As the world gradually enters an era of aging populations, the demand for healthcare resources is rapidly increasing. Coupled with labor shortages caused by declining birth rates, this has become a challenge faced by many countries.Founded in 2018, Taiwan-based startup StreamTeck is leveraging millimeter-wave radar technology combined with IoT solutions to develop a non-contact physiological monitoring system for chronic patients and the elderly. The goal is to alleviate the pressure on nursing staff while avoiding the inconvenience and discomfort associated with traditional monitoring devices.The company's first product, SmartCaring T60 Intelligent Remote Care System, has already received Taiwan FDA Class II medical device certification, and its market outlook is promising."The other co-founder of the company and I both experienced situations where elderly family members needed healthcare, which led us to hope for more effective technological solutions," said Ken Hsieh, Co-Founder of StreamTeck. They also heard from the nephrologists that many chronic kidney disease patients undergoing dialysis, which lasts three to four hours, resist or refuse to use traditional wired physiological monitoring devices, due to discomfort or inconvenience.Additionally, nursing staff shortages made it difficult to respond promptly to patients' emergencies. All these were the driving forces behind the founding of StreamTeck.Based on 60GHz MmWave and Proprietary AI AlgorithmsStreamTeck's solution is based on high-precision 60GHz millimeter-wave radar and infrared sensors, including the hardware, proprietary AI algorithms, and applications installed on PC or mobile devices.A wireless monitoring device installed above the hospital bed collects data on vital signs, including the patient's breathing, heart rate, and body temperature. The data is transmitted via Wi-Fi and processed by StreamTeck's AI algorithms. If any data anomaly or incidents, such as a patient fall, are detected, the system immediately triggers an alert, allowing medical staff to respond to emergencies in real-time.Hsieh said that compared to traditional monitoring devices, the non-contact monitoring method significantly enhances patients' comfort, especially in environments like dialysis centers, isolation wards, or palliative care units, where minimizing personnel contact is crucial. At the same time, this system greatly reduces the burden on medical staff.StreamTeck possesses strong technical capabilities and can provide customized solutions to meet various needs, whether in hardware or software development, terminal system deployment, or AI model optimization.TFDA Certified and Successfully Entered HealthcareHsieh previously worked in the electronics industry, where servers, laptops, and consumer devices could be mass-produced as soon as they passed the testing process. However, the medical field requires a strict certification process for product specifications and quality, it's a significant challenge for startups.Any medical device must meet stringent standards on both hardware and software, and the manufacturing process also has to get an official certification. Additionally, extensive clinical trials are required in collaboration with hospitals. For a startup team with no medical background, this poses a completely new challenge.With confidence in their technology, StreamTeck persistently submitted testing applications and, in the meantime actively worked closely with medical institutions. After a challenging process spanning a year and a half, they became the first company in Taiwan to receive TFDA certification for mmWave technology, successfully entering the medical market.Enhancing Tech Strength and Expanding Globally with PartnersObtaining the official certification of medical devices is just the first step for StreamTeck. Hsieh said that the company will continue to enhance its solutions, aiming for non-contact blood pressure monitoring and more accurate patient posture assessment.StreamTeck's system has been implemented in over ten large teaching hospitals and public regional hospitals in Taiwan, such as Tri-Service General Hospital, Mackay Memorial Hospital, and Taipei City Hospital. Additionally, through collaboration with the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the SmartCaring Intelligent Remote Care System is being introduced into long-term care facilities, with plans to expand services into the home healthcare market.By collaborating with ecosystem partners like Intel to participate in global smart healthcare exhibitions actively, StreamTeck is extending its reach into international markets. The company has established a presence in the United States, and its products are currently undergoing FDA certification.Additionally, medical institutions in Southeast Asia have expressed strong interest in the company's system. Looking ahead, StreamTeck is confident in its plans to gradually expand its market footprint and hopes its technology will benefit a wider user.StreamTeck's SmartCaring T60 Intelligent Remote Care System

