapidly in recent years, and industry players and consumers have become increasingly aware of system security. Jmem Technology's patented technology meets these needs. Since the automotive field requires long-term certification, the initial focus will be on the Internet of Things. The automotive market development strategy is to first establish cooperative relationships with industrial supply chain manufacturers and enter the market step by step.It has been about a year and a half since its establishment in April 2022. John's feelings about Taiwan's new innovation environment are quite positive. He pointed out that Taiwan currently has a vibrant atmosphere for innovation, with policies, regulations, and various plans becoming more and more complete, such as the startup cluster planned by TTA and InnoVEX, the startup exhibition area that helped participate in COMPUTEX. For start-up teams with limited resources, it will bring huge help in technology exposure and fundraising. In addition, he also hopes that there will be more resources and policies focusing on early-stage start-ups in the future. It allows teams with the potential to accelerate their maturity and create a win-win vision of co-prosperity for both the enterprise and the country's economic development.Jmem Tek team membersPhoto: Company

Enterprise operations are facing increasing challenges due to intense competition in global industries. Repetitive tasks with heavy workloads, high risks caused by human operations, inefficient resource utilization, heavy pressure during business peaks, and increasingly complex cross-platform system operations—these factors not only consume a significant amount of time and energy but also hinder enterprise innovation. Now, many enterprises have introduced robotic process automation (RPA) to address the aforementioned pain points. The new generation of EMILY.RPA, launched by the startup team BILINK CORP., features a unique built-in web browser that not only boosts work efficiency but is also outstanding in terms of safety, usability, reliability, and integration. Currently, it has been adopted by several large domestic and foreign enterprises.Jerry Tseng, founder of BILINK CORP., pointed out that digital transformation has taken the world by storm, and enterprises have become more reliant on IT systems. In recent years, most enterprises have started to migrate documents and applications to cloud platforms. Cloud platforms can save enterprises the cost of building IT infrastructure and come with the advantage of immediate access via online login, thereby increasing operational efficiency. Under this trend, the role of PCs at work has gradually shifted from merely operation platforms to serving as the portal for web browsers to log into cloud platforms. However, there are information security concerns regarding RPA solutions from various brands that utilize users' web browsers to log into cloud platforms or search for information on web pages. EMILY.RPA has addressed these issues through its unique design.EMILY.RPA has four main features. Firstly, it can utilize RPA technologies to imitate ways in which humans operate computer software to achieve process automation. Additionally, it can directly interact with various types of software and cloud applications, eliminating the need for communication with software developers to perform custom modifications when implementing automated tasks. Secondly, the low-code and no-code scripting functions are designed through the combination of EMILY.RPA and machine learning algorithms. Low-code is a traditional programming method that allows professional programmers to easily adjust processes to fit their needs through minor modifications in coding. No-code, on the other hand, enables non-professional programmers to easily and quickly train and utilize EMILY.RPA through icons on the visual programming interface. It can automatically complete searches for market information and organize such data into specific formats that meet enterprises' requirements, among other tasks.The third feature is, unlike other RPA tools that require operation via the user's personal web browsers and the installation of extension components, EMILY.RPA utilizes dedicated web browsers to conduct operations, further protecting enterprises' information security. Currently, this technology has obtained Taiwan patents, and U.S. patents are under review. The fourth feature is that EMILY.RPA supports Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. Its range of applications can be expanded, enabling different system users to utilize this tool with high efficiency and strengthening the implementation of teamwork and communication. It simultaneously increases the flexibility of enterprise operations and ensures all internal users can receive the same user experience and technical support.The aforementioned features provide strong competitive advantages for EMILY.RPA. Currently, various types of enterprises have deployed it in their organization. Global panel manufacturer Innolux has boosted its work efficiency through the platform and resolved issues that could easily go wrong when handling repetitive tasks manually. In recent years, Innolux has actively promoted smart operations, with the aim of applying RPA in each department of the enterprise to improve their efficiency. Once EMILY.RPA is deployed, it can successfully resolve several long-standing issues. For instance, EMILY.RPA can precisely and efficiently collect price information from retail websites across the world, handle orders with diverse, complex content and special formats from international clients, and automatically complete tables required by companies. Aside from Innolux, logistics companies that need to handle a significant amount of receipts and order tracking information, as well as electronic commerce platforms that need to launch a significant amount of products and have the demand for purchase, sales, and inventory management, have deployed EMILY.RPA. Jerry Tseng emphasized the architecture of EMILY.RPA is highly flexible, and it adopts a subscription model. Whether large companies or small and medium-sized enterprises with limited resources, all can easily increase their efficiency and reduce human operational errors through this platform.Going forward, Jerry Tseng stated that digital transformation has become an inevitable trend. Optimizing work processes through digital transformation has become a necessary strategy for enterprises to increase their competitiveness, and the need for RPA functions from markets will also grow. The new generation of RPA must allow for easy and quick use in complicated scenarios. Thus, EMILY.RPA will leverage generative AI by training large language models (LLM) to enable RPA to swiftly understand users' needs through natural language and directly let robots complete tasks automatically.BILINK CORP. has been established for three years now, and the company has gained the trust of enterprises from different fields. Besides the hard work of its team, Jerry