As the wave of ESG has overtaken the world, the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held early this year centered around the theme of sustainable development to address global challenges. A diverse range of innovative solutions presented by attending participants were showcased. Among the exhibitors, Taiwan's Mbran Filtra participated in CES with a proprietary innovative filtration material, which ultimately won an award in the "Environmental Protection" category, for its potential in bringing a never-before-seen contribution to all humankind. In fact, with assistance from the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), Mbran Filtra has participated and won awards for two consecutive years. At CES 2022, Mbran Filtra won an award for "the world's smallest filter."Green Chang, CEO of Mbran Filtra, said that the company participated in CES 2022 and won an award with a product co-developed with partners. In 2023, the company once again took part in the trade show and won an award with its proprietary filtration material. There are two key aspects behind Mbran Filtra winning the awards. Firstly, the company adopted green manufacturing processes as early as 2020, replacing chemical materials with non-toxic, eco-friendly alternatives. As a result, generation of toxic waste is prevented in the production process, thus resolving waste treatment issues. Secondly, in 2022, the production process was further upgraded to a low-carbon, biomass manufacturing process, reducing carbon emissions by 50% to 70% during membrane production. Consequently, it has gained favor from equipment suppliers and end-users.Additionally, aside from assisting Mbran Filtra participating in CES, in mid-2022, the TTA also extended a special invitation to former CES award-winning teams to share their experience in drafting successful press releases. This helped Mbran Filtra gain insights into utilizing the media as marketing channels to attract the attention of more global brands and investors at the international event in 2023.Gaining Foothold in Membrane Materials Market Through Unique Technical CapabilityFounded in 2019, Mbran Filtra is dedicated to the research and development of membrane filtration materials, making it the first company in Taiwan to produce microfiltration hollow fiber membrane products. The company offers a wide variety of products based on microfiltration hollow fiber membrane technology, including hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes made from polymer materials, such as polyethersulfone (PES), polyamide (Nylon), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and polypropylene (PP), which are able to satisfy requirements in different application scenarios.Green Chang said that in the past, Taiwan relied heavily on foreign supplies as it lacked the capabilities to produce microfiltration membrane materials. While many companies have attempted to enter this field, no products were ultimately launched due to technical limitations. Despite the company faced competition from international brands such as 3M and Mitsubishi at the initial stage of establishment, during the COVID-19 pandemic, major global membrane suppliers were experiencing unstable supply. This enabled Mbran Filtra to utilize the experience it accumulated to draw the attention of businesses, prompting them to begin using its products.For instance, a major global sports brand has taken an interest in Mbran Filtra's technical capabilities. The brand utilizes Mbran Filtra's membrane material to produce miniaturized filters in a sports bottle designed for outdoor athletes. The product features an ability to filter raw and unprocessed water into safe drinking water. The water bottle is now extremely popular on the market.Debuting in Medical Devices Industry, Transitioning to Diversified Business DevelopmentIn fact, after receiving recognition from the 2022 CES award, Mbran Filtra has since gained significant global market visibility, leading many companies to actively seek collaboration opportunities. In earthquake-prone Japan, in which its people often have heightened alertness, in view of a shortage of membrane materials among suppliers, the Japanese manufacturer who was responsible for producing emergency kits decided to collaborate with Mbran Filtra in 2022. We co-developed a filter cartridge that could be installed in plastic bottles for use during various types of natural disasters to ensure filtration of untreated water into safe drinking water. Currently, the filter cartridge is in the final stage of product certification. Furthermore, charity organizations such as Tzu Chi, which has long been dedicated to philanthropic endeavors, and Love Binti International, a non-governmental organization, have also partnered with Mbran Filtra to produce similar filters. These products have been delivered to countries affected by typhoons and floods, as well as underserved regions in Africa, to ensure that local populations have access to clean drinking water.Green Chang pointed out that due to the shortage of raw materials, the global supply of membrane materials remains highly unstable. The instability not only affects industrial wastewater treatment and replaceable filters, but also triggers a regional reshuffling in the dialysis consumables market. As such, BenQ Dialysis has also begun working with Mbran Filtra to achieve a one-stop production of hemodialysis machines in Taiwan using the experience accumulated by the two companies in this field. As opposed to filtering bacteria and impurities in water which requires hollow fiber membrane pores of 200 nm, hemodialysis requires pores ranging from 40 nm to 80 nm. As such, there is hardly any difficulties in the technological adjustment. With our collaborative efforts with BenQ Dialysis to automate the application of membrane onto the outer case, the production capacity will be boosted, and opportunities for cross-domain ODM/OEM collaborations will be enhanced. As