Valtec AI, a tech startup co-founded by John Keh, has recently gained significant attention for its innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) and drones in the fishing industry. The company's technological approach targets a market traditionally underserved by modern tech solutions—commercial fishing vessels.Keh graduated from UC Berkeley and later joined the U.S. Air Force, where he gained extensive experience in geospatial analysis and drone applications. During his service, he was stationed in South Korea and the Middle East, completing over 250 missions. After leaving the military, he transitioned into the startup world. Over the past decade, he has had successful experiences as a serial entrepreneur. During the pandemic, he found his way back to Taiwan with his family and, by chance, shifted his military drone operations expertise toward fishing applications.Game-Changing Solution for Commercial FishingCommercial fishing is a high-stakes, high-reward industry where efficiency in locating and capturing fish can mean millions of dollars in revenue per vessel. Traditionally, fishing vessels use helicopters to locate schools of tuna within a 100-kilometer radius. "The helicopters are very high maintenance, very cumbersome to take care of, and it takes up a lot of space. Not only are drones cheaper, but with multiple drones, you can now search 3 to 5 times the area, reducing your time to catch, thereby saving a lot more gas from the ship," Keh said.Valtec AI's drones are particularly tailored for purse-seine fishing vessels, a type of ship that targets tuna schools. The company's core technology allows for multi-drone command and control, as well as AI-powered object identification. Their system can operate several drones simultaneously, collecting real-time data about fish locations, estimated sizes, and even environmental factors like the current direction, which can tear fishing nets. By eliminating the need for helicopters, Valtec AI's drones reduce operational costs and risks while improving search efficiency.In terms of competition, Valtec AI's primary rivals are helicopter companies, but the company's technology is likened to the replacement of horses by cars. The advantages in cost, safety, and efficiency make drones a clear disruptor in the market. Moreover, as the fishing industry deals in a commodity (tuna), any tool that improves yield and efficiency is likely to be rapidly adopted across the board, making Valtec AI a strong player in the space.A Service-Based Business ModelValtec AI operates on a service-based business model, providing a "system as a service." This includes not only the drones and software but also ground control stations and operators. The company's revenue stream is built on offering an all-in-one service, reducing the burden on fishing vessels to maintain and operate their drone systems independently."We buy the drones from the hardware providers, then provide the drones to the fishing vessels, to our customers, and provide the software, provide that ground control station that handles the whole system. We even provide an operator," Keh said. "We're creating a new profession. Originally there were no drone operators on fishing vessels or boats. Now we will provide the trained personnel to be able to operate our system and the multi-drone capability, and that way the customer does not have to worry about if this drone breaks or whatever."Valtec AI's drones have already been deployed to gather data from fishing vessels in Taiwan and the Philippines, with plans to expand globally. Keh emphasizes the potential to scale this system as more fishing companies see the clear cost and time savings from drone adoption. By cutting down the time required at sea from one month to two weeks, Valtec AI's system can significantly boost revenue for fishing companies, turning what is typically a slow, labor-intensive process into a streamlined operation.Future Expansion and Strategic FocusWhile the current focus is on the fishing industry, Keh sees future applications in other maritime industries, such as surveillance for shipping. However, the company is cautious about entering more complex sectors like defense, where factors such as weight limitations and operational range present new challenges for drone technology.In the short term, Valtec AI aims to perfect its solution for the fishing industry, expanding its customer base and proving its value proposition. The company recently closed a $2 million seed round, with investments facilitated through its close connections with Taiwan's startup ecosystem, including investment from Spark Labs Taiwan. The funds will help Valtec AI deploy its technology on 40 vessels of current customers, focusing on proving the system's effectiveness in reducing fishing time and increasing revenue for them.Valtec AI revolutionizes commercial fishing with drone and AI technologies