Tseng believes that policy support from the government is also one of the key reasons why the company has achieved outstanding performance. He pointed out that in recent years, the government has been actively improving the domestic start-up ecosystem, optimizing related regulations, and providing support. For instance, the Company Act, which was amended in 2018, allows the shareholding structure of start-up teams to be more flexible, thereby creating more sources of funding. Furthermore, the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) offers opportunities to participate in international exhibitions. Its aim is to increase companies' product visibility and make it easier for them to meet clients from overseas markets. BILINK CORP. appreciates the support from the government and TTA. The company will continue to strengthen the efficiency of its products in the future. Additionally, it aims to assist enterprises in various fields in implementing digital transformation through features such as high efficiency, safety, and usability.Three main features of automation technology from EMILY.RPA patented web browserPhoto: BILINK

An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a common physiological monitoring device used in medicine. However, conventional ECGs must be operated by medical professionals and are monotonous and time-consuming to use. The PCA 500 developed by QT Medical, a company based in the United States, is a medical-grade 12-lead ECG system that is easy to use and can be operated by a layperson following simple instructions. The entire process takes no more than a minute. The recorded data is sent to the backend via a mobile device and is available to the physician in the cloud for case management and telemonitoring. In terms of accuracy, the device has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and clinical trials have proven that its performance is on par with high-end resting ECGs in terms of accuracy.Jackal Chen, senior vice president of QT Medical, pointed out that cardiovascular diseases pose a major threat to human health, with a mortality rate even higher than that of cancer. Fast and affordable, 12-lead ECGs have long been used for preliminary diagnosis and disease classification. According to the medical guidelines set forth by the American Heart Association (AHA), the performance of a 12-lead ECG is recommended when an individual experiences chest pain or tightness. Although these common symptoms may seem harmless, they are often the sign of heart disease. A 12-lead ECG provides an initial screening of heart conditions and helps the physician make a diagnosis.However, as the 12-lead ECG machines are located in hospitals and an ECG screening is usually only part of a complete medical examination, the test must be performed in a hospital. This time-consuming and inconvenient medical procedure often discourages people from being examined and reduces the chances of patients receiving the necessary treatment. In response to this issue, the PCA 500, a medical-grade 12-lead ECG system from QT Medical, was developed specifically to address this problem. According to Jackal Chen, QT Medical's team is committed to making 12-lead ECG devices and services more accessible and user-friendly in small- and medium-sized clinics, community centers, private homes, and even public places. The company wants its product placed similarly to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) commonly found on the street to enable the rapid proliferation of hospital-grade ECG services.The PCA 500, a medical-grade 12-lead ECG system from QT Medical, stands out for its simplicity. The device consists of a patented one-piece electrode sensor and an ECG recorder, coupled with a mobile app and a cloud-based platform. Users only need to follow the visual instructions and attach the patented ECG electrode sensor to their body. The device then automatically measures the data and it wirelessly to the cloud platform via the app. Finally, the data and preliminary interpretation reports are received by the physician for evaluation.On the whole, the medical-grade 12-lead ECG devices from QT Medical are handy, hygienic, efficient, accurate, and of high quality. The intuitive design of the system makes it easy for an average person or patient to use it comfortably and without special training, while achieving the same accuracy as a standard hospital ECG machine. The compact design and patented one-piece disposable strips effectively reduce the risk of disease transmission through direct contact and avoid the risk of misalignment and misdiagnosis associated with the complicated lead wire placement of traditional ECG devices. This ensures convenience and data accuracy, as well as drastically minimizes the time required for the procedure. All ECG data is encrypted and transmitted securely to the HIPAA- and GDPR-compliant cloud-based management system, which enables real-time case management and provides reports in PDF format for easy aggregation and analysis.Jackal Chen further explained that the development of the product is technically difficult, as the shape of the strips, their position, and the software design need to be fine-tuned in a series of clinical trials to obtain accurate data swiftly. In addition, once completed, the product must undergo rigorous testing and certification to prove its safety and efficacy. Currently, the PCA 500 medical-grade 12-lead ECG system is being used in clinical trials in a variety of different settings and applications. In addition, QT Medical has developed various business models to accommodate the laws and cultures of different countries. In the vast United States, for example, the company works with health facilities to deliver the devices and test strips to patients by mail. Patients operate the device themselves and the data is automatically sent to the cloud-based platform for physicians to analyze. The company is also working with prison authorities in the United States, where the devices are operated by prison staff to address the shortage of medical staff in prisons. As for the Taiwanese market, the device is not only used in hospitals but also in ambulances and telemedicine. Patients can test themselves at home or in a community center and enjoy the benefits of telemedicine and mobile healthcare within the established healthcare system.Since its market launch, the PCA 500 medical-grade 12-lead ECG system has garnered praise in the healthcare industry. In addition to being innovative and practical, solving many of today's medical challenges, Jackal Chen believes that the startup ecosystem in Taiwan and the support from relevant institutions have also contributed greatly to the company's successful growth.Jackal Chen pointed out that the Taiwan branch of QT Medical was established in 2015. Over the past 8 years, an increasingly dynamic startup ecosystem has developed in Taiwan. The policy resources of government agencies and the expertise of business accelerators have also grown rapidly. These resources