Taiwan’s First Accelerator Focusing on Food and Agriculture Sectors Connects wit
Global startup momentum continues to climb up. Research indicates that in the third wave of digital revolution driven by the Internet of Things, the annual growth rate of agricultural technology and new food related startups will also scale new height. HaoShi Foundation, which is committed to promoting a more sustainable, healthy and transparent food and agriculture environment, launched the "HaoShi Accelerator Seed Program " in the form of a non-profit organization and became the first food and agriculture accelerator in Taiwan. In order to foster Taiwan's next food and agriculture unicorn, the Foundation held the "HaoShi Demo Day Press Conference." In addition to the 11 startup companies in the fields of sustainable cultivation, agricultural technology and innovative diet to demonstrate their results, the international forum held on the afternoon of the same day will invite famous food & agriculture accelerators and venture capitalists from the United States, Israel, Singapore and other countries to share the latest trends and experiences in international food and agriculture innovation and entrepreneurship. The event is intended to connect Taiwan with the international community to build a sustainable future for food and agriculture sector. Hans Chen , Chairman of the HaoShi Foundation, said that "HaoShi Foundation, which was established in 2017, is a young non-profit organization. In order to encourage more people to pay attention to food and agriculture related issues and participated in the food and agriculture innovation and entrepreneurship, we launched the "HaoShi Accelerator Seed Program" last year (2018), and joined hands with domestic and foreign experts from the government, industry and academia to improve the food and agriculture environment, create a sustainable and healthy future for mankind, and establish a new standard for the accelerator and counseling for food and agriculture startups."
Deputy Director Chen Qionghua of the National Development Council of the Executive Yuan also expressed support at the press conference. Chen noted : “National Development Council has been promoting the optimization of the environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. This is an important policy of the government too. HaoShi Foundation actively assists food and agriculture startups to not only introduce AI, IoT and other innovative technologies to promote business development, but also to help the export of local specialty agricultural products to the international market, complementing with the "placemaking " policy promoted by the National Development Council, and is expected to introduce technology into traditional agriculture. In addition, in order to provide financial assistance for the start-up business in the initial stage, the National Development Fund has launched a “1 billion “Entrepreneurship Angel Investment Program”, and welcomes new agricultural startups with fundraising needs to apply for the fund. Chen Meiling, the chairperson of the National Development Council , will also attend the Haoshi Foundation Demo Day and International Forum to listen to the presentations from the startups and visit the exhibition booths to gain an in-depth understanding of the achievements of agricultural science and technology.
4-Month Training Covers 4 Key Areas in Three Stages to Foster the Next Unicorn in Food and Agriculture Industry
The Accelerator Program provides a four-month accelerated courses and invites more than 25 outstanding mentors from the food, agriculture, technology and financial industry as well as the academia to address topics of four major disciplines covering business strategies, user experience design, sustainable development of food and agriculture industry, and entrepreneurship. The program also provides workshops, mentor counseling meetings, and a three-staged curriculum of “innovate”, “elevate” and “activate” for the participants.
In addition to local mentors, another major feature of the program is the collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The program is exclusively authorized to adopt the Venture Mentoring Services (VMS) system of MIT to help the startups connect to the international community. Judy Ouyang, CEO of HaoShi Foundation, said that “Being the first food and agriculture accelerator in Taiwan, in addition to the MIT counseling resources, HaoShi also partners with the well-known food accelerators and venture capitalists in Israel and Southeast Asia. We hope to foster the next Taiwanese food and agriculture startup unicorn with international and innovative thinking."
11Teams Demonstrate Their Achievements in Agricultural Technology, Sustainable Cultivation and Innovative Foods on Demo Day
【Agricultural Technology】IoT and AIoT Help to Upgrade Food and Agriculture Sector
With the advent of the IOT era, the global business opportunity generated by IOT is estimated to reach 1.5 trillion US dollars. We intend to leverage Taiwan's R&D advantage and the government's "Smart Agriculture 4.0" policy to help farmers improve their operational efficiency and stabilize production by applying smart technologies. Beehive Data Technology assists farmers in production and marketing management and risk mitigation through AIoT tools such as production analysis platform, field sensors, local weather stations and time-lapse photography devices. ID Water uses AI technology to develop intelligent aquaculture. Through the accumulation and analysis of aquaculture data, it is able to create a commercial ecological chain with optimal fishery production, catch value and environmental quality. Means Good Agricultural Biotechnology is a scientific and agricultural company with patented Chinese herbal medicine cultivation technology and has the capacity to breed the world's unique Cordyceps species. The company is committed to providing high-quality raw materials and developing innovative applications of Cordyceps. LEDA Creative specializes in integrating aerial imagery and positioning information, mastering key harvesting time of high-priced farming and monitoring the status of cultivated land.
