It is well known that highways are the lifeblood of metropolitan transportation. To increase the speed of highways and the convenience of road users, Taiwan entrusted Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection (FETC), a subsidiary of the Far Eastern Group, with the operation of the nation's highway electronic toll collection (ETC) system through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model in 2004. More commonly known as just the "ETC" in Taiwan, the system has weathered through its early difficulties and controversies 17 years ago to become a model to replicate for countries around the globe, says FETC International vice president and chief technology officer, Richard Wu. FETC International is now planning to share its successful ETC model and experience in Taiwan to foreign markets.
Different industries have been finding different ways to adapt to the global digital transformation. For example, customer service centers, which are heavily reliant upon extensive manpower, are now looking to transform because of the difficulties associated with employee training and rising labor costs. The most common tactic of the first call centers to undergo this transformation process was to utilize voice-activated self-service systems, which would allow customers to select the information they need through the click of a button, thereby reducing the wait time and the burden on customer service staff. There are also enterprises that chose to move their customer service centers to cost-competitive areas or outsource the department to professional customer service enterprises in a bid to reduce overall costs.
The Taiwan Excellence Award is often a reference point for many overseas buyers when they purchase Taiwanese products. Smart medical equipment company and winner of the 2021 Taiwan Excellence Award, Acer Medical, has announced that it will be attending the Smart Upgrade with AI Webinar which is promoted by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs and jointly hosted by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council and the Information Service Industry Association of ROC.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) are becoming parts of important criteria to evaluate a company's value. ESG is crucial for a company not only because it brings positive changes to society, but also because it provides another indicator for its investors to evaluate a company's ability to mitigate risks and identify opportunities.
Boxed is a US warehouse club delivery service company, which delivers anywhere in the continental USA, with revenue in the hundreds of millions. The company invests heavily in its technology: it has its own software, runs its own state-of-the-art fulfillment centers, and builds its own automation robotic in-house.
Remote work becomes the norm and will continue to change every single aspect of our life even in post-pandemic. Phil Libin, cofounder of Evernote and currently CEO of mmhmm shared his insights on post-pandemic trends and advised startups on how to find product-market fit, in a keynote speech on Sept 9, the first-day event of the 2021 US-Taiwan Startup Forum (UTSF), co-sponsored by the North America Taiwan Engineering & Science Association (NATEA) and Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA).
After 12 years as an engineer and salesperson in the semiconductor industry, Andy Lin founded Yo-Kai Express, a food technology startup. Lin has integrated Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology, modular supply chain management, artificial intelligence (AI), and material science to develop a new platform that breaks through the confines of space and time.
The value of the global activewear market was estimated at $353.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a 3.7% CAGR over the next six years, reaching $439.17 billion by 2026, according to investment firm Comprar Acciones. The activewear industry has always been very competitive; staying innovative is key to differentiation.
Hiring employees from many different countries can be a long process of legal and accounting counseling and can keep businesses from accessing foreign markets sound and fast. Singapore-based HR tech startup Slasify offers solutions to legal compliance and payroll transfers. In an interview with DIGITIMES, Slasify CEO Carlos Wang and SparkLabs Taipei managing partner Edgar Chiu are sharing what they see in the HR tech industry.
Climate change is changing many aspects of our everyday life. Transportation is one of them. Seeing the boom of e-bikes and the opportunities of green mobility, Marcel Yang, Giant Bicycles' special assistant to CEO, mentioned that Giant is creating an economic ecosystem in the cycling industry where all the partners can work closely together. He also shared his experience in driving innovations in this bike manufacturing company.
The southeast Asian region has become another innovation hub in the world. With a valuation of US$340 billion in 2020, the region attracts many venture capital firms and startups to innovate the local economies. Rachel Lau, managing partner at RHL Ventures, a Malaysian private investment firm that focuses on growth capital investments in Southeast Asia and the US, shares her insights on the latest innovation trends, brought by major startups in Southeast Asia.
The demand for smart metering and asset tracking solutions is growing. Many countries are adopting many smart techs, especially IoT solutions, to optimize energy consumption and to well manage buildings and facilities. In light of these trends, IoT startup UnaBiz, based in Taiwan and Singapore, developed IoT solutions on smart water/power/gas meters as well as smart tracking of assets and people, for smart management in buildings and industrial/commercial facilities, according to the company's Taiwan managing director Carter Ho at a Digitimes interview.
Industry 4.0 is no longer a new concept, but there are always some parts of the manufacturing process that are so difficult to automate, including quality management or quality assurance (QA). Relimetrics is a startup that offers full-stack computer vision and machine learning software for quality audit, process control and predictive maintenance in Industry 4.0 applications, according to company founder and CEO Kemal Levi. In a recent interview, Levi shared with DIGITIMES about his vision of Relimetrics' role to play in the Industry 5.0 era and their solutions for high-precision QA automation.
eCommerce continues to penetrate the global retail market. Big companies are competing to adopt new technologies in order to win the game, which also provides many new opportunities for startups.
