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

Many startups from Taiwan are showcasing innovative smart healthcare solutions at CES 2020 incorporating edge computing, AI and non-invasive medical technologies to materialize preventive medicine and holistic healthcare services.Among the exhibits at the Taiwan Tech Arena pavilion is an AI-assisted chest sound monitoring system unveiled by Heroic-Faith Medical Science. The system can automatically collect breathing sound data of patients and monitor the breath via different angles using 6-8 detection pads, according to company CTO FJ Tsai.Tsai said that the system can detect early symptoms of many major lung diseases including spasm, pulmonary edema, and fibrosis in order to materialize preventive medicine and provide early treatment for patients.Ahead Medicine debuts its AI-based clinical blood cancer analysis system. The system, with an intelligent algorithm developed based on over 5,000 pieces of medical data, can offer up to 90% accurate blood analysis to help physicians identify and optimize blood cancer treatment strategies within seven seconds, compared to 30 minutes in the past, according to company CEO Andrea Wang.Wang said her company's solutions can not only visualize data but also incorporate healthcare data and clinical experiences into AI-based algorithms through machine learning. She continued that Ahead will move to develop AI-assisted medical solutions to deal with more diseases.The flow-EZ solution developed by Above Care is a non-invasive blood detection system that hemodialysis patients can easily operate to check their blood flow conditions in 10 seconds.Other exhibits include an instrument provided by FaceHeart allowing users to check their abnormal heart beats via face detection.

Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) organized a warm-up show ahead of CES 2020, showcasing some of the best innovations of its team of startups in 2020 Taiwan Demo Day in Silicon Valley.A total of 28 TTA startups demonstrated their innovations and 15 local Taiwanese investors and mentors wee invited to practice in mentor talks to the startups, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), which organized the Taiwan startup delegation to CES.During the Demo Day, TTA invited its important partners in Silicon Valley, reviewing the impacts and opportunities that Taiwan tech startups can make to and from the world. Its matchmaking event also invited Vic Kapur (SAP.io), Michael Crane (AWS IoT), Paul Ark (Digital Ventures), Anders de Jounge (The Financial West Group), and John Doricko (SiCamore Semi, LLC - Silicon Power Corporation), sharing views from investors, said MOST.Yu-Chin Hsu, deputy minister of MOST, indicated that the 28 TTA startups attending 2020 Taiwan Demo Day demonstrated solutions in med-tech, cyber security, smart city and others. Some of them have been awarded by CES in advance, Hsu saidMOST has contributed to and connect the Taiwan startups and global resources. Since its launch in June 2018, TTA has built partnerships with more than 60 global startups ecosystem enablers and supported more than 200 startups. TTA also aims to foster startups' ability to access global markets.

With the launch of the world's first smart home soap maker Soapmaker 1.0, Taiwan-based Lessdo raised over NT$1 million (US$33,275) on the first day its crowdfunding campaign went online in May 2019 and later accumulated more than NT$3 million during the funding period.The Lessdo team has been chosen by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to present its product at the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) at CES 2020.Soapmaker mixes soap in six minutesLessdo CEO Jun-Jie Li came up with the idea of developing a soap maker - inspired by a colleague's problem. This colleague had been suffering from chronic skin conditions and spending a fortune buying handmade soap for nine years. He wanted to make his own soap but it was not easy to figure out the correct proportions of ingredients. The process is time-consuming and error-prone. The ingredients are often sold in bulk and do not have a long shelf life. Also, there is no guarantee on the origin and quality of handmade soap on the market. Lessdo was born to address these pain points - a startup now comprising eight people.Their soap-making machine sticking to the principle of "one-button operation." But being simple is not easy. The ability to simplify the 20-some steps of soap making is the most eye-catching feature of Lessdo's Soapmaker. It is built with a 10,000 rpm motor module, 304 stainless steel stirrer and smart thickness sensor."Traditional soap making by hand is time-consuming. The process relies on the person's experience and feel. The tools they use may not comply with fluid mechanics design principles and may fail to achieve uniform mixing. With LESSDO's soap maker, it only takes six minutes to mix the soap batter," noted Shih-Chang Chang, a member of the startup.Chang added, "Making soap is not like cooking. When you make something too salty or too sweet, people can still eat it. Controlling the saponification reaction is at the heart of soap making."To verify the result of soap mixing by machine, Lessdo has repeatedly invited master soap makers for comparisons. Aside from designing the device, Lessdo additionally offers 54 combinations of ingredient packs, allowing users with no prior soap making experience to get started effortlessly. All they need to do is pour the pre-measured ingredient pack and clay powder into the cup and press the button at the top of Soapmaker. After the mixing step is completed, blend in the provided essence oil, using the stirrer for uniform mixing. Pour the soap batter into the mold. Set it aside for two days. Then, unmold and let it cure for five more days before use.Soapmaker can produce three bars of 100g soap at a time. Furthermore, making soap into a spherical shape adheres to the "form follows function" principle and can better prevent glycerin rivers compared to making it into a cuboid shape. This is why Lessdo's Soapmaker comes with a spherical mold.Expanding internationally to create a blue ocean marketDriving smart living forward, Lessdo will continue to optimize Soapmaker's technology and design, said Chang. The next generation product will incorporate Bluetooth communication and smartphone app to allow users to build a soap making database through Bluetooth connection between their smartphone and Soapmaker. In addition to handmade body soap, Lessdo will also develop soap ingredient packs for face, hair, and even home cleaning.Lessdo's marketing plan for the first half of 2020 will focus on the domestic market. It looks to build up brand image and customer loyalty through self-media and word-of-mouth advertising and thereby increase online repurchase. It will also try to expand into the giveaway market and explore co-branding opportunities to grow brand awareness. For the second half of 2020, following the participation at CES 2020, Lessdo will undertake a round of funding on American crowdfunding platforms such as Indiegogo in hopes of replicating its success in Taiwan.The long-term goal is to establish presence in the US, Europe, Japan and other international markets.Lessdo's SoapmakerPhoto: Digitimes staff, December 2019