【Sustainable Cultivation】Create a Friendly Environment and Support Remote Countryside to Promote the Co-existence of Nature and Mankind
The changes in population growth and consumption patterns have accelerated the consumption of many natural resources. Take Taiwan as an example, the damage to the environment has been accelerated due to uncontrolled farming and the use of pesticides, therefore, how to reduce the impact on the environment and propose a solution has become a top priority. Committed to biological control and environmental sustainability, Beemax breeds Anastatus japonicus to reduce the use of pesticides to enhance the production and marketing value of lychee, and create friendly farming with farmers to restore the most natural honey and achieve environmental sustainability and a win-win situation. Blue Magpie Tea promotes the friendly environment cultivation for tea farmers in Pinglin through the strategy of basin reclamation, so that more tea gardens in water collection areas stop using pesticides and start to produce natural and healthy good tea. ROKSN will cooperate with partners in the concept of sustainable development to promote scientific management and precise production concepts in remote areas or special communities to jointly create a high-end chicken supply chain that can be customized.
【Food Innovation】Food Innovation from Traditional Brands to Demonstrate Creativity
"Eating" is an important part of daily life. From eating for survival to eating for taste, now people put more emphasis on eating for health or eating for fun. It can be seen that the public's demand for food is both sensory and sensation. From the perspective of preventive medicine, Asign Biomedical uses the homologous Chinese herbal medicine and fruits and vegetables to produce molecular cooking powder to provide a healthier and more delicious meal. Spark Protein insists on using natural ingredients without added artificial sweetener, coloring and preservatives. The high protein snacks that match the taste of Chinese consumers are formulated by Le Cordon Blue certified dessert chef. Amazing Grace Sweets repackage traditional Taiwanese-style cake with traceable raw materials and trendy package design. Jun-Fu International Trade uses snowflake ice bricks made from high-quality fruits from Taiwan to produce snowflake ice that is healthy and refreshing with unique technology and process.
The First Food and Agriculture Accelerator in Taiwan Partners with Renowned Local Universities and Enterprises
In addition to the mentors from home and abroad, the Foundation has also formed alliances with key universities such as Chiao-tong University, Sun Yet-Sen University, Taiwan University of Technology, National Taipei University of Technology, Chiayi University, and Pingtung University of Technology to attract more talents in the food and agriculture sector. In addition, in order to increase curriculum diversity, the foundation also works with well-known companies such as Jones Day law firms, PwC Taiwan, Scenario Lab, and PPT Lab to jointly develop legal, financial, and planning curriculum to help startups to develop business models that meet market needs.
HaoShi Demo Day & International Forum Invites Speakers from the U.S., Israel and Singapore
HaoShi Accelerator Demo Day & International Forum is held in the afternoon today (22nd). In addition to 11 startup teams who demonstrated their achievements in the field of sustainable cultivation, agricultural technology and innovative food, the forum also invited well-known food accelerators and venture capitalists from the U.S., Israel, and Singapore to share the latest trends and experiences in international food and beverage innovation and entrepreneurship, guest speakers include: US food safety experts and former US FDA chief medical officer David Acheson, who will share with the audience the key successful factor of food and agriculture startups with his extensive experience in the food market and regulations. Isabelle Decitre, founder and CEO of ID Capital, a small venture capital investment and consulting company in Singapore, brings the perspective of international venture capitalist on food and agriculture startups. Lastly, Amir Zaidman, founder and vice president of business development at The Kitchen Hub, the first and the only food technology incubator in Israel to share the future of food technology.
HaoShi Potential Unicorn Award and Vision Award with up to NT$1,000,000 of Grant
In order to encourage the accelerator team to work hard to create a more innovative and creative business model and technology for the future of the food and agricultural industry, HaoShi Foundation will select one “HaoShi Potential Unicorn Award”winner and one “Haoshi Vision Award” winner from the 11 teams participating in the Demo Day in the afternoon.
HaoShi Potential Unicorn Award recognizes the team that uses breakthrough innovations to solve current food and agriculture problems and the startup project has market growth potential and international competitiveness. The winner will be awarded NT$700,000 of market validation grant and NT$300,000 of subsidy to participate in overseas accelerated contest.
HaoShi Vision Award recognizes the team that promotes win-win solution and altruism to improve the environment and create a transparent, healthy and sustainable future. The winner will be award a market validation grant of NT$500,000.