a result, the ongoing project is progressing smoothly, and mass production is expected to begin once the TFDA certification is obtained.It is worth noting that BenQ Dialysis was extremely impressed with the membrane products of Mbran Filtra and proposed to assist in the production of membrane materials during the partnership. If it goes well, the production capacity of membrane materials will be boosted substantially, which will lead to an increase in overall market share. Furthermore, due to numerous requests from industrial manufacturers for filtering trace amounts of heavy metal-laden wastewater, Mbran Filtra has initiated the development of integrating graphene into its current membrane materials. It is expected that relevant products will be launched by the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024, marking Mbran Filtra's entry into the heavy metal wastewater filtration market, and securing a strong footing for its long-term development.Hollow fiber filtration membrane produced via low-carbon biomass manufacturing processes, and sterile filter cartridges designed using the membrane to make PET bottles for disaster preventionPhoto: DIGITIMES

In the face of the global net-zero emissions trend, Taiwan's manufacturing industries will need to provide comprehensive carbon emissions data to meet government regulations and customer needs. However, it is fairly difficult to collect comprehensive machinery data without affecting the operation of production lines. Built with LoRa technology on LPWAN (low-power wide area network), Blutech's NeVerLoSs LoRa and WSDMS (Wireless Sensor Data Management System) can help manufacturers set up industrial control dashboard and energy consumption analysis platforms quickly, which is the first step in digital transformation.For data collection of factory systems and production line equipment, Blutech co-founder/marketing director, Deral Chen pointed out that some manufacturers have set up data acquisition systems early on. After Germany formulated the Industry 4.0 initiative in 2011, the first step for the operational systems of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which is the backbone of smart manufacturing, is to obtain data of OT devices. Various smart functions have since been developed thereof. However, most of the data collected during this period was mainly pertaining to temperature, vibration, etc., while carbon emissions data was mainly gathered from electricity data. As such, further attention in this area is warranted.Deral further pointed out that with increasingly stringent requirements for net-zero emissions imposed by the global market and supply chain, manufacturing industries need data acquisition and analysis systems which can be readily adopted, and Blutech's products and services can meet their demands. The company's solution consists of NeVerLoSs LoRa and WSDMS. They operate through the use of a LoRa transmission chip, which is supported by a proprietary module and the NeVerLoSs LoRa protocol. They connect equipment gauges around the factory and energy data is then monitored through the WSDMS.Deral explained that there are several reasons for choosing LPWAN. First, it is not easy to install wiring in a manufacturing site. Therefore, the best way to increase efficiency of the set-up is to use wireless transmission. The regular wireless local area network (WLAN) is susceptible to interference from metallic materials and electromagnetic waves in factory equipment. Furthermore, its bandwidth would have been too large. Whereas, LPWAN has a long transmission range and its bandwidth is appropriate for control dashboard systems that only need to transmit simple signals, making it the first choice for such systems. The reason for adopting LoRa among various LPWAN standards is that it has been adopted by large global enterprises such as Amazon. Its reliability has since been proven by the market. Furthermore, LoRa's built-in AES-128 encryption system can also significantly reduce the probability of data hacking. Underpinned by these two features, Blutech has developed its NeVerLoSs LoRa technology, which transmits data over a distance of several kilometers and in collision-free packets, ideal for dashboard data transmission.Paired with WSDMS, NeVerLoSs LoRa was developed by Blutech specially for manufacturing sites. The system consists of the Data Ant (data acquisition unit), Meter Ant (IIoT electricity gauges) and Data Queen (IoT gateway), which are able to acquire the electricity consumption data of factory equipment and display it on a dashboard, before transmitting it to the back-end system according to the preset frequency and priority. NeVerLoSs LoRa is able to help the management keep track of the data.Via NeVerLoSs LoRa transmission technology and the WSDMS, Blutech has created a standardized one-stop energy data and sensor data acquisition system. Deral went on to say that the current process of constructing a data acquisition system for manufacturers is mostly performed by system integration companies. They would first take inventory of a manufacturer's needs, and then look for suitable hardware on the market and build the system using their own software. Although such customized system can meet the manufacturer's need at the time, the complexity of the hardware and software sources will cause numerous problems in the subsequent maintenance, upgrading and expansion. In addition, the cost of customized design is also higher, which is not necessarily the best choice for small- and medium-sized manufacturers with limited resources.Blutech's standardized system is designed to solve the aforementioned problems. Since the data acquisition methods of factory equipment are fairly similar, its standardized system can meet most, if not all, needs. It only requires simple configuration and installation to go online. Meanwhile, future maintenance and expansion will not be restricted by a specialized system, and the cost is far