and policies have been extremely helpful for startups to gain access to the market. The Taiwan Tech Arena, for example, has brought several startups to visit Japanese business leaders and medical institutions. Institutional support has improved the startup teams' standing in dialogue with the other side, allowing for more comprehensive and smoother communication. As a result, new communication channels have been created, opening up the local market.Going forward, QT Medical aims to optimize its products further and expedite product marketing efforts. In the near future, the company will focus on the markets of developed countries and actively collaborate with various agencies to expand the application potential of its products, realizing the vision of mobile healthcare and telemedicine.QT Medical’s PCA 500 is the world’s most portable medical-grade 12-lead ECG system. The patented ECG electrode strips are FDA-approved and can be handled by non-professionals, opening new possibilities for telemedicine applications and cardiac screening.Photo: QT Medical

Launched in late 2022, ChatGPT showed the world the almighty power of generative AI, thus paving the way for the AI 2.0 revolution. At the heart of generative AI is so-called the large language model (LLM), which is trained on large amounts of data. ChatGPT, for example, is based on either GPT-3 with 175 billion parameters, or GPT-3.5 with 200 billion parameters. Currently, apart from Open AI, Taiwan Web Service's (TWS) Formosa Foundation Model (FFM), and other paid LLMs offered by domestic and foreign companies, there are many more open-source LLMs on the market, such as Hugging Face's BLOOM and Meta's Llama 2. These LLMs are equipped with 7 to 176 billion parameters and can be used legally in commercial environments.Both commercially licensed and free open-source LLMs, once trained on proprietary data, can be utilized by companies in a variety of ways. For example, LLMs can be used for intelligent customer service, code writing, or improvement of efficiency of corporate information utilization. Such applications have significant potential to increase business productivity and industrial competitiveness. Therefore, numerous providers on the market have claimed to help with the implementation of generative AI. However, only a few companies have invested in such projects, while most are adopting a wait-and-see attitude.Leo Yang, Chief Marketing Officer of DeepMentor, pointed out that despite the strong demand for generative AI and the urgent need for its early adoption to improve industry competitiveness, companies are still hesitant for three main reasons, i.e., confidentiality and security considerations, high implementation costs, and lack of AI talents. Even if companies are interested in moving forward with generative AI projects, most do not know where to start, as there is a frenzied scramble for AI talent worldwide. In addition, most vendors offer generative AI services on cloud-based platforms, leaving companies concerned about the potential leakage of confidential data. Finally, the cost of training AI models in the cloud can easily reach Hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, as most proprietary models need to be trained three to five times to meet customer requirements. These high costs deter many companies from implementing AI projects.Customized Generative AI Designed for Cloud or On-Premises Use Drastically Reduces Project Costs and TimeTo summarize the three factors mentioned above, only a few large companies have enough AI talents and capital to invest tens of millions of dollars at a time in AI servers to satisfactorily perform in-house AI model training and inference. Most medium-sized companies can only look on in envy, not to mention small and medium-sized enterprises with limited budgets and manpower.To help more enterprises and educational institutes adopt generative AI, DeepMentor launched a comprehensive hardware and software solution for designing generative AI, the Mentor series (basic to advanced versions). Customers can select to conduct different levels of all-parameter LLM training (please see the diagram below) based on hardware on Mentor Series. DeepMentor helps customers verify the training results versus actual application needs. Take the basic Mentor-100 as an example. Mentor-100 is a product of collaboration with a major industrial computer brand, Axiomtek, which specializes in creating small-scale edge computing AI servers that are quiet, energy-saving, and optimal for office hardware and software architecture. Used in conjunction with Fine-tune Expert, a training software in DeepMentor's pre-installed GAI application software package, DeepExpertTM, as well as the training counseling curriculum, enterprises from different industries and units of different levels can easily adopt applications that cater to their internal needs.Jack Wu, CEO of DeepMentor, believes that the ability to perform inference using LLMs with 7B or 13B parameters is an important step in advancing AI projects. First, even if medium or large-sized enterprises have sufficient financial resources, it may not be easy to obtain a project budget of more than ten million New Taiwan dollars if there is no supporting data to prove the viability of the project. Whereas, Mentor-100's favorable pricing is very well suited for companies to conduct early-stage proof of concept (POC) on a small scale internally. For schools, research institutes, and small and medium-sized enterprises, LLMs with 7B, 13B, or 33B parameters are more than sufficient for relatively simple usage scenarios or for performing POCs. In these cases, it is not necessary to use an LLM with 176B parameters.It is worth noting that DeepMentor, as one of the few companies focusing on providing generative AI solutions with a considerable track record, was invited to participate in the testing and promotion of the TAIDE program, a Taiwanese LLM in traditional Chinese announced by the National Science and Technology Council.Six Usage Scenarios Accelerate Implementation of Generative AIDeepMentor's DeepExpert solution has two unique features. First, depending on their business needs, customers can choose to use open-source LLMs of different types and parameters, such as Meta's Llama 2, or FFM, a LLM licensed by DeepMentor's partner TWS and pre-trained on traditional Chinese corpuses. Second, for the hardware architecture, DeepMentor is working exclusively with Phison Electronics in using their NVMe module, which is specifically designed for generative AI training and can overcome the memory capacity limitations of current GPU cards. This allows AI models to be trained with just two NVIDIA RTX A4000-ada GPU cards instead of the more expensive NVIDIA A100/H100 chips. This feature can significantly reduce the overall costs, allowing even small and medium-sized enterprises or academic institutions with limited budgets to take on generative AI projects and see the results of inference in only approximately two weeks.Leo Yang pointed out