As a leading player in IIoT (industrial IoT), Taiwan-based Blutech has established the world's first commercialized IIoT service platform and is applying its LoRa LPWAN system to work out a smart aquaculture monitoring solution to help fishing farmers boost fish survival rates, according to the firm's CEO WF Chen.Chen said his company has helped farmers set up the first smart fishing farm in southern Taiwan with a space of up to 13 hectares, with its LoRa LPWAN (low power wide area network) system, which shows a 99.9% accuracy in data transmission following months of non-stop trial operation, significantly helping aquaculture operators reduce unnecessary losses.Chen continued that the system allows users to monitor data of fishing farms via smartphones, saving significantly on management manpower and power consumption, and reducing waterwheel malfunction rate. Of course, he stressed, big data analysis is also needed to provide smart analysis to better improve aquaculture operations.Fishing farmers usually have little knowledge about when and what fishes to raise because of the lack of data concerning weather, bacteria, and power supply interruption. As monitoring requirements vary with different fishes for farming, monitoring methods must be constantly adjusted in accordance with the requirements and all the data concerning water, power, air, temperature and vibration must be monitored, according to Chen.Chen indicated that besides fish farming, horticulture and livestock farming sectors all require the support of IoT, big data analysis and AI to boost production efficiency, adding that AIoT is also a crucial application sector deserving great development efforts.Statistics show that global smart aquaculture market scale reached US$500 million in 2016, and is expected to experience a CAGR of 160% in the coming years to reach US$1.2 billion by 2022. Over 40% of fishery products consumed by human beings are sourced from aquaculture farms.

China-based Xiaomi launched its latest smartphones including the flagship Hongmi Note 5, in Seoul, South Korea, priced KRW200,000-300,000 (US$190-285), in cooperation with local telecom carriers SK Telecom and Korea Telecom. Their competitive pricing of less than US$300, far below Korea-based vendors' smartphone ASP of over US$500 in 2017, has quickly caught much attention in the Korea market.Xiaomi's operating profits have always been below 5%, but the slim-profit strategy is also the China-based smartphone vendor's strongest weapon in its foray into new territories. Xiaomi has already outraced Samsung Electronics in India's smartphone market and is now looking to challenge the Korea giant on its home turf.Currently, Samsung is the largest smartphone vendor in South Korea with a 55% share, followed by Apple at 28.3% and LG Electronics at 15.7%. The three handset vendors together already account for 99% of the market, leaving almost no room for any other players.To nudge its way through the barriers, Xiaomi has introduced Hongmi Note 5, featuring a 5.99-inch screen, 12-megapixel back-end and 5-megapixel front-end cameras, and artificial intelligence (AI) support, priced at KRW299,000; it has been a star in Xiaomi's winning lineup for the race in India. Although Xiaomi has not revealed the number of its smartphone pre-orders from South Korea, sources from local channels have reported positive feedbacks from consumers.Xiaomi is also said to be considering establishing its own retail store in South Korea.China-based brand vendors have often embraced a strategy of growing market share first before turning their focus to profitability - a strategy that major Korea business groups used to rely on in the past. These large businesses now face a strong challenge in defending their home market without the weapon that they have already given up. It should not surprise anyone if China-based vendors gains the upper hand in the smartphone competition in South Korea.