lower than that of a customized design. With the advantage of a standardized product, Blutech's one-stop service can help manufacturers implement data acquisition and transmission systems quickly, so that customers can have a electricity data visualization system within a short period of time and meet market demand for carbon emissions data. Supported by sensor data, customers can quickly adopt applications such as energy management, energy performance indicators, water resource management and carbon inventory through Blutech's comprehensive SaaS service platform within the WSDMS infrastructure. This is equivalent to deploying and expanding several systems all at once.Blutech has since helped many manufacturers set up factory-wide data acquisition systems. Far Eastern Fibertech, which produces high value-added nylon fiber products with advanced equipment and textile technology, has been relying on Blutech's WSDMS since 2015. Connected using NeVerLoSs LoRa transmission technology, Far Eastern Fibertech has maintained a very low failure rate for the past eight years, while continuing to expand its systems. In addition, many other manufacturers in various industries have also adopted the power monitoring system with the assistance of Blutech.Blutech has built a reputation for its carbon data acquisition technology and solutions. Chen recalled that when Blutech was founded, domestic entrepreneurship was still in the infancy stage and there were no mechanisms in place to matchmake new startups with the capital market. All teams, including Blutech, had to figure things out themselves. Subsequently, with the help of government policies, financial institutions' understanding of new startups improved, and their willingness to inject capital and related mechanisms were enhanced. These changes were crucial for entrepreneurs. Thus, Chen hopes that Taiwan's entrepreneurial environment will become more friendly, so that the startup success rate can be boosted, thereby continuing to breathe life into the country's economic development.Blutech's comprehensive solution framework. The SaaS platform (right) includes energy management, energy efficiency indicators, waste water flow management and carbon inventory.

In just the past few years, AI has become a crucial part of many smart applications. Then there is ChatGPT, which has surprised global companies ever since its debut in late 2022. Many companies that were originally caution about AI have now dispelled those doubts and have embraced AI-driven digital transformation. For a company to adopt AI, it must first and foremost possess an adequate budget and a team of AI professionals. Secondly, it needs to identify a suitable focus area to optimize benefits within budget constraints and align with the operating team's expectations.Today's world faces a shortage of AI talent. It is challenging for large companies to introduce AI, let alone small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), which often face limitations in adopting this technology due to their restricted resources. Profet AI's automated machine learning (AutoML) platform, bolstered by the IAPS accelerator, is dedicated to assisting companies in swiftly implementing AI applications. A unique end-to-end, no-code machine learning platform, requires only a day of training to initiate AI application projects within a week. This rapid onboarding empowers companies to swiftly cultivate their own AI culture. Currently, Profet AI boasts over 150 successful global cases.Jonathan Yu, Global General Sales Manager at Profet AI, pointed out that while many companies have specific expectations for AI's outcome, their potential is constrained due to a lack professional data scientists or AI experts. These companies often run into difficulties, including a lack of knowledge about how to integrate AI or identify suitable AI application scenarios. Profet AI introduced the AutoML platform, drawing from the experiences of master craftsmen; by employing AI modeling, it facilitates technology transfer and demonstrates the value of data.Tailored AI Solutions for ManufacturingTaiwan's manufacturing industry commands a significant global presence. However, most AI solutions offered by foreign companies cater to the financial and retail industries, making it difficult to meet manufacturers' needs on products and technical support. That is why, at its establishment, Profet AI set its sights on providing better products and the most comprehensive technical services specifically tailored for the manufacturing industry. The AutoML platform integrates more than 50 machine learning algorithms commonly used in manufacturing. General field experts can use Automatic Settings to efficiently complete model training, while advanced personnel can use Quick Settings or Precision Settings to customize and create the most suitable model. As an illustration, when the third generation of the founder of Hai Rei Foods assumed leadership of the company, they harnessed the AutoML platform to usher in AI applications—a transformative tool for traditional industries heading digital transformation."Aside from budget and expertise constraints, the challenge in promoting AI for companies is simple: they do not know where to start or how to access project benefits. In the end, it is difficult to obtain operational team approval." He continued, " Our vast experience across diverse manufacturing domains positions us well. Ready To Go Applications now spans over 12 industries and more than 100 AI application scenarios. It can help companies identify suitable scenarios sooner and reduce AI project lead time. Companies can evolve from their initial project experience, and then adopt the most suitable application scenarios."Collaboration with AUO and Hive Ventures for Global OutreachWith increased government emphasis on startups, renowned startup accelerators such as StarFab, TTA's IAPS, SOSV-MOX, and SparkLabs have entered the Taiwan