National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan has reached an agreement with Hermes-Epitek to establish a startup platform that will provide faculty and students at NTHU with expert guidance in areas such as business insight and strategic layout, making it easier to overcome the hurdles encountered in the early stages of entrepreneurship.
This cooperative arrangement will provide NTHU faculty and students with opportunities to receive guidance for key areas of scientific research, making it possible to develop high-value technologies.
Based on his experience starting a medical technology business in the United States, NTHU President W. John Kao (高為元) said he is well aware of the ups and downs of new ventures. He said that among the keys to success for a startup are talented personnel, a suitable market, sufficient funding, innovative thinking, adequate infrastructure, and regulatory support.
The NTHU Hermes-Epitek Startup Platform enables faculty and students with entrepreneurial ambitions to evaluate technology, validate business assumptions, and expedite product development. This systematic approach facilitates communication with investors, ensuring timely feedback and support.
Hermes-Epitek Vice Chairman C.Y. Shu (許金榮) pointed out that the startup platform supports the step-by-step commercialization of forward-looking technologies developed at NTHU. In addition to developing semiconductors, optoelectronics, and biomedical technologies and services, Hermes-Epitek has long been an active investor in research and development. Their goal is to expand Taiwan’s technological footprint through collaborative efforts.
Po-Wen Chiu (邱博文), Vice President for Research and Development at NTHU, said that Hermes-Epitek has recently joined the Operations Center for Industry Collaboration. The company will soon begin holding regular matchmaking meetings with newly formed startup teams and providing expert advice on research and entrepreneurial strategies.
According to statistics from the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, only one percent of new companies in Taiwan remain in business after five years. They typically close down as soon as initial funding is used up without generating a substantial profit.
Chiu said that startups at NTHU will apply for grants from sources such as the National Science Council’s From IP to IPO program, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Technology Development Program for Academia, and the National Development Council’s Startup Island TAIWAN program.
Heron President Hsiao-Lien Shen (沈孝廉) said that BNCT is a cross-field technology that integrates nuclear physics, thermal fluidics, dosimetry, pharmacokinetics, radiation biology, and other disciplines. NTHU provided the cross-disciplinary expertise required for laying the foundation for this technology, while Heron further developed the technology’s clinical applications, leading to the establishment of Taiwan’s first hospital-based BNCT facility.
Startup Platform Set Up by Hermes-Epitek and NTHU