Taiwan's e-commerce platforms have enjoyed leaping revenue growth since the COVID-19 outbreak as consumers increasingly shop online instead of going to brick-and-mortar stores. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, online retail sales reached NT$503.5 billion in 2023, of which NT$284.2 billion, or 56% was generated by pure-play e-commerce companies. To optimize the shopper experience, e-commerce operators have begun to use AI to analyze customers' purchase history so as to make recommendations when they browse the shopping site thereby increasing the likelihood of a transaction.According to Rosetta.ai CEO Daniel Huang, e-commerce operators connect customers with products using tracking and recommender systems to predict buyer behavior. These systems growingly adopt AI to more accurately capture consumer preferences as AI technologies continue to advance. Rosetta.ai's solution is unique in that it matches the characteristics of both people and products. On top of that, it has the capability to understand images and texts, making it especially suitable for fashion e-commerce platforms. It is being used by multiple e-commerce companies.More than 3,000 use cases with no need for a single line of codeFounded in 2016, Rosetta.ai started out with a focus on developing tracking and recommender systems for e-commerce platforms. As it builds up its capability in AI and machine learning, Rosetta.ai has created a unique merchandise tagging database for fashion e-commerce companies that can be used throughout every stage of the shopping journey to realize automated marketing, including precisely redirecting target traffic, enabling diverse personalized interactions and increasing the repurchase rate.In line with the no code or low code trend, the use of Rosetta.ai's recommender system requires no coding. With only simple drag-and-drop operations, users can have personalized recommendations displayed anywhere on the shopping site, whether it's the home page, a merchandise page, a category page, or the shopping cart page. Seven recommendation scenarios are available to significantly increase the hit rate. Since its establishment, Rosetta.ai has helped more than 3,000 e-commerce brands grow their revenue.Huang mentioned that fashion e-commerce companies often use a large quantity of images to show how well clothes and accessories go together. Cosmetics retailers do the same to demonstrate how good their products would make consumers look. Traditional recommender systems are generally not capable of performing in-depth analysis and often tend to over-recommend similar products. For example, the system will keep recommending black clothing to a shopper who has purchased a black item. Rosetta.ai, on the other hand, recommends items that go with what the shopper has bought based on his or her purchase behavior. For example, it will recommend pants, skirts, handbags, or hats that go with the black top the shopper has bought. Its unique deep learning-based image analysis has attracted many fashion e-commerce companies.Using AI-powered precision recommendation algorithms, Rosetta Engage gains insights into every shopping journey touchpoint and offers intelligent recommendations through three interactive experiences. By accurately identifying moments of interaction between shoppers and website products, it is able to precisely recommend items shoppers love and want to buy, thereby raising the conversion rate.Expanding into Japan, Rosetta.ai's globalization efforts are generating impressive resultsLooking back at his entrepreneurship journey, Huang said that Taiwan's startup environment was not yet mature when he founded Rosetta.ai. There were no accelerators to offer guidance and limited sources of funding. Luckily, Rosetta.ai was subsidized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) also helped Rosetta.ai plan marketing strategies and secure funding. Rosetta.ai now has a team working in Japan to strengthen collaborations with local fashion e-commerce companies. It also plans to incorporate a Japan-based subsidiary sometime between late 2024 and early 2025 as part of its all-out efforts to foray into Japan.Huang noted that apart from the recommender system, Rosetta.ai has launched Rosetta Traffic, a whole new ad model that leverages AI to create a personalized shopping environment and drive high-spending consumers to the shopping site. It also enables product exposure on complementary brands' websites to increase traffic and improve the average order value. Rosetta.ai expects Rosetta Traffic to become its growth engine in the future.Shopping journey analysis increases traffic and revenue for small- and medium-sized businessesPhoto: Rosetta.ai

Spun off from a laboratory at Inha University in South Korea, PhotoniSol, a dynamic startup, is leading the charge in silicon photonic integrated devices. The company focuses on commercializing a groundbreaking optical isolator chip that promises to reshape the silicon photonics landscape.Silicon photonics, a technology designed to overcome the bandwidth limitations of traditional electrical I/O systems, has become vital for the development of high-speed optical interconnects, which are essential for AI computing and next-generation high-performance computing systems. PhotoniSol's innovative optical isolator chip addresses a long-standing technical challenge, potentially revolutionizing the field.A Rising Market Star Born from Academic ResearchPhotoniSol was founded in July 2020 by Kyong Hon Kim, who now is the company's CEO. During his early technical career period, Kim was a researcher at NASA Langley Research Center developing spaceborne lasers for solar-power transformers and LiDAR applications, and then a technical member and director at a research institute, ETRI, Korea developing optical communication devices for 14 years. He also served as one of the key members of a government planning committee for photonic technology R&D projects. About a decade ago, Kim taught and researched silicon photonics at Inha University.According to Kim, optical isolators are critical components that protect laser sources from destabilizing back-reflections, which are essential for applications like data centers, LiDAR systems, and photonic biosensors. With PhotoniSol, he aims to bring his decade-long research to the market with products that optimize these applications.Breaking Barriers to Commercialization"The development of optical isolator chip technology has been a focus of global research groups for decades," Kim noted. "While many significant technical papers have been published, none of the advancements have led to commercially viable devices."PhotoniSol's approach is unique: it utilizes conventional CMOS fabrication lines to mass-produce optical isolator chips, enabling the hybrid integration of silicon photonic devices with existing silicon IC technologies. To achieve this, PhotoniSol has partnered with Singapore's Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF), a dedicated silicon photonics foundry, for the trial production of its chips.The startup plans to release the world's first commercial-grade optical isolator chips within the next year, a move expected to drive market growth for silicon photonic devices and accelerate the development of photonic integrated circuits.Aiming to Replace Existing Market Solutions"We are working to refine the optical insertion loss characteristics of our isolator chips and expect to have market-ready specifications soon," Kim explained. Once finalized, PhotoniSol plans to distribute samples to potential customers for technology licensing or sales.The company's optical isolator chips are designed to replace the bulkier isolators currently used in optical transceiver applications. "Intel and Cisco hold significant market shares in optical transceiver modules for data center equipment," Kim said, "and our goal is to win their support as we bring these chips to market."The development of PhotoniSol's optical isolator chips comes at a time when hyperscale AI computers, data centers, and high-performance computing systems are pushing the limits of current interconnect technologies. Optical isolators, traditionally bulky, need to be miniaturized to enable further advances in photonic integrated circuits.PhotoniSol is on track to release the world's first commercial-grade optical isolator chips, using fabrication methods compatible with standard CMOS processes. This compatibility allows for the hybrid integration of photonic and electronic devices, promising scalability in production and cost-efficiency.Applications Across Multiple IndustriesPhotoniSol's optical isolator chip has numerous applications across several industries. In data centers, these chips are crucial for optical transceivers, replacing bulkier counterparts and improving system efficiency. Furthermore, its technology could enable advances in LiDAR systems, used in autonomous vehicles and high-speed optical scanners, as well as in biosensing applications that demand highly sensitive and stable laser sources.By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, that encompasses device physics, semiconductor fabrication technology, material science, and engineering, PhotoniSol has made significant strides in refining its optical isolator chips to meet market standards. The ability to mass-produce optical isolator chips using existing semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure gives the company a competitive advantage in a rapidly expanding market.With strong support from South Korea's deep tech startup programs, PhotoniSol has successfully transitioned from academic research to commercialization. Kim expressed confidence in entering the global market and is eager to collaborate with Taiwan's industry players who share the same optimism for silicon photonics.PhotoniSol optical isolator chip