market. In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has long worked with institutes such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to foster digital transformation among industries, driving industrial uplift within Taiwan. Yu believes that these trends will not only accelerate startup growth but also expedite market entry for products and services. Furthermore, public sector policies offer favorable development opportunities for startups.Yu highlighted that MOEA-subsidized companies often partner with specific institutes to identify startups equipped with innovative technologies for digital transformation. In the long run, these subsidies not only facilitate traditional industries' advancement but also showcase startups' strengths, enhancing market reputation. This comprehensive approach favors sustained company growth over mere financial grants.Profet AI has demonstrated impressive performance in Taiwan, with ongoing expansion into global markets. Its presence in the Japanese market, marked by participation in the programs respectively organized by Accelerate Aichi by 500 and Pre-Station Ai, includes strategic collaborations with Ubiquitous AI, with additional partnerships anticipated. The Chinese market saw the establishment of Aedgetech, a joint venture with AUO. With the combined strengths of both companies, it has entered the Chinese market and amassed a double-digit customer base. In Southeast Asia, Profet AI has already established its first partnership in Malaysia and is collaborating with Hive Ventures to explore the Vietnamese market. The company has also held overseas Crossover Talks to demonstrate the AutoML platform to local manufacturing partners, capitalizing on the huge business opportunities in the realm of smart manufacturing.Profet AI's automated machine learning (AutoML) platform is like a "virtual AI data scientist" for a companyPhoto: Profet AI

The recent craze over ChatGPT throws light on the underlying business opportunities of AI applications. AI applications driven by cloud services have attracted their fair share of attention, but Edge Computing AI applications are also on the rise. Edge AI helps reduce large amounts of data uploads to the cloud, which enables applications like photographic lenses and electronic devices to analyze data and respond instantly thanks to high-performance computing power. The technology also comes with its own advantages in cutting costs and saving power. In addition, Edge AI has crucial strengths in personal privacy and information security; it also creates many business opportunities in the embedded systems market. That is reason enough to be optimistic about the business opportunities in Edge AI development. AI tech startups are challenging market leaders through capital investment and continue to perform brilliantly in a series of AI chip product lines, from Edge Computing to cloud servers.The DEEPX start-up team from South Korea has set their sights on the development of AI accelerator chips for Neural Processing Units (NPUs). DEEPX CEO Lokwon Kim has a PhD in electrical engineering from UCLA and more than ten years of experience in Silicon/AI Chip design at Broadcom and Apple. DEEPX has raised 50 million US dollars and established a chip design and development team 50-plus strong, and it has its sights set on creating next-gen NPU chips.In early 2023, DEEPX launched the DEEPX Series of solutions, which includes four semiconductor solutions, namely DX-L1, DX-L2, DX-M1, and DX-H1, each optimized for a different core AI application. At the same time, they launched the DEEPX software development kit DXNN, enabling the four semiconductor solutions developed by DEEPX to be driven under a unified software framework. DXNN series products can be applied to various fields, from small-sized sensors to edge servers. They are in the running to become an important product package (All-in-4 Edge AI Total Solution) in the AI semiconductor market.One of the key differentiators of DEEPX's AI chip product line lies in their technological prowess. The chips deliver high-performance AI capabilities while ensuring power efficiency, computational efficiency, AI accuracy, and support for the latest AI algorithms. This technological advantage has propelled DEEPX to the forefront of the AI semiconductor industry, surpassing global competitors' NPU (Neural Processing Unit) technology. Furthermore, DEEPX's AI chips offer superior cost competitiveness compared to GPUs and other market solutions, creating a significant edge in the NPU field.DEEPX also recently launched three modular NPU products. The ultra-small camera module equipped with the DX-L1 chip is the first product in the world that runs the latest DNN algorithm on a PCB the size of just half a business card, all without a heat sink, thus performing AI computational processing that only GPUs could do. Currently, the company is actively working on a proof of concept with companies both in Korea and globally that operate smart CCTV and control systems. In addition, DEEPX has also developed the M.2 module and PCIe module-type DX-M1 chips used in inference servers. It is currently shipping to customers for testing. And it is also using promotional activities to draw more customer participation.Since the beginning of this year, DEEPX has cooperated with Hyundai-Kia Motors, POSCO DX, and Jahwa Electronics to promote the commercial testing of AI solutions such as robots, smart cameras, and factory automation. DEEPX is also cooperating with CoAsia to enter East Asian markets like China and Taiwan. In September of this year, DEEPX will participate in the Consumer Electronics Unlimited (IFA 2023) expo to be held in Berlin, Germany, where it will advance its business exchanges with European companies working in the robotics, automotive, and telecommunications industries.Taiwan Tech Arena helps connect to Taiwan's global electronics manufacturing ecosystem and supply chainKim says he believes that Taiwan is an