In a media career spanning nearly three decades, Tally Liu served as senior vice president of Knight Ridder, in charge of finances, operations, internal audit and new technologies at the second-largest newspaper company in the United States. Liu took part in Knight Ridder's investment deals and gained extensive experience in Internet business investments. Liu, now an angel investor, is a certified public accountant (CPA). He was also chairman and CEO at Newegg, a well-known online retailer of computer hardware and consumer electronics, giving him plenty of e-commerce know-how.Six things to do before starting a businessTo people looking to start a high-tech venture, Liu advises from the perspective of business operation that technology is only one of the ingredients to startup success. There are many other things to take care of. According to Liu, 50% of startups invested by venture capital funds don't last beyond five years and only 10% get to IPO. Many startups fail because their business models don't work or they lack administrative support or customer service systems. In view of this, Liu draws from his past experience and offers six pointers to those who are set to embark on an entrepreneur career.1. Not just the technology, you should also get to know the business side of operating a company even if you are running a high-tech startup.2. Know your competitors well. Your competitors will keep launching new business models and new strategies and you will have to do the same. Especially with innovative e-commerce models emerging rapidly, it's imperative that you always stay on top of the latest development.3. Know your customers well. Customer preferences change, especially when your competitor's strategy changes. Take the automobile market for example. Lexus reshaped customer service for the automotive industry after it entered the American market: 24-hour service was no longer just for VIP customers. Its rivals had no choice but to follow suit. Kia Motors also led the industry to offer 10-year 100,000 mile warranty. Furthermore, consumer preferences are diverging, said Liu. Either shopping centers featuring bargain deals or specialty stores targeting high-end consumers are packed with customers. Other businesses with no differentiating features are going nowhere fast.4. You need a great leader. A great leader is an all-rounder. There may be only 3,000 to 4,000 individuals that are CEO material in the US. More importantly, a great leader must be able to create vision. For example, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is a CEO capable of leading disruptive innovation.Liu also pointed out that every business has to do strategy planning. From an outsider's point of view, ask your management team what is being innovated and where the competitors are. When the current business model cannot carry you forward, you need to figure out a new direction.5. You need a team. If you look to start a high-tech business, you especially need a management team. It's unlikely that one person can have all the expertise in management, human resources, finances and production. You need in-house professionals to head each of these important departments, rather than passing the responsibilities to some third-party companies. Moreover, hire professional executives to oversee your company's operation and show respect for their professionalism. Do not put family members at key positions. The best example of a failed family-operated business would be Wang Laboratories.6. Follow laws and regulations, especially in the US. Learn from ZTE's case. As American government rules and regulations are constantly changing, it's critical for Taiwan businesses to have specialists keeping an eye on these changes. There has been news about companies being busted for tax evasion and getting delisted after IPO.An entrepreneur must have worldview, financial knowledge and English proficiencyLeading six SVT Angel startup teams, Liu thinks although many young entrepreneurs in Taiwan have PhD degrees, their education did not provide them practical work experience and they need to further strengthen their capabilities to be able to compete at the global level.He suggests that entrepreneurs develop a worldview. Take the TradingValley team Liu is counselling for example. TradingValley develops an online trading platform so Liu advised them to become a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) in the United States, with which they can provide services around the world.Furthermore, entrepreneurs should familiarize themselves with basic financial knowledge with respect to IPO so that they can communicate with venture capitalists without problems when they make a pitch to get funding. Also, they need to work on their English proficiency. If a CEO has trouble getting his point across, he won't be able to get people to invest in his business venture. All three entrepreneur qualities are essential to startup success. You may not be able to triumph even if you have all three but you'll definitely flounder if you lack any one of them.With the Taiwan government actively driving a burgeoning startup scene, Liu thinks Taiwan-based firms still enjoy great advantages as suppliers to leading American brands, for example, making components for iPhone or batteries for Tesla. In terms of OEM opportunities, although India has grabbed most of the software outsourcing work, there are other outsourcing opportunities such as product R&D and customer service for Taiwan. Last but not least, Taiwan-based businesses should try to capture Internet opportunities as e-commerce remains an area where players compete for market dominance and it's not bound by borders.A high-tech startup team has to realize that failure is inevitable regardless of the field of choice. Liu spoke frankly that almost all high-tech teams failed at one time or another. Full-blown success will unlikely come without at least 15 years of hard work. Experienced mentors help you learn the ropes faster but this can only work on the basis of mutual trust.(Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews focusing on the problems and opportunities that Taiwan-based startups face. The interviewees are venture capitalists and angel investors from Silicon Valley and Taiwan.)Tally Liu, former senior vice president at Knight Ridder and currently an angel investorPhoto: Joseph Tsai, Digitimes, May 2018

