About 50 Taiwanese start-ups yesterday presented products related to biological and information technology at the 2017 Taiwan B.I.G Demo, with some looking to improve the nation’s medical service and food security testing.
The event, which is taking place at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei, was organized by National Applied Research Laboratories to demonstrate the outcome of its innovation and start-ups program, which began in 2013.
Entrepreneurs should strive to create new things with value, as the value of existing things continually declines, Acer Inc said (宏碁) founder Stan Shih (施振榮), who serves as the program’s honorary president for academic affairs.
Fulfilling the physical and mental needs of elderly people can be a potential market for entrepreneurs, since older people are troubled by their declining ability to live independently and healthily, he said, citing a survey published by the Stans Foundation on Thursday.
“Talented people are not lacking in Taiwan, but they lack a performance stage,” he said, adding that artificial intelligence technology provides a good springboard for young entrepreneurs.
At the event, each of the 22 start-ups that won program funding this year were required to give a three-minute presentation to an audience of investors and business people.
Wiserger, a start-up of six researchers from Taiwanese universities, works with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to develop a rapid testing device for liver and kidney diseases.
The device can also be used to detect toxic addictives in food, said founder Chu Wei-chung (朱偉中), a researcher working at National Cheng Kung University and National Pingtung University of Science and Technology.
National Chiao Tung University researcher Chung Meng-liang (鐘孟良) and his colleagues created face-recognition software named “eBus,” which aims to monitor physiological changes in bus drivers and elderly patients.
Given the software’s capacity to collect people’s biological signals, a Taiwanese police agency and a Swiss high-tech giant have expressed their interest in investing in the project, he said.
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