Hipposcreen Neurotech (HNC) has introduced a stress electroencephalogram (EEG) assessment system, a diagnostic tool that combines AI algorithms and brainwave signal amplifying circuits. It only takes the system 90 seconds to measure brainwave signals and generate scientific data that help doctors diagnose and treat depression, according to the company.HNC, founded by a National Taipei University of Technology (Taipei Tech) research team with investment from Compal, noted that more than 300 hundred million people in the world suffer from depression and fewer than half of them are receiving treatment. In some countries, no more than one tenth of the people with depression are getting medical care.HNC has been chosen by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to be among the teams that will present their achievements at the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) at CES 2020. It is hoped that HNC's participation at the event will help it expand internationally and make it a pioneer leading Taiwan's foray into the AI-based smart diagnostics systems sector.HNC's system features high usability, fast measurement and high accuracyThe research team led by Yi Hung Liu, a professor from Taipei Tech, that founded HNC in April 2019, have engaged in the study of brainwave signal processing, AI algorithms and neuroscience analysis for more than a decade.Daniel Weng, HNC's CTO, said the diagnosis of mental disorders, mostly depression, has always relied on the doctor's expert knowledge and clinical experience, along with the use of the patient's self-assessment reports. HNC's stress EEG assessment system is aimed to enable doctors to make diagnosis based on scientific measurements of brainwave signals and data readings so as to allow early detection and treatment.HNC's stress EEG assessment system amplifies brainwave signals measured through EEG, processes the signals and sends the results to the cloud for analysis. The system is easy to operate, fast and accurate so it can proceed to commercialization ahead of the competition, Weng said.Weng explained that HNC's system requires simple preparation procedures. The patient only needs to put on a black electrode cap and sit in front of the computer. Signals are collected through the electrodes. After the patient looks at the black cross on the screen for 90 seconds, an assessment report is generated to indicate the stress level with a colored distribution chart. Darker colors represent higher stress levels and the distance to the dark color zone indicates the subject's likelihood of having depression."The system's smart analysis achieves 80% accuracy, making it a valuable clinical reference," said Weng. The achievement is possible because when they were doing research at Taipei Tech, the team had collaborated with National Taiwan University Hospital and Harvard Medical School to collect EEG data from depressed patients and non-depressed individuals for machine learning. With the establishment and growth of HNC, they now partner with three major medical institutions in Taiwan for access to EEG data, which will help further enhance the accuracy and optimize the system, Weng said.Expand preventive medicine to mental health careWith Compal's support in hardware, HNC said it was able to complete the device side of its system in a short time. Furthermore, with Compal's well established presence in the biomedical sector, HNC's device is expected to pass safety certifications by the end of December 2019, making it the first brainwave instrument supplier in Taiwan to obtain medical-grade certifications.HNC plans to begin pilot operation of its first-generation stress EEG assessment system in the second half of 2020 and officially launch the system in 2021. It looks to market the system to hospitals and clinics in Taiwan in the first phase and tap the physical examination sector in the second phase.As part of its efforts to bring its product to market, HNC is also in the process of obtaining US FDA approval for medical devices in an attempt to foray into international markets. Aside from depression, HNC is also working on developing AI algorithms to help doctors diagnose other brain-related disorders including dementia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using scientific measurement tools. The aim is to make AI an important aid to medical professionals in mental health screening and treatment.Compal is HNC's largest shareholder, having invested NT$42 million (US$1.4 million) to hold a 70% stake.Weng expects HNC's participation at the TTA at CES 2020 to broaden HNC's horizon, and bring opportunities for HNC to team up with with international partners.HNC CTO Daniel Weng demonstrates how to operate the company's stress EEG assessment systemPhoto: Digitimes staff, December 2019

Taiwan-based startup La Vida Tec has established WaCare medical care social network to connect individuals and their families with health care professionals to promote personalized preventive medicine, according company CEO Pan Ren-hao.WaCare integrates government open health data, personal medical records, and personal health data collected from smart wearables, and uses AI-based inference engine, machine learning algorithms, natural language analysis and big data to predict health risks and automatically send warning to facilitate individuals' online consulting with health care professionals, Pan said. All personal data are encrypted using RSA algorithm and based on AES (advanced encryption standard) for information security, Pan added.WaCare plays active roles helping medical practitioners, mainly doctors, pharmacists and senior nurses, advertise their online consulting services, and they set their own consulting fees, samll portions of whicn are shared by WaCare, Pan noted.WaCare is extending health care to about 40 communities in remote areas around Taiwan by having doctors, pharmacists and medical experts provide online educational courses concerning health care for fees that they set. These courses will also help them provide online consulting services.La Vida Tec has raised venture capital investment of over NT$40 million (US$1.32 million) and hopes to obtain NT$45 million in C-round fundraising in 2020, Pan said, adding the company plans to tap markets in the Southeast Asia in 2021, with overseas Chinese to be target users.La Vida Tec CEO Pan Ren-haoPhoto: Mark Tsai, Digitimes, December 2019