Taiwan-based startup KaiKuTek has developed a system-on-chip (SoC) solution that combines mmWave radar technologies, antennas and AI accelerators to realize close-distance fine gesture recognition.The advent of the 5G and AIoT eras promises huge opportunities for applications of millimeter wave (mmWave) technologies. Especially when Google's Pixel 4 smartphone allows users to skip a song, snooze an alarm or mute a call with a simple wave over the phone, gesture-based human machine interaction is catching market attention again. However, it remains quite challenging for mmWave technologies to be used for gesture recognition while achieving low energy consumption, low latency and low cost.KaiKuTek, founded by Mike Wang with funding from JMicron Technology in 2017, has developed a solution that it says has matured to commercialization ahead of international technology heavyweights.KaiKuTek has been chosen by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to be among 80 startup teams that will present their achievements at the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) at CES 2020. It will showcase what it calls the world's first 3D gesture recognition SoC based on 60GHz mmWave radar technology.A useful solution made by a combination of technologiesWang founded the company at a time when he had little connection in the Taiwan high-tech business but only expertise in RF and wireless communication technologies."I had never worked for a Taiwanese employer before I started KaiKuTek. All my research partners were working in the US at the time," said Wang.Although starting his own business for the first time, Wang had helped build two startups when he was in the US. He helped start a company that provided RF CMOS solutions in 1999 when the Bluetooth technology was emerging. The company was later sold for US$150 million. The second startup that Wang helped establish offered indoor data transmission solutions for Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MOCA) set-top boxes. It later went public in the US, worth US$800 million at its peak.According to Wang, KaiKuTek is not smarter than others but just integrates related technologies and leverages all their benefits to create a useful solution. Wang said he had been researching on 60GHz mmWave radar technologies in the US, but it was not until he saw Google's Project Soli three years ago that he thought it might be interesting to combine radar sensors with AI.CMOS-based solutionWang highlighted KaiKuTek's three major advantages. The first is its innovative mmWave circuit design, which puts up a high barrier. Latecomers will have to spend tremendous time and money to be able to catch up with KaiKuTek, he said. Second, leveraging hardware capability and software algorithm, KaiKuTek's AI algorithm achieves higher power efficiency, shorter response time and optimal energy efficiency. Third, KaiKuTek has robust technologies and capabilities in antenna design.Despite the high bandwidth, the problem with 60GHz signals is that they do not travel far and attenuate quickly in the air. KaiKuTek is able to use this to its advantage. By using the radar only for close-range detection along with the use of directional antennas to avoid interferences from adjacent devices and increase recognition precision, KaiKuTek's solution can detect subtle finger movements. Not only does KaiKuTek make use of edge computing but it has actually implemented computing on the dedicated AI processing unit embedded in the SoC, realizing computing on the sensor and saving smartphone power consumption.As opposed to other mmWave radar ICs on the market that are manufactured on the expensive gallium arsenide (GaAs) process or use camera-based solutions, KaiKuTek's chip is made using the more mature and affordable CMOS process. Integrating 1T3R antennas, MMICs and its proprietary AI accelerator in an advanced antenna in package (AiP) SoC, KaiKuTek's solution enables multiple benefits including fast response, energy efficiency and low cost.In terms of applications, Wang is optimistic about market opportunities arising from the use of gesture recognition in home appliances enabled by AIoT developments. However, KaiKuTek will focus efforts on smartphones, wearable devices and gaming markets for the time being.KaiKuTek has been putting its test chips in action at major exhibitions with an aim to provide users a new and alternative human machine interaction experience. KaiKuTek marketing director Griffon Lin noted the demonstrations now use test chips with the purpose to gain an insight into market reaction and then KaiKuTek can make adjustments to better suit user needs. Volume production for the first-generation product is scheduled for second-quarter 2020.Gesture recognition has its advantages but it is not aimed to replace touch control. Wang thinks it can be a complementary addition to human machine interface (HMI) designs. The HMI market is big enough for different solutions to thrive, he added.KaiKuTek founder Mike Wang