Sandy Chau, co-founder of Acorn Campus Ventures as well as an active real estate investor, engages in investment undertakings throughout the United States and Greater China. His success in startup investment and business operation can be attributed to what he experienced as he was growing up. Born in Shanghai, Chau received primary and secondary education in Hong Kong and Vietnam as he travelled back and forth between the two places. In Vietnam, he witnessed social unrest including the Vietnam War, political coup and student strikes, while in Hong Kong he saw the social stratification and inequality between Chinese citizens and the British ruling class. He learned how to quickly adapt to new environments and figured out how to survive and thrive. Such characteristics helped him reach success.Eight golden lessons from Chau to entrepreneurs In the 20 to 30 years of time from his childhood to adulthood when Chau first began his business, he frequently had to transfer schools and move to new cities. He transferred schools six times and lived in seven different places, staying an average of four years in each of them. Having to constantly adapt to new environments, Chau has learned that past experiences may not always apply to new situations and he must be able to look at things from new perspectives. This works for venture capital investments as well. Drawing from his years of hands-on experience and realization, he offers some suggestions to people who look to start a business.Success is the mother of failureAn ancient Chinese proverb says, "Failure is the mother of success." Having experienced small failures helps people cope with major defeat. However, to business starters, success is the mother of failure, Chau believes. When people who have had everything going their way face a new situation and have problem carrying on with their success, it's because they are limited by their old success models. Chau thinks it is like learning to play ping pong - breaking old habits is more difficult than starting anew. In other words, the biggest challenge in high-tech venture is not whether one is able to analyze the issue but whether one can think outside the box and learn to look at things from new perspectives.Be open-minded and keep learningPeople in the high-tech business have to keep learning and always stay on top of the trend, especially as business models are constantly evolving. If you think you are successful and become full of yourself, you will probably stop learning and fall out of reach. A young entrepreneur who Chau once counseled became CEO at the age of 30. After receiving investments from large venture capital funds and private equity funds, the entrepreneur followed their advice to acquire other firms. Then, he grew arrogant and thought he knew everything. Eventually, he stopped learning and his business also stopped moving forward.It's more important to stay flexible than to stick with the original startup planA business plan is only good on the day it is written because afterwards, the market is changing every day. As such, it is imperative to stay flexible than to stick with the original business plan.Leverage technology to manage your businessA high-tech business needs competent R&D professionals but the efficiency and quality of the management team is also critical to a company's success, particularly their ability to use high-tech advances to manage business operations.Reach deep into the marketLook deep into market factors in the planning stage of your business. Without first knowing where your market is, even if you have the best technology in the world, you have no one to sell it to.Engage in teamworkNo one can do it all alone. You need professionals of multiple disciplines to build a dream team. A business founder should be open-minded and search for talent that can complement the team. The founder is usually a creative person that can come up with new ideas but corporate management requires people with control and managerial capabilities. As such, the founder should be able to recruit talented professionals and adjust or enhance the original business plan.Finish what you start and see what you are capable of achievingIt generally takes 12 years from the time a high-tech startup develops a product prototype to the time it goes public. Many people try to sell their companies in the fifth year just to make their investors happy. The decision is made merely for investment returns. Their startups have no chance to develop into full maturity and they have no chance to unleash their personal potential. Therefore, as a startup grows from one stage to the next, the founder has to think carefully how to proceed. With investments pouring in, there will be pressure on how the company should operate, which may be for the sake of investment returns, rather than for the good of the firm.Step out of your comfort zone and take on a challengeYou will have a shot at success if you are bold enough to be different and travel a new path. Have the courage to try and innovate. Step