that in addition to the DeepExpertTM solution, DeepMentor also offers pre-trained and optimized AI application modules for six common usage scenarios, namely Document Expert, Code Expert, Customer Service Expert, Meeting Expert, Image Expert, and Fine-Tune Expert. Coupled with the self-developed and easy-to-use No Code tool, these modules help enterprises quickly integrate their own data to perform training and inference of their proprietary AI models. As a result, to date, they already have government agencies, financial institutions, publicly listed IC design companies, well-established enterprises from traditional industries, and retailers running point of business (POB) testing with DeepMentor to verify DeepExpertTM's outstanding capabilities as a one-stop generative AI implementation solution.DeepMentor has been working with Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) since 2018 and has participated in a number of business matchmaking events, technical presentations, etc. The collaboration has been helpful in raising the company's profile and securing venture capital investment. DeepMentor hopes to maintain a close and cooperative relationship with the TTA in the future to lay a solid foundation for expansion into overseas markets.Enterprise-level GAI On-Premises solution of DeepMentorPhoto: DeepMentor

During the three-year pandemic, food businesses had been impacted by decreasing in-person dining and government endemic prevention policies globally. As a result, they have been collaborating with delivery platforms to sustain their survival and increase revenue. Despite increasing diversity in delivery services, people began dining in restaurants or ordering takeout again after the pandemic eased off. To avoid hefty platform fees, food businesses are seeking collaboration with other platforms. They hope that by diversifying delivery channels, they can improve their profit margin and the overall revenue.Bogi Huang, Chief Operating Officer of DotDot Global, pointed out that with the advent of the post-pandemic era, the top two delivery platforms in Taiwan have started offering takeout services. However, businesses still have to pay a fee as high as 18% to 20%, which significantly diminishes the profit of food businesses. These days, we find that businesses are working hard to attract new customers and meet the demands of regular customers. Therefore, apart from maintaining partnership with delivery platforms, they also indicate additional ordering channels on their menus for regular customers to avoid incurring high platform fees. DotDot Global has launched a smart ordering system that has been integrated with LINE, and in conjunction with a complete membership management and payment system. This system has been adopted by chains such as 50 Lan and Old God Kung Food Hot Pot, with more than 10,000 customers.DotDot Global Maximizes Popularity of LINEFollowing the rapid rise of delivery platforms, numerous takeout system solutions for the food industry have emerged. During the pandemic, many cloud-based point of sale (POS) providers introduced online ordering modules to meet a variety of operational demands. Unfortunately, they did not become mainstream systems.Upon in-depth analysis, DotDot Global identifies two major challenges that are hard to overcome. First, online ordering systems are designed for general restaurant operators and are therefore, less applicable to vastly different food businesses like bubble tea shops, and street vendors. Second, cloud-based POS providers are not familiar with consumers' ordering needs. Most online ordering modules are designed to facilitate business management, causing the interfaces to be less user-friendly. As a result, they struggle to attract consumers to adopt them.Huang said, "When entering the food market, we decided to launch our own online ordering service through LINE because it is the most popular app in Taiwan." Consumers can order online conveniently by adding the official LINE@ account of the vendor. The platform offers takeout and delivery services, as well as online payment like LINE Pay and JKOPay, making it extremely convenient for both food businesses and consumers. As businesses are facing labor shortage, online payment can eliminate the need to handle cash, make change, and save businesses from dealing with abandoned orders. Furthermore, DotDot Global has also collaborated with many logistics companies to offer delivery service for food businesses without charging high platform fees.From Philippines to Entire ASEAN MarketDotDot Global offers a one-stop solution for food businesses, covering the POS system of stores, online ordering, in-store WiFi, digital payments, integrated delivery services, food delivery logistics, and marketing strategies for attracting customers. Food businesses can customize these services according to their needs. Take the online ordering system as an example. For stores that have limited operational space and staff, DotDot Global provides cloud-based order-taking and printing machines. Once the equipment receives an order from an online platform, it automatically prints the receipt, and the store can prepare the order on the receipt without changing their workflow. This process is also very easy to learn.The LINE ordering service introduced by DotDot Global caters to the needs of different types of food businesses. Over the years, it has gradually incorporated various customization settings into its ordering system. Take bubble tea shops as an example. The online ordering system provides options for different sugar and ice levels. For braised food shops, the system offers a discount option of three products for NT$50. After its launch, the LINE ordering service immediately attracted users with all kinds of dining preferences. Furthermore, in 2023, DotDot Global introduced the SoftPOS payment service, adding contactless credit card payment to existing POS machines. Dine-in customers can safely making payment without any physical contact.Huang pointed out that DotDot Global was founded in 2014 and has since joined two to three accelerator centers. In recent years, there has been noticeable growth in Taiwan's entrepreneurial environment. The number of accelerator centers has significantly increased since ten years ago, offering a more diverse range of services for startups. Whether it is acquiring venture capital, reducing time to market, or transforming creativity into actual products or services, these resources provide tremendous help that can significantly increase the success rate of startups.DotDot Global recognizes the immense global opportunities in food delivery and takeout industry. After achieving notable success in the Taiwanese market, DotDot Global plans to expand its operations overseas, starting from the Philippines. DotDot Global is currently conducting proof of concept (POC) verification with Philippine partners in local food courts, and has received positive feedback overall. The company plans to expand into other food industries in the future.

