Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), the flagship startup ecosystem building program organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan(MOST), and Qualcomm, a worldwide leading semiconductor company, along with Techstars, the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, announced plans to partner on a Startup Ecosystem Development Program to further develop entrepreneurial community with a series of activities focused on entrepreneurs, universities, corporate innovation, cross-border startup support and community building. The program aims to create a vibrant, high growth startup ecosystem that can assist over 40 startups to grow on global stage and result in over US$30Mn business value in the next two years.

Enhancing connections between Taiwan Startups and international startup community to create fast-growing ecosystem

Founded in 2007, Techstars has invested and fostered over 1,800 early-stage startups, in which more than 170 startups have been successfully exited through M&A or IPO across the fields of Artificial Intelligence, fin-tech, smart mobility, software. Techstars is also viewed as one of the most well-known platinum accelerators in the U.S. by Seed Accelerator Rankings Project.

Techstars has been dedicated to the Startup Ecosystem Development Program since 2019. In view of the important role Taiwan plays for global technology development, Taipei is the first city outside of the U.S. and the third city overall for this program, following the program launch in Buffalo and Louisville. Techstars will partner with TTA to conduct a series of in-depth surveys, introduce alumni from all over the world to mentor startups, as well as setting up a base with dedicated staff who have a startup background to implement this program.

“We want to introduce the top global startup resources to Taiwan,” said Dr. Yu-Chin Hsu , Deputy Minister. “And help the startups to further connect to international markets . "

“As the innovation hub of the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan has been renowned for outstanding high-tech R&D capacity, highly-trained professionals and a thriving network of entrepreneurs,” shared Chris Heivly, VP of Innovation for Techstars. “Techstars is honored to cooperate with the MOST and Taiwan ’s outstanding entrepreneurs, start-up mentoring communities and enterprises. This program will connect Techstars’ global network to help build an international innovation ecosystem, as well as supporting and assisting new startups in Taiwan on their way to success.”

Facilitating the development of Taiwan startup ecosystem with Qualcomm’s capacity

In 2019, Qualcomm worked with TTA to promote the first "Qualcomm Innovate in Taiwan Challenge (QITC)", a contest and incubation project that was well received by the startup community. In 2020, Qualcomm’s collaboration with TTA and Techstars will focus on leveraging international resources to help corporates, startups, and accelerators.

“It is our great pleasure to collaborate with TTA and Techstars in promoting the Startup Ecosystem Development Program in Taipei. This is a critical step to bridge Taiwan startups with the global community, ‘said ST Liew, Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies and President of Qualcomm Taiwan & SEA. ‘Entering the 5G era, the competition in cutting-edge technology innovation will be fierce. In 2020, we will collaborate with Techstars in introducing more international resources to prepare local startups for a new and exciting time.’

Taiwan Tech Arena: a network where talents, investors and technologies converge to reach to international markets

TTA, organized by MOST, is a tech startup ecosystem program launched in 2018. TTA has partnered with overseas innovation organizations such as French Tech Taiwan、Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) and well-known accelerators like SOSV MOX、SparkLabs Taipei、IAPS and BE, to progressively integrated startup programs including training provided into an innovation resources platform which can be leveraged by all the actors in the startup ecosystem in Taiwan. It continues to direct resources from major startup clusters around the world, such as Silicon Valley, and to cooperate with impactful international entrepreneurial events, such as CES. Its visions are to be the foundation of global tech venture, to be the cultural fusing hub of startups, and to be the voice of Taiwan tech startup ecosystem.

Media Contact

Kuan-Yi Karen Lin

Specialist

Department of Academia-Industrial Collaboration and Science Park Affairs,

Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)

Tel : 886-2-2737-7981

E-mail: kylin@nstc.gov.tw