Meet Taipei 2019 attracts 460+ startups and 26,000+ attendees, showcasing Taiwan’s startup landscape to the world

Meet Taipei 2019, one of the largest startup events in Taiwan, has wrapped up last weekend with record-high number of attendees and exhibitors. The three-day event welcomes 460+ startups of eight tech categories to showcase their products and services to 26,000+ visitors, as well as venture capitalists and corporate representatives in 440+ matchmaking sessions.

More than 20 forums have taken place on five stages. On the main stage, industry leaders and experts, from Google, LINE, Qualcomm, Indiegogo, Arm Treasure Data and so on, share with the audience their views on various topics, including the trends, challenges, and opportunities for Taiwanese and Asian startups in the innovation-driven economy.

Read more: Learn how LINE takes its services global: Meet Taipei 2019

One of the stages, named Global Stage, marks the organizer’s first attempt to highlight the discussion of “going global.” Meet Taipei works with the French Office in Taipei, French Tech Taiwan, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), and Dragons’ Chamber Taiwan to organize a number of forums here, where speakers talk about how to manage cross-border resources and what opportunities startups should tap into to enter the global market.

A glimpse of Taiwan’s startup landscape

This year’s event features the presence of all major key players in Taiwan’s startup ecosystem, including accelerators, investors, corporates, and government agencies. All the startup teams therefore have the opportunity to connect the dots and accelerate their growth.

Seizing this opportunity, Meet Startup, the organizer, hopes to present Taiwan’s startup landscape to the world — which echoes with the theme of the event this year. Taking a brief walk inside the venue, one might quickly get a sense of what the local startup scene is like.

While meeting with Taiwan startups, one might as well bump into a great number of overseas startups — from 16 countries and 30 cities across the globe this time. They come as exhibitors with the aim of either seeking funds, finding potential partners, or expanding user base, making not only Meet Taipei 2019 but Taiwan’s startup scene much more diverse than it has ever been.

Winners of Neo Star Demo Show 2019 announced

As in the previous years, the winners of Neo Star Demo Show have been announced on the second day of Meet Taipei. This year, the grand prizes go to Aiello, TMYTEK, and International Trust Machine (ITM), startup teams working on various tech topics.

Aiello wins the jury’s favor with its AI-powered voice assistant. Shaped like an alarm clock, it can be used in hotel rooms for room service, facility introduction, and self check-in/out. TMYTEK and ITM, the winners of the second and third prizes, provide mm-Wave beamforming solution for 5G infrastructure and blockchain-enabled chips for connected devices, respectively.

The three teams have been selected from a group of Neo Stars, 30 outstanding startups Meet Startup handpicked in advance from a pool of approximately 150 teams they’ve interviewed this year. They are offered a booth at the venue as well.

Besides them, around 120 teams have also pitched their products and services to venture capitalists, accelerator partners, corporate representatives, community leaders and media, in over 440 matchmaking sessions.

In fact, at Meet Taipei 2019, these key players in Taiwan’s startup ecosystem are given a dedicated space for matchmaking, where they give exhibiting startups feedback on their ideas and connect them with resources and opportunities they may need to succeed. The lineup includes corporates like Audi, Microsoft Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom, VC-backed accelerators like SparkLabs Taiwan and MOX, and other VC firms like Taiwania.

〔Original :Meet Startup @ TW〕
https://meet.bnext.com.tw/intl/articles/view/45756