Continuing advances in AI technologies are driving a rapid expansion of AI applications into areas such as smart factories and smart cities. Coupled with the widespread popularity of 4G and 5G communication, GPU performance boosts, and increasing data processing speeds, these developments are spurring burgeoning edge AI market growth. According to GII, the global edge AI hardware market was already valued at US$2.62 billion and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.85% over the next five years to US$7.52 billion.According to eNeural Chairman Jiun-In Guo, although edge AI applications are rapidly expanding, device developers and system solution providers face the challenge of high costs. Without small-scale and high-precision AI models, edge devices need to have GPUs with sufficient computing power. However, not only do GPUs come with high price tags in the range of hundreds of U.S. dollars but they also have high power consumption and thermal management challenges, making the miniaturization of edge devices very difficult. This leads to increased development costs and more importantly, it curbs the growth of edge AI applications. As such, having small-scale and high-precision AI models is critical to developers who strive to keep edge AI device cost and footprint under control.The market already has a slew of neural-network processing units (NPU) supporting AI tasks, for example, Sunplus C3V, iCatch V37/V57, Ambarella CV2, Realtek AMB82 MINI (RTL8735B), NXP IMX8M+ and Kneron KL series. In view of the market trend, eNeural is dedicated to building small and precise AI models to support customer needs. Its solutions have been adopted by multiple strategic partners.eNeural builds AI models specifically for NPU platforms, offering unique customization servicesFounded in March 2022, eNeural was a spin-off of Intelligent Vision System Lab, National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU). The team has more than a decade of experience in AI vision. Its independently developed AI modeling tool, AI-Craft, accelerates the time-to-market of AI models, bringing AI application products to market six times faster while boosting the precision level. Incorporating fast labeling and model compression techniques, AI-Craft enables partners to develop edge AI devices featuring a lightweight, small footprint, low power consumption, high performance, and high precision.Guo emphasized that AI models running on NPU platforms on the market are generally developed through open-source projects. They are available in standard versions or manually scaled-down solutions with limited optimization for NPUs. AI-Craft, on the other hand, enables customizable optimizations for various NPUs. Not only can AI-Craft maintain a certain level of recognition precision, but it also makes the AI model up to 90% smaller (depending on the application and requirement). Furthermore, in the case that the precision drops after the AI model is slimmed down, AI-Craft can be used for re-training to raise the precision. This allows eNeural partners to offer a variety of hardware devices suited to different market needs based on only one AI model without the hassle of AI model training and subsequent optimization and scale-down efforts.eNeural participation at CES caught market attention, successfully expanding AI model applicationsIn collaboration with strategic partners, eNeural's AI-Craft is being used in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), mobile robotics, and AIoT. A leading Taiwan-based manufacturer integrated sensors and cameras on top of AI-Craft, which is the smart core, and introduced QBOX, a vision-based commercial vehicle assistance solution that combines a lane departure warning system (LDWS), forward collision warning system (FCWS), blind spot detection system and blind spot information system (BSD & BSIS) and driver monitoring system (DMS). Apart from this, eNeural is also in talks with potential partners in the healthcare and AIoT sectors while planning to further expand the application scope of AI-Craft.Guo pointed out that the establishment of eNeural was a result of a program initiated by former Minister of Science and Technology Liang-gee Chen to create four AI innovation and research centers. Under the guidance of the Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy (IAPS), NYCU, and Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), eNeural participated at CES 2019 and CES 2023, which boosted the startup's visibility. Taiwan's startup ecosystem has made great strides. With the wealth of opportunities and resources made available by incubators, startups today grow at a faster pace.Aside from AI-Craft, eNeural has obtained NPU certifications. Going forward, it is able to provide hardware-software integrated AI solutions suited to customer needs, helping them capture tremendous edge AI market opportunities.The eNeural teamPhoto: eNeuraleNeural's AI-Craft for ADAS and smart cockpit applicationsPhoto: eNeural

