The Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) held a TAIWAN DEMO DAY in San Francisco on January 9th. Joined by Taiwan-US startup ecosystem builders including National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), National Development Council (NDC), Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, Silicon Valley Angels (SVT Angels), Stanford University and Berkeley University, and international investors, the demo day showcased the achievements of the joint efforts between industry, government, academia, and research institutes to promote Taiwan startups, connecting them to Silicon Valley for investment and global expansion.

Mr. Chiou Chyou-Huey, the Director General of the DoIT, said that DoIT has supported industrial technology R&D through its grant program for a long time. In recent year, as innovation and entrepreneurship become new driving forces of the global economy, DoIT has established the TREE program to encourage Taiwan R&D institutions to foster potential unicorns in emerging industries through innovative R&D. In 2022, for the first time, DoIT selected 13 startups from the "Taiwan Research-Institute Entrepreneur Ecosystem (TREE) Program" to be mentored for 3 months in Silicon Valley. Coached by professionals of Silicon Valley's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, the startups got to take a deep dive into the Silicon Valley entrepreneur mindset as well as hone necessary skills such as fundraising and business development before taking on world-class exhibition like CES and facing investors at Taiwan Demo Day.

In CES 2023, the TREE startups attracted the attention of international companies and investors from Japan, the US, the Netherlands, and Israel. For example, "Rakuten E-Commerce" intended to sell the disinfectant product "ELECLEAN Lite" of ELECLEAN Co., Dutch Shell plc, Japan's ENEOS Corporation (Petroleum Company), and Mexico's Carbon Rights Management Company intended to discuss "net zero carbon emission solutions" with the WeThink AI. Japan Display company and Zoobe Technology talked about cross-industry cooperation to provide product value-added service solutions for Japan's mobile office (remote office). U.S. medical device companies intended to use the AI insurance claim calculation technology of ezClaim to know whether their products meet the coverage of commercial insurance in Taiwan. Through the business engagement opportunities brought about by participating in international exhibitions, it is helpful to help Taiwan startups obtain international orders and funds.

TAIWAN DEMO DAY, in San Francisco on January 9th, which was jointly held by the Taiwan and US start-up ecosystems, not only show the active participation of 34 startups from Taiwan's inter-ministerial sector, but also attracted the investors from the US to join the meeting. Important investors in the US including the top ten start-up investment institutions, Stanford alumni, and the SkyDeck Accelerator of the University of Berkeley attended the event. It is expected, after professional, customized and international start-up counseling, DoIT's first US softlanding TREE-Program startups can achieve the international fundraising with the goal of creating at least NT$300 million in industry or investment.

In this DEMO DAY, in addition to representatives from 19 Taiwan's cross-ministerial startups, there were also 15 startups from Taiwan's TREE Program promoted by the DoIT, including: CoolSo Technology Inc., New Up Innovation Technology Corp., MyelinTek Inc., ezClaim, starneX, WeThink AI, Expercy, Inc., DFON Biomedical Technology Inc., Zoobe Technology, GolfHow, Lipro Vision, OmniMeasure, ELECLEAN Co., Ltd., Taiwan Cyber Security Foundry Company Co., Ltd., and FREE Bionics Taiwan Inc., who have internationally R&D competitiveness, according to its industrial field, conducting pitch and one-on-one networking with international investors.

In the short 1 minute roadshow, the Taiwan startups showed their strong innovative energy and spirit. Among them, WeThink AI and GolfHow won the best popularity award in the roadshow at different times, demonstrating the excellent strength of Taiwan's technology research startups. It is hoped that the innovative achievements of Taiwan's technology startups can be used in multiple ways for industrial upgrading and transformation, providing opportunities for R&D technology and cross-field industrial cooperation, and enhancing opportunities for Taiwan's future economic growth.

Spokesperson: MOEA-DoIT Deputy DG Der-Sheng Lin
TEL: +886-2-23212200#8121, +886-952-813491
E-mail: dslin@moea.gov.tw

Business Contact: MOEA-DoIT Manager Y.C. Ho
TEL: +886-2-23946000#2564
E-mail: ycho2@moea.gov.tw

Media Contact: MOEA-DoIT Researcher Monica Chi
TEL: +886-2-23212200#8155
E-mail: yschi@moea.gov.tw