important global manufacturing center for electronics. In the past, he had cooperated with companies in Silicon Valley to enhance DEEPX's name in the tech field, but for extending product reach and expanding business, he still needed to link up with Taiwan's manufacturing industry. With the assistance of Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), DEEPX participated in the TTA Global Forum in InnoVEX 2023 held at Computex in 2023, where DEEPX was able to interact and exchange more frequently with Taiwanese companies. Its discussions with Taiwan OEM/ODM customers helped DEEPX develop AI applications for industrial computers and focus on the design of next-gen robots.Since camera modules are widely used in smart cars and smart manufacturing, Kim pays special attention to the development potential in smart camera modules in Taiwan. Kim believes that co-designing AI-driven camera modules with Taiwanese OEMs/ODMs will help spur diverse development in AI applications. He expressed his gratitude to the TTA for its role in helping tech start-up teams make the crucial connections with Taiwan's electronics manufacturing ecosystem, and gave the TTA high marks. He said he believes that although fundraising is important, some of the most important benefits come from making connections between the tech innovation teams and the industrial chain and providing business opportunities to cooperate with major manufacturers. DEEPX is currently establishing a liaison office in Taiwan, with the assistance of the TTA, which will serve as the starting point for linking up with industry in Taiwan. Although the staff has just one person at the moment, the benefits of the office have already been demonstrated.Looking to future development, DEEPX will initiate formal mass production of NPU chips as well as targeting AI applications in the automotive market. The European Union is now formulating passenger vehicle safety regulations, requiring vehicles to have functions for automatically detecting babies or pets in the car within 15 minutes to prevent the consequences of leaving them in cars. DEEPX believes that this will create more business opportunities for AI applications.Moving forward with product planning, DEEPX will first obtain ISO26262 certification to use DEEPX NPU IP in the automotive field; it will then make automotive SoC chips that meet the safety and reliability requirements of the automotive market. Kim emphasized that their cooperation with Taiwan's electronics supply chain and major OEM/ODM manufacturers is a crucial step toward the future development of DEEPX. He hopes to keep seeking opportunities for cooperation with industry in Taiwan to help bring more AI applications to more users, and more benefits to society at large.From the left, are the camera module with DX-L1, M.2 module with DX-M1 in the middle, and the PCIe module with DX-H1 on the rightPhoto: DEEPX

North American Taiwanese Engineering Association (NATEA) and Taiwan Tech Arena Silicon Valley (TTA SV), a startup ecosystem-building program sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Taiwan, are pleased to announce that they are jointly hosting the U.S. Taiwan Startup Forum (UTSF) 2021, a virtual showcase of 16 tech startups that were founded by Taiwanese and Taiwanese American entrepreneurs. The event will take place on Sept. 9 and 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. PDT.The event is free with the registration info in this link https://www.utstartup.net.The 16 startups - which specialize in Artificial Intelligence, AR/VR, semiconductor, blockchain, and IoT technologies - will showcase their technologies to US-based investors and high-tech professional attendees at the virtual event.The event will include two keynote speakers that include Phil Libin, CEO of mmhmm & All Turtles, and Chieh Huang, CEO of Boxed. Audiences will have the chance to meet startup founders at their digital booth on Filo, a virtual conference platform.This year, the selected 16 startup teams were founded by notable tech industry leaders. For example, Taelor, an AI-powered menswear rental subscription service, was founded by Anya Cheng. Another promising startup founded by Kari Wu, a former Adobe product manager, creates a video tool app that helps produce professional-quality video clips from mobile devices within seconds.Some other startups such as A.V. Mapping and Allies were recently part of Berkeley SkyDeck, which was named in Forbes as one of the top five U.S. university accelerators. A.V. Mapping has won the Red-Dot Awards for AI design, helps video producers to find and license music directly from music owners. Another startup, Allies, helps people to find out if their food is gluten-free in minutes.Meanwhile, startups from the Plug and Play accelerator will also be joining this year's summit. For example, BlockChain Security helps property managers with digital documentation using blockchain technology. AIPLUX facilitates companies to obtain foreign trademarks and KryptoGo helps banks with anti-money laundering (AML)."This is a community event that helps to bridge minority founders and US investors and the high-tech community," said Rex Chen, president of NATEA Silicon Valley. While there are many startup pitch events in Silicon Valley, it is rare to offer a safe space for minority founders to learn and exchange ideas between Silicon Valley and Taiwan startup ecosystem.The Sept. 9 event will feature the following eight startups with consumer products:Taelor An AI-powered menswear rental subscription that helps busy men to look good without the commitment of buying clothes. Taelor is founded by Anya Cheng, a notable former Facebook Shop Product Lead and former eBay Head of Product. Filmlt A videographer software that helps people, such as real estate agents, to create videos for business purposes with AI-powered editing. MAKAR by Mind & Idea Fly An AR/VR content creation and editing tool for teachers. ImpactA computer vision platform