Smartphones becoming an indispensable digital tool in our daily lives is driving flourishing developments of social media platforms and the influencer economy. This has changed the way businesses advertise. They have primarily been running ads with Google and Meta but are now increasingly working with influencers as a way to boost their revenue at physical stores. However, not every business can afford the cost of partnerships and agencies with top influencers. As such, the influencer economy transition has happened to shift to phase two wherein some businesses choose to partner with micro-influencers with a smaller follower count but higher engagement. Nevertheless, businesses looking to leverage micro-influencers might still find the back-and-forth communication tedious and time-consuming with traditional influencer matchmaking platforms. This remains a challenge that businesses attempting to harness the power of influencer marketing need to overcome.Tellit Now CEO Kai-Hsiang Yang commented that the back-and-forth communication with either top influencers or micro-influencers about the upfront cost, time, and campaign details can be a real hassle. Worse yet, something unexpected such as the influencer not showing up onsite could still happen. There are plenty of platforms on the market that manage micro-influencers, but they are unable to help eliminate all these problems. Tellit Now provides an automated software as a service (SaaS) that matches influencers with businesses in real-time with LBS. It simplifies the online marketing process and creates a win-win situation for both businesses and influencers, leading the influencer economy into phase three.Map-based exploration shortens the preparation processTo address the pain points of influencer marketing, Tellit Now has launched its unique SaaS platform for innovative social media word-of-mouth marketing that effectively connects businesses and content creators. It helps physical stores or brands leverage influential content creators to increase their visibility and revenue. Integrating all services, the Tellit Now platform enables one-stop management of everything on users' mobile phones, for example, allowing businesses to generate push notifications to advertise their needs, search for nearby content creators and process online payments.Yang explained that Tellit Now uses map-based exploration and works in connection with various social media such as Instagram. Using the map mode on the Tellit Now app, content creators can check in real-time whether a business in the vicinity needs influencer marketing and get information on the campaign budget and requirements. The content creator, if eligible, can choose to participate in the campaign. There is no need for cumbersome communication and confirmation. For businesses, all they have to do is enter their marketing budget and campaign details which will be broadcasted in the app. The system will allow interested influencers to browse this information. Compared to the traditional approach, Tellit Now significantly shortens the time it takes to kickstart a social media marketing campaign.Lowering the threshold for digital marketing and harnessing the power of influencersBefore founding Tellit Now, Yang worked for another startup that was based in Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) so he was well aware of the startup ecosystem in Taiwan as well as all the services made available by TTA and accelerators. When establishing Tellit Now, he received help and guidance from Foodland Venture and food service industry consultants. He was also introduced to a number of venture capital firms. These have greatly benefitted Tellit Now's development. The startup is also considering applying for subsidies from the National Development Fund and the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.According to Yang, although the influencer economy has been around for many years, many businesses lack marketing know-how and only care about views and ratings. With Tellit Now, not only do businesses have an easy-to-use digital marketing tool to increase their visibility, but they can also effectively shorten the time it takes to engage with influencers. Going forward, Tellit Now plans to incorporate CRM functionality and offer traffic analysis to further help businesses leverage digital tools to drive revenue growth.Tellit Now enables physical stores to easily start a marketing campaignPhoto: Tellit Now

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

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

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

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