out of your comfort zone so that you don't limit yourself. When an entrepreneur originally working at IBM's German subsidiary started his own business, his plan B was to drive a taxi for a living in case he failed. As it's important to have some stability in life, with a contingency plan in place, he was able to get his wife's support and went ahead with his venture.Chau came to Taiwan to invest in real estate in 1986-1987, so he is no stranger to Taiwan. Chau pointed out a group of daring young people created Taiwan's high-tech business in the 80s but most young people today stay in their comfort zone. They are not willing to venture out to explore opportunities or study abroad. They may dream big but do not follow up with actions. They talk like a wolf but act like a sheep. He asks those who with the drive to start a business not to be deterred by failures. If you stumble and fall but you get up and stand tall, you'll earn more respect."Many people are afraid of making a mistake so they hesitate to make a decision. That is a bigger mistake," said Chau.(Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews focusing on the problems and opportunities that Taiwan-based startups face. The interviewees are venture capitalists and angel investors from Silicon Valley and Taiwan.)Sandy Chau, co-founder of Acorn Campus VenturesPhoto: Joseph Tsai, Digitimes, May 2018

Taiwan's LCD panel makers should develop more small- and medium-size panels for emerging applications that will come along with the rapid developments of 5G, IoT and IoV industries, according to industry observers.Taiwan's panel makers must turn their attention to new applications for small- and medium-size panels, as they have been absent in the race to build newer generation fabs such as 10.5G for capacity ramps, said the sources.However, the observers pointed out that the delpoyments of 5G networks in Taiwan alone are expected to create business opportunities of up to US$100 billion in terms of products and services starting in the latter half of 2019, and therefore willl also bring new applications for small and mid-size panels, added the sources.The development of IoV is also a mega-industrial trend, with most carmakers eager to develop smart driving technologies such as ADAS. In other words, the development of autonomous driving technology is likely to transform vehicles into offices, entertainment or communication centers that may need up to over 10 display products per vehicle.The rise of the IoT networks will also bring new business opportunities for panel makers, as connected IoT devices used in the manufacturing, medical care, vehicles and other applications all need an interface to interact with people, mostly using a display product, said the observers.As clients from various sectors have their own specifications, panel makers can develop customized products for different clients, leveraging different features of panels such as flexibility, high transparency, heat or cold resistance.

As the information application architectures in today's business sectors are increasingly interconnected, making it difficult for individual enterprises to safeguard their information security alone, Taiwan Mobile has recently launched a so-called "Information Security Cop" service to help enterprises protect their data.The challenges of information security are evolving rapidly under current hybrid environments where information networks of most businesses are connected with those networks of cloud service providers, suppliers, subcontractors and clients for information sharing, and therefore have made their networks vulnerable to attacks, according to TY Hsu, manager of enterprise integrated service department at Taiwan Mobile.The Information Security Cop protection solutions, which are co-developed with a number of international solution providers, are designed to provide effective all-in-one measures to protect corporate information from the cloud to devices against malware attacks such as Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS), Hsu said.Hsu continued that the previous model for the deployment of information security protection is to budget and purchase a protective solution or device for a single functional requirement such as for firewall, IPS, UTM and other systems. But current security situation is more complex that requires a set of technology to give effective protection from DDoS, APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) and other malwares.Also, under today's mainstream hybrid environments, the existing technologies like edge firewalls and VPNs are insufficient to secure complex multiple environments, Taiwan Mobile has also adopted Zentera Systems' CoIP Security Enclave products to enhance the capability of its security cop solutions, Hsu added.Taiwan Mobile has established a carrier-class backbone defense service architecture that can fend off DDoS attacks in large traffic, and additionally, Arbor APS (Availability Protection System) DDoS mitigation technology is also being adopted by its backbone networks to implement detailed protection against application layer attacks.Taiwan Mobile can also help build and manage UTM and other basic protective solutions for the core networks of its business clients, allowing them to build up necessary information protection without one-time large capital expenditure. Besides, Taiwan Mobile's Information Security Cop service team can also render assistant to help clients monitor and maintain these basic protective systems.TY Hsu, manager of enterprise integrated service department at Taiwan MobilePhoto: Digitimes file photo

