According to President Ching-Hua Lo of the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs), if young people in Taiwan can exercise their innovation and creativity, and their vital energies can be transformed into commercial value, this will ensure that Taiwan maintains its leading status in the global economy.
Although many students have received a baptism in entrepreneurial ideas, they often discover after graduation that the entrepreneurial road is full of obstacles, which extend from policy aspects to funding. In order to resolve these issues, the MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology ) and participating companies have pROVided annual funding of NT$60-70 million to actively establish venture capital mechanisms. TODAY's "angel investor matchmaking meeting" is intended to help venture capitalists uncover and pROVide funding to outstanding research teams.
Liang-Gee Chen, vice president of NTU (National Taiwan University), noted that although Taiwan's students have won over 300 awards at international invention competitions, they often cannot transform their work into commercially-viable products. This is why the MOST launched the "Innovative Start-up Incentive Program," which seeks to encourage enterprising young people to found technological start-ups, and also hopes to foster the development of technological industries in Taiwan.
16 start-up teams stand out from over 240 outstanding teams
The 16 start-up teams encompass the three major areas of innovative technology and design, biotechnology/biomedicine, and cloud and technical services. Having undergone two three-day/two-night camps held by the MOST, and receiving instruction from prominent domestic and foreign instructors, the 16 start-up teams all displayed remarkable progress.
In the field of innovative technology and design, the teams came up with some extremely creative and marketable products, including a sophisticated fanless cooling system, high-precision ultrasonic cutting technology that is rocking Japan, an exquisite electron microscope that is attracting investors from China, a revolutionary nanofilter that can eliminate dust, germs, and formaldehyde, graphene that is overturning the field of carbon materials, and a cultural & creative works go-between and commercialization service platform.
The angel investor matchmaking meeting not only pROVided young innovators with a platform on which to display their creative efforts, but also helped resolve the problem of lack of funds faced by young entrepreneurs. As a result, students who "have an idea and a bit of courage" will eventually be able to use their "innovalue" to achieve a place on the international stage.
The teams participating at this event gave briefings and displayed physical examples of their products. The invited sponsoring firms included Hiwin Technologies, Chunghwa Telecom, IBT Venture, An Yung Accountants, Fubon Group, Far Eastern Group, Ruentex Group, and MediaTek; such prominent venture capital companies as Harbinger, Han Ding, Yuen Foong Yu, AppWorks, and Vincera were also in attendance. All participants bore witness to the entrepreneurial soft power of Taiwan's young innovators.