With the rising business opportunity of 5G applications, orders for related technologies and components have continued to pick up and are expected to benefit TSMC over its InFO-AiP and Taiwan-based CCL makers in 2020. Meanwhile, China-based DRAM maker CXMT has been pushing its LPDDR4x memory for the adoption into the handsets of China-based second-tier vendors.TSMC to launch InFO-AiP volume production for mmWave devices in 2020: TSMC's backend antenna-in-package technology, dubbed InFO-AiP, has attracted orders from US-based clients for packaging 5G mmWave devices, with volume production set to kick off next year, according to industry sources.CCL makers poised to reap 5G application opportunities in 2020: Taiwan-based CCL makers including Elite Material, Taiwan Union Technology, Iteq and Ventec International have raced to send high-frequency, high speed CCL samples to clients for validation in 2019 seeking to explore the growing 5G application opportunities in 2020 and beyond, according to industry sources.CXMT developing LPDDR4x memory for handsets: China-based DRAM startup ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is making progress in the development of LPDDR4x memory chips, which will initially attract orders from China's second-tier handset vendors, according to industry sources.

China's overall IC production capacity will continue to expand in 2020 as both IDMs and foundry houses there have readied expansion plans covering 4-, 6-, 8- and 12-inch wafer fabs and will enter 14nm node next year, according to Digitimes Research.The capacity expansion plans are driven by the mounting demand for logic ICs, memory chips, power chips and analog ICs for 5G and IoT applications in China, as well as the government's aggressive push for pursuing IC self-sufficiency, Digitimes Research noted.Both IDMs and foundry firms have seen some of their new fabs start commercial runs in 2019, with some more to kick off volume production of new products or technologies in 2020, when new capacity expansion plans will also be implemented.Meanwhile, the adoption of 14nm node, mass production of 3D NAND flash chips, and growing demand for power devices and analog ICs for IoT applications all serve to prompt Chinese IDMs and foundry houses to strengthen deployments in 2020 in both mature and special process nodes, whether at 12-inch, 8-inch or lower-inch wafer fabs.

High-definition (HD) maps will be used in combination with data collected by various traffic sensors to become local dynamic maps.Under the Ministry of the Interior's commission, National Cheng Kung University's Department of Geomatics in Taiwan has set up a national High-definition Maps Research Center to provide HD maps in OpenDrive+Extension format for use in intelligent transportation systems.Telematics service provider TMS Technologies indicated that such HD maps will hike efficiency in modeling traffic scenarios and broaden scope of using traffic data.TMS said it can combine real-time traffic data and traffic infrastructure information available at its DataBar-MaaS marketplace with HD maps to produce customized map products based on user needs.Updating HD maps can rely on sensors installed on taxis, public buses and logistics cars that run along fixed routes or in regular areas to provide latest data, said Thomas Cheng, general manager for transportation consultant Thinktron.

Foldable phones are already a commerical reality, and the market can expect to see more from multiple vendors in 2020. But those who are looking forward to foldable-screen notebooks may have to wait a little longer. Intel reportedly was looking to showcase a 17-inch foldable-screen notebook at the upcoming CES, but decided to drop the plan due to issues with flexible panel supply and immature OS support. But IC design house MediaTek is set to unveil its Dimensity 800 at CES - a 5G SoC for midrange smartphone segments. In the displays market, LCD panel makers may be able to heap a sigh of relief, as prices of TV applications may jump as much as 20% in first-half 2020. Intel not yet ready to promote foldable-screen notebooks: Intel is unlikely to promote foldable-screen notebooks until after issues such as insufficient flexible panel supply and immature OS support are solved in mid 2020, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.MediaTek to showcase Dimensity 800 5G SoC at CES 2020: MediaTek is set to unveil its second sub-6 GHz 5G SoC, codenamed Dimensity 800, at the upcoming CES 2020 and start delivering the chips in the second quarter of the year.LCD TV panel prices likely to rise 20% in 1H20: LCD TV panel prices may stage a rally in early 2020 thanks to an improved supply-demand balance, with the upward spiral to continue into the second quarter and quotes for mainstream panel sizes likely to rise about 20%, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based medical management consulting company Concord Medical has helped Hua Yang Hospital and Kangyu Clinic, both in northern Taiwan, set up robotic rehabilitation centers.Hua Yang Hospital's robotic rehabilitation center consists of Keeogo BestShapr XO, an exoskeleton walking assistance system developed by Canada-based B-Temia, a Gloreha 3D smart robotic glove and arm for rehabilitation developed by Italy-based Idrogenet, an Andago overground gait training system with dynamic body weight support developed by Switzerland-based Hocoma, while Kangyu's consists of Keeogo BestShapr XO only, according to company CFO Liu Fu-an.The equipment each can serve 4-6 patients in an afternoon, with a patient accompanied by a physiotherapist in a one-hour rehabilitation session, Liu noted. One-third of patients are transferred from hospitals after they received medical treatment, including surgical operation, there, Liu indicated.Robotic rehabilitation systems detect users' articular movement and changes in such movement via sensors and then decide on when to start, accelerate or decelerate motors using AI-based analysis to help the users, Liu analyzed. Accompanying physiotherapists help users and can finely adjust such systems to reach optimal rehabilitation, Liu added.Although investment in the establishing such robotic rehabilitation centers is high for small hospitals, it is a way to differentiate themselves in the smart medical and health care sector, said Liu.In a bid to promote robotic rehabilitation, Concord has cooperated with high-tech companies in medical care to provide training for physiotherapists and rehabilitation specialists at Hua Yang Hospital, Liu said. Parties in the rehabilitation ecosystem are supposed to cooperate to make robotic rehabilitation concurrent with conventional rehabilitation methods, Liu noted.Concord Medical CFO Liu Fu-anPhoto: Mark Tsai, Digitimes, December 2019

