To strengthen collaboration between international startups and Taipei-based enterprises, the Taipei City Government Department of Economic Development (DOED) continues to promote its Industry Talent Exchange Program and foster the international entrepreneur community, Taipei Entrepreneurs Hub (TEH). On October 17, TEH hosted the AI for Sustainable Futures Forum: Taipei Entrepreneurs Hub AI+ Showcase, under the theme “AI × Sustainability × Global.”
The forum gathered AI startups from Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Chile, alongside experts from the fields of technology, healthcare, and impact investment. The event not only showcased Taipei’s strengths in AI applications and startup ecosystem, but also underscored the city’s growing role as a global innovation hub. Out of 40 AI startups from 11 countries, six international teams with proven fundraising records and commercial traction were selected to present their cutting-edge solutions across three major application areas: Smart Healthcare, Environmental Sustainability, and Energy Efficiency.
In his opening remarks, Eric Yu, Deputy Secretary-General of the Taipei City Government, stated that since Mayor Chiang Wan-an took office, Taipei has prioritized building an innovation-driven and entrepreneur-friendly city, guided by the twin visions of a “Founder -Friendly City” and an “AI-Driven Smart City.” Yu emphasized that Taipei is actively integrating AI into its pursuit of sustainable urban development, advancing initiatives in smart governance, digital health, and sustainable innovation to position Taipei as a global model for smart and sustainable cities. He also encouraged international startups to leverage Taipei as a platform for collaboration and growth—using technological innovation to improve quality of life and create a more inclusive, sustainable future.
Richard Tang, Vice President of Systex Corporation, highlighted that AI is rapidly becoming the core engine of digital transformation. From internal process automation to cross-industry data integration, AI enhances decision-making accuracy, enables real-time service delivery, and drives greater value creation with lower carbon emissions.
Sharon Yi, Deputy Executive Director of the TMU Biomed Accelerator, shared insights on “Sustainability in AI Healthcare.” She noted that AI is reshaping how healthcare services are delivered—from image analysis and disease prediction to remote rehabilitation—enhancing efficiency and elevating the quality of patient care.
Dao K. Wu, Co-founder of the Taiwan Impact Investing Association (TIIA), spoke on “The Next Impact Unicorn in Taipei.” He discussed how sustainability-driven AI innovation can merge social impact with commercial success, and emphasized that Taipei’s robust talent base and open market environment provide fertile ground for nurturing “impact unicorns.”
International AI Startups Showcasing Innovation in Taipei
In the smart healthcare sector, three international startups showcased transformative technologies extending the boundaries of medicine:
- VIBRAINT (Canada) — an award-winning startup introducing a patented, brain-controlled rehabilitation robot that helps paralyzed patients regain voluntary movement. Powered by a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) and virtual reality, this solution is designed to support over 120 million paralyzed patients worldwide. Supported by the Canadian Institute for Health Research, VIBRAINT’s clinical study will be completed in 2026 to support FDA and Health Canada approvals, paving the way for market entry in 2027. The company also plans to enter the Asia-Pacific market through Taiwan as its beachhead, collaborating with local manufacturing partners.
- Surg Storage (Japan) — specializes in structuring and standardizing medical data, particularly surgical videos. With its strengths in anonymization technology and multi-attribute metadata design, Surg Storage aims to build next-generation medical information infrastructure in collaboration with hospitals and AI developers both domestically and internationally.
- Chiral (Japan) — addresses inefficiencies in virtual drug discovery (in-silico R&D) by providing a unified AI-powered platform that enables pharmaceutical teams to build, compare, and optimize multiple virtual screening pipelines side by side. By reducing fragmentation and redundant computational workflows, Chiral helps accelerate the discovery of high-quality drug candidates while cutting costs and time-to-market.
In the sustainability and environmental innovation domain, three startups demonstrated AI’s potential to advance global sustainability goals:
- Yindii (Singapore) — tackles food waste through AI-powered surplus prediction, helping retailers such as bakeries and supermarkets sell excess inventory via a marketplace app. The platform creates a win-win model that drives both commercial profitability and environmental sustainability.
- Innspatial (Chile) — develops Birdspatial, an intelligent bird monitoring and deterrence system using AI vision, smart sensors, and real-time analytics to minimize bird collisions around wind farms and airports. With operations across Latin America and Europe, Innspatial is now launching its first Asian pilot project in Taiwan, marking a new milestone in global environmental protection efforts.
- Blumind (Canada) — pioneers an all-analog AI semiconductor architecture inspired by the human brain. Its patented AMPL architecture dramatically reduces AI computation power consumption by 100 to 1000 times, without compromising throughput or cost. After three years of R&D, Blumind is now entering commercialization with its first product, BM110, in collaboration with several Tier 1 partners.
The forum also featured three Taiwanese AI startups presenting smart city applications:
- IsCoolLab developed cross-system AI automation solutions using visual recognition to replace repetitive manual operations and improve industrial efficiency.
- LongGood integrates AI and rehabilitation medicine to deliver intelligent rehabilitation analytics for hospitals and long-term care centers.
- Calyx applies AI imaging and sensor technology to monitor livestock health and environmental conditions in real time, optimizing agricultural supply chains.
Taipei as a Global Platform for AI Innovation
According to the Department of Economic Development, TEH continues to support the localization of international startups. Through forums, matchmaking events, and international exchanges, TEH is building a cross-border, cross-sector entrepreneurial network that enables global AI solutions to pilot, test, and scale in Taipei. Moving forward, TEH will continue to engage cities and innovation partners around the world to explore new frontiers in sustainable technology and uncover the emerging opportunities brought by AI-driven innovation.