for remote team play and activitiesA.V. Mapping A one-stop AI video and audio mapping and music licensing platform for media, video and game creators. HackMD A real-time engineering collaboration tool. Allis by TFT A portable biochemical sensor that helps consumers detect if food is gluten-free in minutes. BlockChain Security A blockchain technology that helps property managers win court cases and get rid of bad tenants by proving the authenticity of leasing documents and communication records.The Sept. 10 event will feature the following eight startups for the enterprise market.Worca A recruiting service for companies to hire tech talents in Taiwan. Avalanche Computing An AI development tool for companies to build AI faster. Torkance Technologies Technology for the memory industry for its thin-film development, using new magnetic film measurement. Lubn A smart lockbox to help hosts remotely manage property access.NADI A 3D architecture solution that provides a realistic and virtual environment to improve the process of building a smart city effectively and efficiently.KryptoGo A compliance technology that helps financial service institutions, such as banks, to enhance money laundering prevention with Chinese language recognition.Relajet An audio technology that improves hearing-aid devices.AIPLUX A one-stop platform for everyone to file for cross-border trademark protection.About North America Taiwanese Engineering & Science Association (NATEA)NATEA is a non-profit organization headquartered in Silicon Valley and has more than 10 chapters in North America. NATEA helps Taiwanese and Taiwanese American high-tech communities with leadership and technical skills as well as a platform for career assistance and entrepreneurship. NATEA hosts a wide variety of technology-related events including semiconductor, blockchain, artificial intelligence as well as complementary skills in leadership and product management among others. www.natea.orgAbout the Taiwan Tech Arena Silicon Valley (TTA SV)TTA SV is the Silicon Valley office of TTA, a startup ecosystem-building program sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan. TTA SV helps technology startups in Taiwan to enter the U.S. market, supports U.S. tech startups founded by Taiwanese entrepreneurs to grow, and fosters the exchange of technology trends and best practices between Silicon Valley and Taiwan. TTA SV has helped 150 startups to mature, and half of them have successfully raised investments. www.taiwanarena.tech

In view of the fact that academic research has always been a key force driving national economic development, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) commissioned the Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy (IAPS), National Chiao Tung University to carry out the Integrated Cross-campus Accelerator Network (iCAN) program in 2016 and further established the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) in 2018 for the purpose of commercializing research results and promoting academia-industry collaborations. To demonstrate the strength of the startup teams that MOST has fostered, 2020 iCAN X TTA Batch#2 Demo Day was held on December 1, 2020 at TTA and was attended by venture capital fund managers and corporate executives as well as iCAN startup teams.Not only was the event aimed to enable partnership opportunities between startups and enterprises, but intended to recognize the startup teams that performed outstandingly during the second half of 2020.Chun-Yi Tu, deputy director-general, Department of Academia-Industry Collaboration and Science Park Affairs (DAICSPA), MOST, remarked in her speech that the cabinet and all the ministries exert active efforts to drive changes to Taiwan's startup incubation policies in hopes of building a healthy environment that can foster a flourishing startup scene. To this end, MOST has launched programs that aim to guide startup teams across different stages of development by providing them counseling, accelerator services, or global partnership match-making. Gathering a myriad of outstanding startups, the event is proof that the policy goal is gradually becoming a reality. MOST will keep investing resources to optimize Taiwan's startup ecosystem.Creating an ideal startup incubation environmentCommenting on iCAN's achievements in 2020, IAPS managing director Hank Huang noted that the program aims to commercialize academic research results and thereby fulfill MOST's goal to perfect Taiwan's startup ecosystem, drive a burgeoning startup scene, promote cross-campus collaboration and communication, boost foreign investments in Taiwan and accelerate industry development. Since July 2016, iCAN's efforts in promoting partnerships with business corporations and communication with international startup communities have successfully helped Taiwan's startups secure NT$450 million (US$15.94 million) worth of investments and orders from foreign and domestic enterprises. Specifically, in terms of partnerships with business corporations, iCAN brings in industry resources and provides tailored guidance every step of the way to enable startup teams to maximize their value while spurring the growth of existing corporations.Huang added that operating on the core concept of refined guidance and targeted investment, iCAN implements a three-step process when incubating a startup. The first step is guided by industry mentors, wherein a number of CXOs and professional mentors with 20 to 30 years of experience working for publicly listed companies as well as four leading accounting firms provide one-on-one counseling to help assess the startup's technology, finance, operation and marketing strength. The second step is meeting with angel investors, wherein the startup team will meet with close to 100 angel investors, venture capitalists and corporate investors one by one, who with insight into specific industries will offer suggestions on the adjustments the startup team should make. The