Taiwan-based startup businesses tapping the Southeast Asia market should offer one-stop solutions via integrating various innovations developed by different startups, according to Vincent Lu, vice managing director for Jumpway, a Thailand-based electronics manufacturer established by Taiwanese entrepreneurs over 30 years ago.Taiwan-based startups entering Thailand, despite their innovative ideas, products and services, generally do not know how to market them, Lu said.Since features of innovations vary among different startups, startups working individually may be able to win orders for their unique products and service, but they cannot provide turnkey or industry-based systematic solutions for any industry, Lu said.Tourism is an important industry for Thailand, and as smart tourism involves close cooperation among hotels, department stores, airlines and other transportation service providers, innovative products and services that simultaneously meet respective needs have to be based on integrating different startups' innovations, Lu said.Taiwan-based Sinotech Engineering Consultants has cooperated with a Thailand-based industrial real estate developer to develop Taipei Smart City, a smart city demonstration site, in Chonburi, eastern Thailand. Taipei Smart City, with an entrepreneurship zone to house incubators, will attract Taiwan-based startups and help them partner with Thailand-based Taiwanese makers for production of innovative products.Jumpway vice managing director Vincent LuPhoto: Company

Bitmark has created a specialized blockchain application to convert personal medical data - with patients' authorization - into digital assets that can be sold, licensed and transferred peer-to-peer, a practice that can be feasible in Taiwan, which boasts sound environment for medical innovations, according to company CEO Sean Moss-Pultz.He said Taiwan boasts comprehensive personal medical data, which can, through cooperation with the National Health Insurance Administration, be directly connected to, stored and analyzed in a cloud blockchain system for further applications based on consents from patients.Moss-Pultz said there is no need to worry about software and hardware infrastructure requirements, as what really matters are the application framework and business model. He said his company has established a property rights system where digital property titles, or "bitmarks," are assigned to digital assets and recorded in an open-source Bitmark blockchain, creating a permanent and unique ownership history that allows data to be authenticated, bought and sold.Moss-Pultz disclosed that Bitmark is cooperating with Health2Sybnc, a diabetes log app, on medical data application, seeking to integrate personal data of diabetes patients via the IoT system before they can be inspected and licensed through the handset app.He continued that Bitmark will start with the application of medical data associated with diabetes, ophthalmological diseases and wound care services to create wealth for patients and boost public awareness about the value of medical data.

The world's two superpowers may be heading towards a truce in their trade war, but the US reportedly is not letting Chinese tech giant Huawei off the hook easily. Washington may tighten control on Huawei's access to US technology, with Taiwanese IC designers bracing for mixed impacts. China, well aware of the risk of over-dependence on US technology, has ambitious goals of raising its self-sufficiency for semiconductors. For Huawei, it is also sourcing more components from local suppliers, such as hybrid lens modules from AAC Technologies for its upcoming flagship smartphones. Apple is also said to be sourcing more from Chinese suppliers for a different reason, namely cost concerns. And as the year 2019 nears its end, Digitimes looks at how the heyday of the LCD panel industry is also coming to a close.US may tighten ban on Huawei with mixed impacts on Taiwan IC designers: The US government is reportedly mulling adjusting regulations to tighten control on Huawei's access to US-originated technology, which may bring uncertainties to Taiwan-based IC design houses in the supply chain of the Chinese smartphone vendor but benefit those which compete with its chipmaking arm HiSilicon.AAC Tech reportedly lands hybrid lens module orders from Huawei, Xiaomi: China-based AAC Technologies Holdings has reportedly landed orders for its hybrid lens modules from Huawei and Xiaomi for their upcoming flagship smartphones, a warning signal for related Taiwanese makers who have been counting heavily on orders from the handset sector in China, according to industry sources.Apple reportedly to deepen cooperation with China supply chain makers: Apple reportedly has deepened its cooperation with China-based supply chain makers for not only ramping up its shipments to China but also further reducing its overheads, according to Taiwan-based handset supply chain makers.LCD heyday coming to an end: For the global LCD panel industry, the year 2019 has been mostly engulfed by oversupply due notably to rampant capacity ramps by Chinese makers. Oversupply coupled with the impacts of the US-China trade dispute has brough not only steep falls in LCD panel prices but also profound changes of the landscapes of the global display industry.