“Artificial intelligence” (AI) and “big data” were the most common words used to describe start-ups in Taiwan for the fourth consecutive year, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) said in the Taiwan Start-up Ecosystem Survey published yesterday.
The survey, which has been conducted annually since 2018 by TIER in collaboration with PwC Taiwan and Digitimes Research, focused on how start-ups are applying AI in practice, examining the specific technologies they deploy and the business scenarios in which they are used, TIER said in a statement.
The survey also analyzed how investors are assessing Taiwanese start-ups in the AI era, it said.
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More than 80 percent of start-ups surveyed were involved in AI-related fields, showing that they apply AI as a key tool for operations and product innovation, as they have keen market awareness, the survey said.
The top three overseas market targets for start-ups were Japan (51.2 percent), the US (27.3 percent) and China (23.4 percent), reflecting that nearby and culturally familiar markets remain the preferred choice, it said.
On the investment side, investment institutions were most focused on AI and big data, followed by the biotechnology and medical sectors, it said.
Among AI-focused investments, predictive analytics attracted the most attention at 36.4 percent, followed by visual recognition at 21.8 percent and generative AI at 20 percent, the survey showed.
General venture capital (VC) firms showed greater interest in AI start-ups than corporate venture capital investors over the past two years, with 77.5 percent of general VC firms reporting investments in AI companies, compared with 24.5 percent of corporate venture investors, it said.
AI and big data are increasingly applied across start-up sectors, primarily as tools for product and service design rather than as standalone technologies, TIER said.
Most AI start-ups are focused on practical applications rather than developing general-purpose platforms or foundational technologies, reflecting an emphasis on embedding AI into existing industries, it said.
However, AI alone is not sufficient to address all core challenges facing start-ups, which must still contend with issues such as market acceptance, inter-organizational coordination and external partnerships, it added.
Ultimately, a competitive advantage depends not on the use of AI itself, but on whether products and services effectively meet market needs, TIER said.
The think tank also highlighted a shift in corporate-start-up from simple capital investment toward innovation-driven strategic partnerships, saying that such a change could help improve corporate resilience and expand market reach as global markets evolve rapidly.
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