With the aim of attaining outstanding results in competitions, a global trend of combining sports and technology has ensued. Various sensor components are being combined and utilized to collect athletes' data from competitions or training sessions to serve as reference for future improvements. Industry output has reached new records due to recent developments in AI as well as the popularization of sports technology applications in the general public. A Data Bridge Market Research report points out that industry output will reach US$47 billion in 2029 and become a hotly contested space amongst corporations; the market will also release many smart fitness products designed for the general public.The massive industry output of this market will naturally attract Taiwanese enterprises that boast advantages in the field of information and communication technologies. For instance, the National Science and Technology Council's Taiwan Germination Program has subsidized NeuinX, an independent research team from National Tsing Hua University. The team has currently released the sport image smart AI analysis platform NeuinX Play. With support from Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), NeuinX attended its first Consumer Electronics Show in 2023 and won the CES 2023 Innovation Awards. Resulted in massive attention from the U.S. sports technology industry and laid a solid foundation for its entry into the U.S. market in 2024.Tsung-Hsun Tsai, the CEO of NeuinX stated that the early development of sports technology in the U.S. has resulted in diverse solutions and technology related products for basketball, baseball, and golf. TTA's support in attending the CES 2023 not only increased exposure for NeuinX, but also led to exchanges with the U.S. industry, which will be greatly beneficial for the company's future developments. In fact, TTA offered various consulting services prior to NeuinX's visit to the U.S. and became one of the driving forces that allowed the company to win an award.NeuinX technical consultant Min-Chun Hu stated that aside from their support for CES 2023, TTA also provided mentorship courses in marketing, financial planning, and governance designed for startup companies, which paved the way for the sound, long-term development of NeuinX. In addition, TTA hosted many matchmaking meetings that allowed NeuinX the opportunity to earn the attention of even more investors.In-house Developed AI Image Analysis Targets Students and Small- to Medium-Sized Sports CompetitionsThe active efforts of various companies have resulted in many sports image analysis platforms on the market that mostly require multiple professional film equipment to utilize. As such, full solutions are often extremely costly and can only be utilized by professional sports teams or leagues. In a bid to drive the commercialization of cutting-edge sports technologies and establish itself as a premier global sports service provider, NeuinX, founded in 2023, brings over 15 years of accumulated expertise in sports image analysis with many high-level international conferences and journals. NeuinX's technology was used by Taiwan's National Team in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the solution won the 2021 Taiwan Sports Technology Application Award.In order for student leagues and small- to medium-sized competitions to enjoy the brand new experiences delivered by sports technology despite their limited budgets, NeuinX launched the subscription based NeuinX Play service in 2023. Users can simply upload game footage filmed using smartphones and cameras or TV broadcast footage of basketball games to the cloud, and the system will automatically analyze players' shooting locations and movement patterns. Additionally, NeuinX Play includes a built-in automatic scoring platform that records each shot and determines if it has gone into the net. The system automatically records scoring information for each player, thereby drastically reducing the cost expenditure of recording scores, which is traditionally performed manually. Furthermore, in response to the emergence of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, NeuinX Play automatically clips highlights, which can be sent to a predetermined platform, thereby satisfying the requirements of league marketing activities."To verify the feasibility of NeuinX Play, we partnered with a renowned Taiwanese basketball league and multiple agencies in 2023, and conducted verification test through 10 actual games held in Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium and Xinzhuang Gymnasium. The results evidenced that the system could accurately analyze the shooting process of athletes and fully document their scoring status." Tsung-Hsun Tsai explains, "In the future, we will provide additional functions such as automatic detection of data such as blocks, steals, and rebounds to better meet the functionalities required to record actual competitions."NeuinX Stat Will Enter the U.S. Market by 2024Amidst intense competition, the market sees an influx of various sports video analysis platforms, although the majority require expensive integration with specialized camera equipment, consequently restricting their adoption mainly to professional teams and leagues. In a move to penetrate the sports technology sector, NeuinX introduced the NeuinX Play Cloud Service in 2023, marking the company's inaugural venture into the field The award winning NeuinX Play that won CES 2023 Innovation Awards is currently used in National Tsing Hua University basketball court and received many high praise.Tsung-Hsun Tsai stated that in order for more student teams and small- to medium-sized leagues to enjoy the advantages of sports technology, NeuinX expects to release NeuinX Stat in 2024, targeting student leagues in both the U.S. and Taiwan. In addition to retaining and enhancing all functions of NeuinX Play, this version will also provide a field for on-site personnel to fill in statistical data; XR data visualization and True View visualization can also be applied to basketball strategy training and game analysis.In addition to student leagues, NeuinX is also targeting the strong demand for AI sports image analysis from professional athletes and leagues. The company expects to launch NeuinX Train in 2026, which will provide 3D action simulation and an online training system, providing athletes with a better understanding of their athletic condition and reference data for planning future training sessions, thereby improving their overall performance in professional basketball games.NeuinX technical consultant Min-Chun HuPhoto: NeuinXNeuinX technical consultant Hong-Guo ZhuPhoto: NeuinXImage of NeuinX Play interface. Users can upload videos to the platform and the cloud computing module will automatically capture event labels and time stamps from the images, and provide users with data as well as highlight clips, which can be applied to strategic discussions or marketing.