IoT applications will see brand-new development after 5G technologies and applications enter commercial runs in 2019, and all IoT devices must feature low power consumption and high stability to secure smooth operations in diverse environments. In line with the trend, Taiwan's memory supplier Macronix International has rolled out the cutting-edge 1.2V MX25S SPI NOR series to meet the market demand, according to the firm's senior marketing manager HJ Kuo.Macronix's 1.2V MX25S SPI NOR series boasts extremely low power consumption, consuming only 0.007uA in the state of deep power down, compared to power consumption of 0.2uA for 1.8V and 3uA for 3V. In addition, under the operating mode, power consumption runs only one tenth that of 1.8V, according to Kuo.Kuo said that unlike 2G to 4G applications featuring transmission of voices, images and various data mainly through smartphones, 5G will allow telecom operators to extend services to a variety of new areas beyond smartphones through its features including high speed transmission, high coverage rate and low latency.She continued that 5G IoT will make everything in the world become "smart X," expanding from man-man and man-things linkages to things-things connections and finally building the architectures of smart cities, with big data generated to be developed into more digitalized application services.In terms of system equipment needed to support 5G IoT applications, power-saving, miniaturization and high quality will be the top three concerns for equipment makers in seeking supply chain partners. The requirements are also applicable to relevant memory solutions, Kuo indicated.HJ Kuo, senior marketing manager at Macronix InternationalPhoto: Digitimes file photo

YouCam beauty apps offered by Taiwan-based Perfect Corp have become the world's most downloaded beauty apps, scoring over 600 million global app downloads, with global beauty and makeup brands including Estee Lauder, L'Oreal and Shiseido among the firm's 150 loyal customers, according to company founder and CEO Alice Chang.The firm's YouCam Makeup app was rated as the best beauty app in May 2018 by the Cosmetic Executive Women Beauty Awards. Annual beauty awards are given to recognize the most innovative beauty products of the year.Perfect is the world's first tech player applying AR (augmented reality) to beauty apps, and its YouCam beauty apps will continue to expand the boundaries of AR beauty experiences and solutions with market-leading innovations driven by cutting-edge AI, Chang indicated.She continued that YouCam's deep learning algorithms will continue to create world-leading facial detection technology to redefine the consumer, brand, and retail beauty experience.YouCam beauty apps are designed to help users realize virtual beauty, Chang said. She furthered that with the AR technology, the virtual makeup effects and facial images of users can be integrated and projected to the screen, which will function like a "magic mirror" allowing consumers to complete makeup trials without using cosmetics.The company's YouCam apps attract over 12 million active users per day, with 35 million daily makeup trials. This enables the company to collect trial makeup data from app users and provide big data analysis for reference by providers of beauty care products and cosmetic makeup solutions.

While Taiwan electronics industry is aggressively mulling over how to tap the huge business opportunities to be created by quantum computers, the country's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has urged businesses to play a crucial role in commercializing genome editing applications. Both quantum computer and genome editing are deemed the two most important tech inventions that will affect human beings in the future.Tom Yeh, chief of the MOST's Science and Technology Division at Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, said that Jennier Doudna, a professor of chemistry, biochemistry & molecular biology at UC Berkeley, has her invention - genome editing technology - patented in the US in 2018 after obtaining a patent right from the European Patent Office in 2017.Yeh said the patent right means that gene editing efficiency is fast enough for industrial application, and can be further applied to botany, animal and human eukaryotic cells. As genome editing is regarded as a revolutionary technology that can subvert existing genetic disease therapies, many frontier tech firms are already racing to make deployments in relevant application fields to tap immense lucrative market opportunities, Yeh added.Yeh revealed that the cover of the July 2018 issue of the Trends in Cancer published by US-based Cell Press highlights a featured article jointly contributed by Doudna and two Taiwan post-doctorate researchers Huang Chun-hao and Lee Ko-chuan, with the article titled "Applications of CRISPR-Cas Enzymes in Cancer Therapeutics and Detection." In the article, the authors discuss the promises and hurdles in translating the revolutionary technology of genome editing into effective and safe clinical applications for cancer treatment and diagnosis.Yeh said that Doudna's research team has moved to transfer its research achievements to startups for industrial applications. Among the startups, Caribou Biosciences is dedicated to biomedicines, agricultural and biological infrastructure research; Intellia Therapeutics is devoted to studies on cancer and autoimmune diseases; and Editas Medicine focuses on evolutions of genetic medicines.Many more new functions and applications associated with genome editing are undergoing industrialization in Silicon Valley in 2018, Yeh indicated, adding that Mammoth Biosciences founded by Doudna's doctoral students, for instance, is engaged in using genome editing technology to detect DNAs of specific diseases.

