Meet Taipei Startup Festival 2018
Meet Taipei Startup Festival 2018 which took place from Nov. 15th- Nov. 17th at the Taipei Expo Dome was a huge success. In addition, the theme of the conference was “Startup High 5ive” and they did a great job of connecting Taiwan startups with international startups from not only Asia but all around the world. Therefore, the goal of the conference was to help startups either find the resources they need to go global. At the same time attracting global startups to come to Taiwan. Furthermore, this event helped build bridges of different startup ecosystems and paved the way for a very bright future in the Taiwanese Startup Ecosystem.
The event brought in over 100 international startups from over 20 countries. Meet Taipei is now in their 5th year. Furthermore, the event was sponsored by the Taipei City Government, the Taiwan Association for Virtual and Augmented Reality, and
There were 5 major Stages at the conferences.
Open Stage
Global Media Pitch brought in Media Judges from all across Asia. In addition, global startups pitched and got feedback from the press on how they should target different international markets. Every team had 3 minutes to pitch as well as Q&A. Some of the startups that caught our eye were.
SMASELL
SMASELL is an online marketplace which lets companies sell their dead stock easily without wasting cost or time. Therefore, buyers can purchase products at an 80% discount. They will take a 20% commission for each transaction from the buyers. They already have 3,000 corporate customers, including Japan’s ten largest companies in the textile and fashion industries.
OneWatt
OneWatt has created a device that can listen to motors. Their device is called the Embedded Acoustic Recognition Sensor (EARS). They use both machine learning and frequency analysis to detect and predict motor faults before they occur. Furthermore, their non-intrusive solution helps industrial facilities by protecting their assets, reducing unplanned downtime which can cost some companies $250,000 a day, and boost efficiency.
Unitychain
Unitychain is a next-generation consensus protocol that doesn’t rely on proof of work or proof of stake but can be dimensionally scalable and secure. Their mission is to ensure that records in their blockchain are everlasting and ever accessible. Therefore, they use a liquid governance structure that is part of the core of their new ecosystem which enables democratic system upgrades. With the utilization of Chaos Theory and The Butterfly Effect in conjunction with their system’s architecture, they are able to create an equitable protocol that leads to the greater democratization of blockchain participation without sacrificing scalability and security.
Partipost
Partipost connects brands with micro-influencers to create word-of-mouth marketing through social media. The startup is based in Singapore and they have a mission to transform the influencer marketing industry on social media. Furthermore, Micro Influencers can submit their posts for approval before posting on your Instagram or Facebook. They can then share their posts with friends and followers and earn money.
Cartesi
Cartesi is a technology allowing for the development and deployment of complex public and enterprise blockchain applications. Therefore, Cartesi allows a traditional industry to easily move any existing technology to the blockchain such as AI, deep learning, or computer vision. Applications using Cartesi are scalable, cost-effective, and easy to build.
Mosi Mosi
Mosi mosi is a socially-motivated design studio that takes a human-centered, design-based approach which helps the disabled to live a better life. They created the invisible wallet to help the visually impaired recognize the amount of each banknote they have in their wallet. They also create unique products and designs from people with different forms of disabilities.
eCup
eCup is a pre-ordering app which helps small to medium beverage businesses maximize their service by giving them an online platform. Therefore, for customers, eCup allows them to pre-order so they can save time and bring a new kind of experience in the beverage culture. Small and medium beverage business no longer have to use customers due to long lines, now customers can pre-order on their way to work.
MemePR
MemePR uses their technical/global marketing expertise, AI, marketing big data, their network of partners, and small and medium businesses with marketing that can reach potential global customers anywhere, anytime, at a much faster and cheaper way.
Oiyster
Oiyster is a travel and social messaging mobile app. It connects travellers with the local community who understand their language to explore and experience the world without social or language barriers. Therefore, by traveling like a local, Oiyster allows customers to discover hidden gems, experience unique cultures and enjoy the beauty of travel.
Studio Doozy Limited
At Studio Doozy, they create, design, and produce an all-inclusive, accessible and beautiful solution for the aging community. In addition, they look to equip homes with better accessible products and services that are not only essential but have a modern design. Currently, they are focused in the bathroom space and are developing a smart front-sitting toilet for the elderly and individuals with limited mobility.
Taoyuan Demo Day was run by the government. They selected the top 10 startups from Taoyuan City to compete with each other in a Pitch Talk Competition. Therefore they were able to show their energetic power of innovation.
Center Stage
Talks on Tourism and the future of Tourism was the main topic on stage. In addition, the Taipei Computer Association gave out their Travel Tech Taiwan – Tourism Innovation Awards.
TourTalk CEO Jimmy Yiu gave his thoughts on the data collected from Tourism in a panel discussion. TourTalk allows for travelers to connect with an online concierge through their mobile to help find the best tourist destinations. Furthermore, they offer live video/voice interpretation so travelers do not have to worry about language barriers during their trip.