third step is president investment, wherein the startup team will present directly to the corporate presidents at iCAN events to gain partnership opportunities in the form of strategic investments, product R&D collaborations and/or precise sales channel development. Thirteen such events have been held over the past four years.The biggest difference between what iCAN has been doing in 2020 and the past is that it is strengthening practical implementations such as collaborations with corporations, field testing and capital investments to accelerate startup growth. This part of iCAN's efforts further includes three aspects - engaging foreign investments, accelerating startup training and commercialization guidance. As of the end of November 2020, iCAN has held more than 500 refined counseling sessions, which were all planned with startup needs in mind. In each of these sessions, a group of corporate CXOs or professionals were selected based on an initial assessment of the startup team's needs. The selected mentors then provided suggestions from a wide range of perspectives including business operation strategies, analysis of market needs, core values, scaling growth, business and technology partnership matchmaking, multi-national finance planning and patent portfolio planning.Aside from the tailor-made refined counseling sessions, iCAN has also organized more than 25 training series and 100 investment matchmaking events to connect startups with corporations, helping startups precisely target a market segment and accelerate growth by tapping industry resources, working with enterprises and following market mechanism. Through its four and a half years of efforts, iCAN's cross-campus program has incubated 99 startup teams from 53 participating universities, successfully bringing in nearly NT$400 million worth of third-party investment and NT$50 million worth of business partnership. According to Huang, iCAN has created a business environment that fosters startup growth in the most practical way. Feedbacks and evaluations from the group of close to 100 startups have been positive across the board. The response rate from the 2020 survey reached 77.7% and the overall average satisfaction rating was 4.4 stars.Taiwan's vibrant startup sceneRecognized for their corporate health, market orientation, business progress, appeal to foreign and domestic corporations as well as potential as an investment target, six startup teams were awarded at the event. Among them, Sounds Great and CytoArm received the Most Promising Elite Award; Micro PC received the Fast Progress Award; YILI Railway Technology received the Domestic Firms' Favorite Award; Rovilus received the Foreign Firms' Favorite Award; and RedEye Biomedical received the Rising Star Investment Target Award. To encourage the teams to strengthen their product offerings and boost their operation efficiency, each of the awarded startups will have a chance to engage in a close partnership with a corporation.The event also included product presentations by eight teams with promising potential selected from biomedical and healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, green energy and smart machinery sectors. Their products demonstrate practicality and creativity. For example, LuminX has developed a one-stop cellular pharmacokinetics test platform for pre-clinical cellular pharmacokinetics evaluation of cell therapies. DeepMentor provides the DeepLog miniaturized electronics design automation tool that can shorten the time it takes to deploy edge devices for cloud-based AI systems. Moldintel proposes a cutting-edge cloud-based molding solution.A total of 13 startup teams including the eight that gave presentations exhibited their products at the event and communicated with participating corporate executives and venture capitalists. Combining technology with field know-how, these teams have come up with products showing promising commercialization potential. For example, Lockists' scooter sharing platform allows members to share their motorcycles with other members without any intrusive modification. Neopower Technologies provides highly customized single-source or hybrid power system controllers which not only engage in real-time communication with subsystems and modules but also operate on self-developed algorithms to deliver benefits in performance and cost-effectiveness. NetFay's devices and services for smartphone backup and home surveillance ensure privacy protection while enabling optimal user experience.Chun-Yi Tu, deputy director-general of DAICSPA (front, third from right) and IAPS managing director Hank Huang (front, third from left) at 2020 iCAN X TTA Batch#2 Demo DayPhoto:Digitimes, December, 2020

Following the announcement of an investment of NT$4.5 billion in Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) in northern Taiwan for promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) is also set to give a boost to emerging industries in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.Kaohsiung has been keen on developments in artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and 5G, and economics minister Mei-Hua Wang has promised to provide assistance for them to obtain resources from investors worldwide and establish experiment fields locally to help them try out their solutions.In the long run, the MOEA is looking to turn Kaohsiung into a demonstration site for services such as smart retailing, smart manufacturing, smart medical care and AR/VR, Wang said.So far, Kaohsiung has a total of 15 startup incubators, five innovation parks and 10 co-working spaces established specifically for startups. One of the parks has already recruited 30 startups that are devoted to the development of AI, IoT, blockchain and FinTech.In the next two years, the ministry will host more matchmaking activities for startups in Kaohsiung, and from 2023-2027, it will focus more on helping the startups find international investments, Wang added.