When you look at any electronic engineering magazine these days there is certainly never a shortage of articles to read that relate in some way or other to the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT-based systems will, as we all know, serve a broad spectrum of different purposes, but some things remain fundamental to them all. Whatever the context in which this technology is going to be used, it is certain that there will be a need for ongoing access to the large quantities of data that are being generated, so that subsequent analysis, manipulation and comparison can be undertaken. Much of this activity will be done once the data has been transported from where it was originally acquired back to the cloud.In order to gain the required online connectivity for cloud-based operation it is necessary to specify a microcontroller unit (MCU) that encompasses the appropriate interface technologies - for wireline this could be through Ethernet, while for wireless this might be via use of Wi-Fi, ZigBee or Bluetooth protocols. As a greater variety of IoT applications emerge, each with their own very specific operational criteria, MCUs with much more expansive I/O capabilities will be called for.Figure 1. Industrial monitoring system with data being acquired from a sensor arrayA simple scenario is detailed in Figure 1, where a web server is being used to compile data coming from an array of sensor devices. Here the open source lwIP (lightweight IP) platform furnishes the TCP/IP stack needed for Internet connectivity. The web server code running on the MCU provides a web page through which all the acquired data can be viewed and analysed by a suitably trained member of staff. Depending on the nature of the application, the data may need to be dealt with in real time (for example, in a factory production line inspection system, where if a problem is identified then action will be required immediately). In such use cases, system latency can present a major problem, not allowing enough time for an appropriate response to be made if a situation arises that could have serious consequences - such as expensive items of machinery being damaged or the workforce located in the vicinity being put in danger.As already stated, currently the I/O resources of most MCUs are relatively limited and don't necessarily fully meet engineers' expectations. Devices are now being needed that offer a greater breadth of connectivity. At the same time they must be able to deliver elevated levels of operational performance too. Though a significant proportion of IoT applications will consist of large numbers of remotely-situated sensor nodes, with the focus being on maintaining low levels of power consumption and only supporting relatively limited data rates, there are plenty more scenarios besides these that will need the rapid transfer and processing of data. Key examples include home automation, industrial monitoring, utilities, etc.In contrast to the vast majority of MCU solutions on the market, which are focused mainly on providing a feature set that is supported through software, the FT90X series MCUs from Bridgetek execute the most of their functionality via hardware. This allows performance-optimized operation that is not available using conventional generic MCU platforms to be benefited from and makes them an attractive option for data-intensive, low latency tasks like the one described above.The advanced bridging technology built into these 32-bit RISC-based MCUs is pivotal to this. By making use of it, these devices can provide dedicated bridges between fast I/Os, allowing discrete elements of a design to gain access the most suitable hardware available. It means that interfacing of the different processing and I/O elements on the MCU can be done deterministic (without any latency problems arising). Using the company's proprietary FT32 core allows the ICs to deliver true zero wait state operation, reaching 310 DMIPS performance while running at a frequency of 100MHz. As well as accommodating both 10 Base-T (10Mbps) and 100 Base-TX (100Mbps) Ethernet connectivity, they also support CAN bus, I2C, USB and numerous other I/Os.If we return to our earlier example, shown in Figure 1, an MM900EVxA board (which integrates an FT90X MCU) can be allocated the role of the web server needed to take care of all the data being generated by the array of sensors in real time. Universal plug-and-play (UPnP) is implemented onto this hardware, which allows for it to be listed under "Other Devices" within the "Network" section of Windows Explorer and similar Internet connectivity platforms. This makes installation quick and simple to accomplish. The relevant network settings can be stored on the non-volatile memory that has been incorporated into the MM900EVxA board. This information resides in the lwIP library. The HTTPD application reads static and server-side-include files from the virtual file system. Server-side-include files are processed in the HTTPD application and include data is added via an application call-back function.(Editor's note: Gordon Lunn is technical marketing manager at Bridgetek.)