Following the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, which has posed a serious challenge to medical facilities worldwide, governments have come to realize how precious medical capacities are. As such, the policy focus of government agencies and medical institutions has to gradually incorporate mechanisms that reflecting patient risk levels as to optimize limited medical resources. FaceHeart's image-based vital sign measurement technology has the potential in becoming part of a home healthcare system that facilitates the efficiency of medical resource allocation in society due to its ease of use and high accuracy. As a result, FaceHeart's technology has recently gained the attention of the medical industry. According to Jerry Chang, president of FaceHeart, the company has submitted a clinical trial application to the FDA in 2022. If the process goes smoothly, the company will receive certifications between 2023 and 2025 for vital signs measurements. It would be able to capitalize on ample business opportunities arising from the new era of medical care.FaceHeart's image-based vital sign measurement technology can measure heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen, respiration, and other physiological data of a patient in a home environment by simply using a camera on a smartphone or tablet that captures the patient's face. Wearable devices such as smartwatches or wristbands used for an extended period of time or medical measurement equipment operated by professionals with the help of a third party are therefore, not required. Furthermore, all of this can be done with an accuracy that meets medical standards. Therefore, the technology is well suited for telemedicine applications. Jerry Chang pointed out that image-based vital sign measurement devices can be set up easily, accurately and quickly at home to capture patients' vital signs. In tomorrow's medical system, such devices could be used by patients with chronic diseases—they are able to recover at home if their physiological data is normal, or visit the hospital if the data is abnormal as directed by a physician, thereby optimizing the allocation of healthcare resources.In addition to appropriate allocation of healthcare resources, FaceHeart's image-based vital sign measurement technology has the potential to be included in the Medicare coverage. Jerry Chang explained that as part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services updated its Medicare coverage guidelines in 2018 to include certain remote patient monitoring (RPM) services in the list of insurance benefits. FaceHeart's image-based vital sign measurement technology can be used for RPM covered by Medicare. For example, the technology can continuously measure and record patients' vital signs during various treatments, which is helpful to medical facilities in collecting relevant data and facilitating the operation of subsequent medical insurance mechanism. FaceHeart could benefit from becoming a Medicare device provider in two ways.First, the company would see an increased volume of sales, and second, insurance carriers would be made liable to process payment for the products, solving subsequent cash flow issues.FaceHeart's technology attracts attention of medical community for ease of use and high accuracyThe main reason for industry interest in FaceHeart's image-based vital sign measurement technology is its ease of use and high accuracy. These two key features are, in turn, a product of the company's professional team and years of clinical trials.Jerry Chang also pointed out that the team members serving as the backbone of FaceHeart have all been students or graduates of the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, excelling in digital signal processor (DSP) technology. As a result, the team is able to eliminate noise interferences, which are common when using DSP, and elevate the accuracy of consumer electronics, such as smartphones and tablets, to that of medical devices. FaceHeart's team is also supported by two heavyweight consultants: Dr. Jui-Sheng Sun, superintendent of the Trauma and Emergency Center of the China Medical University Hospital, and Dr. Gau-Jun Tang, superintendent of the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Hospital. Together, they ensure that FaceHeart's technology meets the needs of the medical industry.To bolster IRB's and clinical trials, FaceHeart has also collaborated with National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and En Chu Kong Hospital. Collecting more than 100 million medical records, the company used this huge amount of data to create a highly accurate measurement system based on the AI algorithm developed by FaceHeart's team.Currently, FaceHeart is looking to expand its global market presence. In 2022, the company applied to the FDA for a review of its technologies that measure vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen, and respiration. For each technology that passes the review, a device that measures the corresponding vital sign will be made commercially available. In the future, the company plans to apply for two additional important certifications: CE in the EU and HSA in Singapore, which will allow the company to export its technology overseas. In this regard, Jerry Chang is deeply appreciative of the policy support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the National Science and Technology Council. In particular, after participating in the Value Creation Program, FaceHeart was able to take part in technology fairs such as CES in the U.S. and VivaTech in France with the help of Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA). Jerry Chang also pointed out that FaceHeart has focused on overseas markets from the beginning. However, as a startup company, its resources are limited. Therefore, participating in these two major trade shows not only allowed the world to see FaceHeart and made its technology more visible, but also gave exposure to the team members. They are able to gain an understanding on market trends, as well as competitors' products. In addition, FaceHeart used the opportunity to develop various business models and explore further application opportunities. As a result, FaceHeart is able to improve the competitiveness of its products and take advantage of business opportunities in smart medicine in the post-pandemic era.