Taiwan's startup delegation to CES 2020 has won business opportunities of more than US$226 million during their stay in the US, according to the Ministry of Science and Technoilogy (MOST).The 82 Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) teams caught much attention from venture capital and internaitonal companies, MOST said."This is the 3rd year for TTA to participate in CES. We started form 32 startups with NT$3.2 billion business opportunities in 2018, 44 startups with NT$5.5 billion business opportunities in 2019, and 82 startups with NT$7 billion business opportunities in 2020," said MOST minister Chen Liang-Gee. "It shows that after long-term cultivation by the government, Taiwan's startups have gradually transformed from regional and small markets to global market deployment."He said Taiwanese startups now understand more about CES after three years of participation, successfully linking with global industries, seeking business opportunities and enhancing the quality of the products and services.Among the achievements obtained by TTA at CES 2020, Yallvend has won the orders to deploy smart vending machines at venues of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; YoKai Express has obtained orders for ramen machines from San Francisco Airport; and FaceHeart has been invited by Sony to jointly develop new products for healthcare, according to MOST.

Taiwan startups are demonstrating at CES 2020 a variety of smart tech solutions incorporating fingerprint recognition, blockchain and data visualization technologies to enhance online retailing security, protect personal medical records and facilitate smart mobility services.At CES' Taiwan Tech Arena pavilion, KeyXentic, dedicated to mobile and data security services, sports its biometric identification, multi-factor authentication and public key infrastructure (PKI) tech solutions that can boost online payment security, avoiding possible risks associated with the past input of passwords.AuthenTrend Technology's electronic wallet solution can integrate fingerprint recognition and EAL5 +SE (secure element) technologies to lower the chance of fraudulent use of wallets. The company is striving to bring fingerprint-enabled security authenticators from personal to business, from centralization to decentralization, and from IT to IoT to meet the trend of biometric, password-free authentication.SecuX Technology's encrypted point-to-point payment system allows the linkage between the retail end and the POS terminal system or enables connections between kiosk machines and NFC sensors via an embedded module to boost trading security.International Trust Machines's blockchain-enabled IC solution features a cryptographic security algorithm to achieve high security, privacy protection and low-cost IoT uplinks, while KryptoGo leverages blockchain search engine to increase the usability and readability of digital data.3drens offers vehicle fleet dispatch optimization system to help fleet operators reduce operating costs, increase fleet dispatch efficiency and introduce innovative mobility services. OmniEyes also has released an online virtual assistant system to enhance fleet management.

Taiwan startups are showcasing a variety of cross-domain smart tech solutions integrating 5G telecom infrastructure, diverse sensor-based IoT equipment, blockchain and AR/VR/MR applications at CES 2020, providing new opportunities for digital transformations at various industries.Among the exhibitors at the Taiwan Tech Arena at the CES Eureka Park, AgriTalk Tech led by professors from Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University offers smart agriculture AI solutions for farmers. Its all-in-one sensors monitor vital farm conditions such as nutrient levels, soil moisture, power supply and irrigation to secure normal operations of either large farms or small backyard gardens.Ganzin Technology showcases its Aurora eye tracker module and Luna eye tracker module that can be applied to VR/AR/smart glasses to make the devices perform better in serving users' needs, with the modules mainly comprising SoCs and API (application programming interfaces). The company also supplies relevant software development kits for customers.Nestech, specializing in access control solutions, has unveiled a mobile front desk management system for hospitality industry and property management that can be done via a mobile phone or a tablet.Other smart solutions on display include smart helmets from Jarvish, automated fire-fighting robots from SunJet Robotics, an IoT system for detecting invisible blood from RedEye Biomedical and AI baby cameras from Yun Yun.AgriTalk's system on display at CESPhoto: Mark Tsai, Digitimes, January 2020