2018 global startup ecosystem forum brought in speakers such as Chistian Knipfer from Plug and Play, Thaddeus Koh the co-founder at e27, and Toshihiro Kishihara the CEO at Startup GoGo. The main purpose was to help startups connect with world resources. The sessions brought in accelerators and incubators from Silicon Valley, Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan to share their local experience, discuss global market trends, and bring international connections.
Speed dating with Startups. This gave startups an opportunity to connect with corporates to form the right strategic partnerships. Samsung Next which was started by Samsung in 2013 to create a startup culture at Samsung was one of the corporates at this event.
Dragon’s Chamber gave an opportunity for startups to pitch their startup to investors for funding. The event was organized by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. 5 Foreign entrepreneurs in Taiwan gave 10-minute pitches in front of not only the Judges by the sponsors and organizers of Meet Taipei.
Yellow Stage
DigiAsia 2018 brought in speakers from all around the world to give their insights into the latest tech trends.
Some of the talks included:
Kosuke Sogo the CEO at AnyMind Group spoke about utilizing AI in digital advertising.
Anis Shiekh the Founder and CEO at baseH spoke about the future of media and advertising.
Freya Yan the general manager at CLICKFORCE shared her thoughts on the evolution of big data.
Rohan Philips the global chief product officer at iProspect spoke about the impact of AI on marketing and the possibilities and the pitfalls it might bring.
Buelent Aydindag the customer engagement and design leader at IBM gave insights on reinventing customer experiences by using enterprise design thinking.
Kouler Liu the VP of marketing at TutorABC spoke about the future of education.
Phang Chee Leong the CEO at Innity Corp talked about ways to use stories to highlight your business.
There were over 25 talks that spanned three days and gave a lot of entrepreneurs a deeper insight from global professionals.
Orange Stage
2018 Service Innovation Trend Forum brought in experts to speak about service innovation thinking and creating an industry of opportunity. Some of the speakers included Shih Chieh Huang from FamilyMart Co. and Ama Shen the Co-founder at inBloom Art Design Corporation.
There was also the TIEC (Taiwan Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center) Pitch and Match which is considered one of the biggest matchmaking events in Taiwan. The main purpose of this session was to create investment partnerships between startups and investors and gain potential worldwide resources. TIEC not only builds a great stage for Demo Pitch Events but also offers training programs for entrepreneurs.
Pink Stage
Meet Taipei Forum brought in keynote speakers such as…
Yuma Saito the Founder at Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support
Jan Hollmann the managing director at Bosch Taiwan
Hong Hua the founder at Xiaomi Koochang Institute of Entrepreneurship
Jason Chen the AI product VP at Cheetah Mobile Taiwan.
Just to name a few…
Some of the topics included the rising hardware ecosystem in the context of consumption upgrading, future cross-border cooperation for startups, and business strategies derived from information flow through financial flow.
There was also the 2018 Meet Neo Star Demo Show. This event invited 20 investors and startup accelerators to judge from a pool of 30 startups that have been interviewed by Business Next Media and Meet Startup Community team. Part 1 showcased startups in the AI and big data industry, part 2 was startups focused on smart hardware and IoT, part 3 were startups that were able to demonstrate on stage, and finally, part 4 brought in startups that focused on future technology.
La French Touch was an event hosted by La France a Taiwan and Business Next. The event’s goal was to share innovations and innovativeness of technology and art in France. Agnes Alfandari the director of Digital of Institut Francais spoke about why digital cooperation is the key to cultural innovation. French startups also shared a variety of opportunity for innovation in France. We also heard testimonials of Taiwanese startups that lived the French experience.
The Role of the Taiwanese Government for Startups
The Taipei City Government has worked hard in recent years to build a great startup ecosystem. Their aim is to make Taiwan’s capital an innovative hub for both local and foreign entrepreneurs. The government’s presence loomed large at the conference with the National Development Council saying they are creating incentives to bring in more tech talent to Taiwan. They also want to encourage investment for global companies to set up their business in Taiwan. As well as bring in foreign talent to will help grow the Startup Ecosystem in Taipei.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is also setting up programs such as the Service Industry Innovation Research (SIIR) This was formed to help startups in different fields with market research. Laws are also being established to allow for more flexibility for business operations by startups.
Organized by “Meet” and Business Next Media
2018 Meet Taipei Startup Festival: Startup High-5ive was organized to help the startup community in Taiwan and to connect Taiwanese startup companies to other global startup networks. Meet Taipei just finished their 5th event. It brought in over 100 international startups as well as over 300 local startups. “Meet” is a community that was built by Business Next Media for startups that aim to create a platform gathering opportunities, resources, and information. They were founded in 2011. Since then they have held more than 100 meetups and conferences with over 15,000 participants. They have also interviewed over 1,000 startup companies, founders, and entrepreneurs.
Business Next Media has focused on finance topics, new economies, and new business driven by technology. They were founded in 1999. Since then, they have created multiple channels for their readers. They have an online platform and offline activities. They are focused on helping the startup ecosystem in Taiwan go global.
The event was a great 3-day success. It was filled with a lot of pitches, presentations, speeches, and fun networking. Those that are looking to connect with not only the Taiwan Startup ecosystem but Asia as a whole, make sure to check out Meet Taipei Startup Festival 2019!
