The 2019-2 Finale and Award Ceremony of “From IP to IPO Program (FITI)”, a program executed by Science and Technology Policy Research and Information Center (STPI) under National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) and supervised by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), was held on November 29 at Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) in Taipei Arena. The Excellent Entrepreneurship Award went to four teams, namely Neomedical, Spherical Motion, IPPLUS, and Good Lock. These four teams were granted with NT$1 million of entrepreneurship funds sponsored by enterprises and another NT$1 million as a reward granted by MOST. This award ceremony is an honorary event for entrepreneurs, providing the startup teams with the most useful resources, and as a certification of the high technologies they develop.

FITI has been implemented from 2013 until today. It continues to act as a platform for young students to realize their entrepreneurship dreams. For years, FITI has been connecting with professional mentors from different fields, who provide guidance and consultancy services to startup teams during the training period in terms of the patent application, financial planning, fundraising pitching, and business model adjustment. FITI also provides immersion training to the teams by combining the features of two main FITI training camps. In addition, FITI allows the academic and research teams to showcase their research achievements in investor matchmaking events, thereby attracting investments from venture capitals or angel investors. Therefore, FITI is the best partner for young students to develop new technologies and start their businesses.

Deputy Minister Yu-Chin Hsu of MOST (far left) and CEO Chi-Min Lai of Acer Foundaiton (far right) jointly presented the Excellent Entrepreneurship Award to IPPLUS team

Entering its seventh year of implementation, FITI has welcomed 13 batches of participants in total. FITI continues to discover and nurture young technology talents, providing a platform for them to realize their entrepreneurship dreams. At the same time, FITI allows enterprises, venture capitals, and angel investors to see the limitless potential of the academic and research teams and the innovative technologies they develop. The latest batch has received applications from 125 teams. In the first round, 40 outstanding startup teams were selected to embark on a six-month journey, in which the teams made business model adjustments, received intensive training, and went through evaluation and selection. In the end, 18 startup teams were short-listed as candidates for the finale. They were further evaluated by professionals in terms of market trends and issue in focus in order to decide on the winners of the Excellent Entrepreneurship Award.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister Yu-Chin Hsu of MOST said that FITI has guided 560 young startup teams, assisted in the establishment of 190 companies, cultivated 2,889 young entrepreneurs, and has mobilized more than NT$3.06 billion of entrepreneurship fund contributed by the private sector since the program was launched. These achievements lay the foundation for the future expansion of innovative industries and the development of the knowledge economy in Taiwan. Deputy Minister Hsu encouraged all startup teams to face obstacles with a smile, and to overcome their challenges by leveraging resources available and scientific knowledge. In addition, he encouraged the teams to keep a positive mindset in order to unleash their potential to bring changes to the environment.

Stan Shih, the honorary dean of FITI and the chairman of the StanShih Foundation, also encouraged young students to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship. He looked forward to seeing the youths applying their research achievements to contribute to society and establish their own companies. As they joined hands to enhance the competitiveness of Taiwan’s product and technology, more added value will be created to benefit Taiwan’s economy and society.

MOST is devoted to supporting startups in technology industries. Therefore, FITI has set its objective to cultivate young entrepreneurs in technological fields, providing them comprehensive entrepreneurship training. FITI continues to fuel the development of new technology and products to encourage young people to commit themselves to the research and development of innovative technology. MOST hopes that the creative and courageous startup teams are able to showcase their talent through FITI, thereby propelling Taiwan to achieve the milestone of the new economy.