The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has come in the wake of changes in consumer shopping patterns. And with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping has become both a common routine and an indispensable part of life for most people nowadays. According to a report from Euromonitor International, the annual growth of e-commerce in 2020 reached 26.94% globally, and it showed double-digit growth over the next few years. This wave has driven more SMEs and individual sellers to sell their products to overseas markets through cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba. On top of that, there are also many dropshipping companies on the market without warehousing and inventory, meaning that after the buyer places an order, the dropshipping company will deliver the goods directly to the wholesaler, avoiding the pressures of keeping inventory and making deliveries. However, regardless of the sales model, these individual sellers and SME e-commerce companies often ignore the complex process involved in cross-border sales, so their overall performance has not met expectations for growth.Although Amazon, Alibaba, and other cross-border e-commerce platforms can provide services such as customs clearance, declaration, and logistics provider consultation, SME e-commerce companies still have to choose a suitable logistics provider on their own and complete account opening, identity verification, fill out cargo information, complete the declaration form, among other steps, before completing the delivery work. In addition to dealing with that complicated procedure, sellers must also be familiar with pricing methods, which vary across logistics companies, in order to balance cost and time. While it micro commerce not abundantly apparent, these extra considerations increase the operating burden for SME e-commerce companies, but at the same time they have promoted the rise of new logistics companiesDuncan Hui, general manager of Spaceship, an international logistics platform, said that even professional logistics teams at big e-commerce companies are not always familiar with the relative advantages of logistics companies or how each company requires its electronic forms to be filled out, so it goes without saying that it is even less possible for the teams at SME e-commerce companies to distinguish those differences. It is also the case that the freight calculation standards of logistics companies differ between corporate and individual users. That means that SME ecommerce companies often have to pay higher fees, just adding to the overall operating burden. Focusing on the operational pain points of SME ecommerce, recently emerging logistics startups have cooperated with international logistics companies while also making use of big data applications and computing, to help SME ecommerce operators shrink the delivery process, lower operating costs, and become more competitive in the e-commerce market.Combining big data and AI to complete delivery in minutesSpaceship, a new Hong Kong startup, combines the experience of a professional logistics team with a logistics and software ecosystem that empowers ecommerce merchants and consumers to reduce costs while delivering a reliable and efficient end to end shipping experience. It currently works with more than 30 global logistics services to provide a one-stop convenient delivery platform that helps consumers and SME ecommerce companies find delivery services that meet their service demands. Using innovative technology and AI, it launched an international shipment booking and management online platform, which provides one-click, real-time price comparison and booking services that is optimized for e-commerce delivery including delivery time prediction, tax prediction and more. This platform simplifies the complicated international shipping process, and greatly shortens the time to process a shipment order by nearly 6 folds.In addition to establishing partnerships with more than 30 logistics companies, Spaceship can also use big data analysis technology to recommend the optimal delivery plan according to the user's shipment information and automatically notify and assist users with special delivery requirements. Using its 24-hour online reservation system, users can book point-to-point logistics services in more than 280 countries around the world with a single click and with exclusive discount price; they can even arrange shipments online anytime, anywhere.Hui pointed out that Spaceship team members, with their abundant experience in the logistics industry, are well aware of the logistics pain points for SME e-commerce in the delivery of goods. That is why, in the design of the software operation interface and logistics distribution process, they began from thinking from the user's point of view. Compared with the traditional, self-initiated delivery process, it is both more convenient and efficient, greatly reduces delivery time, and has received high marks from users.The highly active venture-capital scene of Hong Kong with the enthusiasm of the startup team in TaiwanAlthough Spaceship was established in Hong Kong, it also saw the bigger scale of Taiwan's market and its more mature e-commerce environment, so it didn't take long after launching services in Hong Kong that the team set up an operating base in Taiwan to provide innovative delivery services for consumers and e-commerce operators. Spaceship believes that the evaluation of VC companies in Hong Kong and Taiwan, two places where the team has fundraising experience, focuses on uniqueness and the future prospects.Hui said that in addition to setting up a company in Taiwan, Spaceship has also cooperated with legal entities such as the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), and has obtained opportunities to participate in various programs and activities. It has also obtained investment from teams such as 500 Global, SparkLabs Taiwan, and Paragon Investment. Through its cooperation with the TTA, it was also invited to participate in Meet Taipei, where the Spaceship team interacted and learned from other startup teams, the energy of Taiwan startup companies making a deep impression on them. While it is growing quite fast in terms of performance in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Spaceship also plans to enter more mature markets, such as Southeast Asia, Japan, and the US, in 2023, and strive to capitalize on the business opportunities in international logistics and distribution.Spaceship General Manager Duncan HuiPhoto: CompanySpaceship

