Taiwanese start-ups that exhibited at CES in Las Vegas last month have received purchase orders totaling US$604,000, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said yesterday, adding that the Ministry of Science and Technology would take more firms to the trade show next year.
The companies are expected to receive follow-up orders amounting to US$51.14 million and funding of up to US$47.62 million, Chen said.
The ministry led a delegation of 32 start-ups to the trade show for the first time, while the nation’s exhibition hall — Taiwan Tech Star — attracted a total of 43,211 visitors over four days, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hsu Yu-chin (許有進) told a news conference in Taipei.
In addition to the orders, several tech giants are seeking collaborations with the nation’s start-ups, he said.
Taiwanese start-ups have excellent techniques, but they require a better grasp on the needs of clients and different market sizes if they hope to appeal to the international market, said Hsu, who was vice president of research and development at Synopsis Inc before taking office in April last year.
One of the start-ups, iXensor Co, won a CES Best of Baby Tech Award with its Eveline Smart Fertility System, which combines a urine tester with a mobile app.
“It can detect fertility with a precision of 96 percent,” iXensor director of business development Claire Tsai (蔡雅菁) said, adding that the “smart” system enables users to manage their ovulation schedule more efficiently.
The system can be purchased at local retailers, as well as on Amazon.com, she said, adding that some Japanese and European investors have expressed an interest in introducing it into their countries.
Given the fruitful outcome of this year’s participation, the ministry is to start its selection process earlier and expects to take more start-ups to next year’s show, Chen said.
The ministry is also to establish a start-up incubator at the Taipei Arena and invite foreign enterprises and business accelerators to interact with local start-ups, he said, adding that it would open next month or in April.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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