The world has come to a consensus over the importance of developing renewable energies to mitigate the greenhouse effect and decrease our over-reliance on fossil fuels. In particular, solar energy has risen to become one of the primary methods of power generation. However, the relatively short life cycle of solar PV panels, which is approximately 20 years, has resulted in the accumulation of waste PV panels awaiting processing in many countries. According to a model by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 365 million tons of waste PV panels will be generated globally by 2050; as a result, the recycling of end-of-life PV panels has become an urgent issue.TSGC co-founder and CEO Andrew Hung states that countries such as the U.S., EU, and Taiwan have been long concerned about the massive amount of waste PV panels that would undoubtedly be generated by the promotion of solar energy, and have already established regulations for their processing. California, for example, defined end-of-life PV panels as general waste in 2021 to simplify the recycling process while also severely restricting their methods of recycling by prohibiting chemical and thermal processing. TSGC's PV Circulator solution for waste PV panels features fully automated physical disassembly and is expected to begin operations in California during Q4 of this year.TSGC founder, professor of the National University of Tainan Department of Greenergy, and director of the Solar Energy Center Yaw-Shyan Fu points out that the governments of many countries are utilizing subsidies for recycling companies to handle tasks such as disassembly and sorting. However, the actual benefits are limited to decreasing the amount of trash. In response to the sustainable development trends in recent years, the concept of circular economies has emerged, encouraging sectors to willingly manufacture products using recycled resources to meet ESG guidelines. As such, TSGC's PV Circulator solution has attracted broad interest.Automated Disassembly of PV Panels—Recycles Nearly 100% of Waste MaterialsTSGC was founded in 2022 with support from the Ministry of Education and National Science and Technology Council to focus on solving the environmental impact caused by waste PV panels. The company developed the world's first fully physical and automated PV panel recycling technology and applied it to launch the PV Circulator. The product is capable of disassembling each layer of PV panels under room temperature through methods such as automatic sorting and milling without requiring heat, water, or chemicals. Materials such as aluminum frames, glass, cell, EVA, PVDF back-sheet, and precious metals can be recycled intact.TSGC integrated their exclusively developed artificial intelligence and Auto ML (automatic learning) technologies into the PV Circulator. Vision AI recognizes tens of thousands of global PV panel specifications, which are then applied to automatically disassemble PV panels; data such as recycling rate, power consumption, and emission reduction are automatically uploaded to a cloud platform. Finally, the equipment utilizes Web3 technology to automatically generate a free recycling resume to the owner of the end-of-life PV panel, which in addition to documenting the clean recycling, can also act as evidence to the implementation of ESG strategies.Andrew Hung states that while there are various solutions, such as the heated blade method and pyrolysis tunnel recycling method developed by Japanese companies NPC and Shinryo as well as the EU FRELP, available in the market for recycling waste PV panels, all of them involve chemicals, heat, or landfill, which carry different degrees of environmental impacts. In comparison, TSGC's solution not only features a high recycling rate, high capacity, and zero pollution, it also meets California's latest regulations, does not require chemicals, water, or heat, and surpasses the 80% recycling rate mandated by EU's Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)."Considering the extremely high costs for European and North American countries to transport waste PV panels, we launched a mobile version that can immediately begin on-site recycling. For example, a 500MW site in California can save nearly $2 million in transportation costs to a recycling plant 500 miles away." Yaw-Shyan Fu explains, "Given that European, American, and Japanese markets lack the technology and industry chain to recycle and reuse plastics of PV panels, TSGC has developed a technology that upcycles plastic and has partnered with Taiwan's industry chain to provide a global material upcycling service. Upcycled plastics can be used for value-added manufacturing of regenerated sneaker soles."Strategic Deployment in the U.S., Taiwan, and Advancement into the European MarketSince its founding, the unique PV panel recycling technology developed by TSGC has won multiple recognitions, such as the InnoVEX 2023 ESG & Green Tech Award, SelectUSA Investment Summit 2023 CleanTech, top 10 of the 2023 Intersolar Award, top 10 of VivaTech x TotalEnergies, and top 10 of VivaTech's Coup de Coeur.Andrew Hung states that throughout the company's development, their long-term partner TTA has provided multiple startup training courses, expert/industry mentoring, and led TSGC in attending major exhibitions and competitions such as CES and VivaTech. These efforts have greatly increased the international reputation of TSGC and created many business partnership opportunities.Aside from focusing on the U.S. market, TSGC is simultaneously dedicated to developing the Taiwanese and European markets. In Taiwan, TSGC has partnered with professional licensed waste disposal companies and plans to install PV Circulators in the northern, central, southern, and eastern regions of Taiwan. It is anticipated that the establishment of an industry recycling alliance will act as a solution to many of Taiwan's problems related to processing waste PV panels. As for Europe, TSGC has received invitations from Belgium's Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX), Switzerland's official agencies, and local companies, and expects to establish a European subsidiary at the end of 2023. The export of related technologies to the European market will solve the challenges of recycling waste PV panels in these countries.TSGC co-founder and CEO Andrew HungPhoto: DIGITIMESPV Circulator, a recycling equipment for end-of-life solar panels, utilizes physical and fully automated methods to achieve a nearly 100% recycling rate, 95% energy saving and 99% emission reductionPhoto: Company