Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will lead 44 tech startup companies to attend CES 2019 in Las Vegas in January 2019, MOST minister Liang-Gee Chen announced on Wednesday.The minister made the announcement at Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), which will organize a national pavilion at CES' Eureka Park to showcase the country's tech strengths to the world, creating a stage that connects Taiwan startups with the global ecosystem, resources and industries to create business opportunities estimated at NT$4 billion (US$129.71 million).Chen urged Taiwan's companies to support local startups with their financial strength and experience.Chen said there wasn't any angel investors in Taiwan in the past, but it has now started to see some. MOST has ambitious goals for helping establish more startups, but that will need a lot more angel investors, he said.Eight of the startups in the TTA team have been named winners of the CES 2019 Innovation Award: EleClean, Genius Holdings, Gintel Tech, Han-Win Technology, Lubn, Omnieyes, Starwing Technology, and Taiwan Main Orthopedic Biotechnology.Chen pointed out that two Taiwan startups won the Innovation Award at CES 2018, which marked the first time that a MOST-arranged team had showcased Taiwan's IT prowess at the annual event. The Taiwan team to CES 2018 consisted of 32 companies.The 44 TTA startups going to CES 2019 are mainly selected from six high-tech fields covering IoT (25%), cyber security and software (20%), AI (18%), healthcare (14%), wearables (14%), and advanced manufacturing (9%).Launched in June 2018, TTA is a pioneer program funded by MOST. The program aims to connect global resources, build a more tech startup friendly ecosystem, and foster high-tech entrepreneurships in Taiwan.TTA hopes to attract global and domestic talent and actively foster the innovation of technology industries by building a co-creation platform for startups, accelerators, venture capital, and corporate partners.Via participating CES 2019, TTA looks forward to connecting global investors for its team, having further industrial cooperation, and enhancing Taiwan's reputation in global high-tech ecosystem.MOST minister Liang-Gee Chen at TTAPhoto: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, December 2018

The top-5 notebook brands' combined shipments grew 4% on month, but went down 11% on year in November, despite the month being a traditional strong season. Intel's CPU shortages and ongoing US-China trade tensions continued affecting notebook players' shipment performances in November.Hewlett-Packard (HP) had an on-month shipment decline in November and the volumes also slipped 14% on year. Lenovo enjoyed an on-month growth of 10% in November thanks to China e-commerce platforms' inventory preparations. Dell also experienced an on-month decline in November shipments, but saw a 6% on-year increase thanks to strong shipment growth in the enterprise sector, Digitimes Research numbers show.The top-3 ODMs together achieved an on-month shipment growth of 1% in November, thanks to HP increasing the proportion of its shipments to Compal Electronics, which became the largest notebook maker worldwide, leapfrogging the original number-one Quanta Computer.

Overall revenues scored by Taiwan's server sector including segments of motherboards, terminal systems, storage devices and related network equipment, are expected to surge 24.6% on year to NT$870 billion (US$28.2 billion) in 2018, according to Digitimes Research.Compared with revenue growth, Taiwan server shipments for 2018 are estimated to see a lower annual increase of 11.5%, with Wiwynn posting the highest shipment expansion, figures from Digitimes Research's latest server report showed.Global server shipments have been estimated to keep growing in 2018 and 2019. But affected by the US-China trade war and poor transition to Intel's new-generation Purley server processor at some clients, the 2018 shipment growth rate has been lower than expected. And the growth rate for 2019 is also expected to be thwarted amid the lingering trade tensions between the world's two largest economies and some clients already taking high shipments in 2018.In terms of demand by clients, large-size data centers in the US have registered the most remarkable growth, and China customers have also shown robust demand. As the shipment ratio for Taiwan-sourced white-box server models has kept rising, the aggregate global server market share held by Taiwan manufacturers has hit a high level of 91% in 2018.Bolstered by sharp shipment growth of its subsidiary Wiwynn, Wistron Group has kept narrowing its shipment gap with the largest server maker Inventec. Meanwhile, Quanta Computer, Foxconn and Wiwynn have all seen increased reliance on large-size data centers for contract production orders in 2018.

Hong Kong startup PowerArena is moving to apply computer vision and AI deep learning technologies to conduct real-time monitoring of production lines to help manufacturers discover factors leading to poor production efficiency, in order for them to seek improvement solutions, according to company co-founder Ken Law.PowerArea is one of 19 growth startups, also the only from Asia, invited to attend 10-day trade talks with 47 Taiwan businesses, hosted recently by Garage+, an incubation project initiated by Taipei-based Epoch Foundation.Law and another co-founder Ryan Chow have discussed with Taiwan firms including Wistron, Advantech and AU Optoelectronics over cooperation possibilities. Law revealed that his company is planning to set up a branch office in Taiwan seeking to explore market potentials for AI-based image recognition solutions needed to help manufacturers with production upgrades. Despite the arival of Industry 4.0, there are still many labor-intensive and low-automation manufacturing plants in Taiwan and China, and data associated with production variables at such plants cannot be collected by sensors installed on machinery equipment, Law said.Law said PowerArena's AI image recognition solution can be combined with surveillance cameras to monitor the efficiency of each production line worker by figuring out the time he or she needs to complete each procedure, so as to help manufacturers locate the most time-consuming procedure and take effective improvement measures.Law said that while Industry 4.0 highlights smart production, there are now as many as 300 million workers operating at plants. PowerArena's AI image recognition technology can be best applied to labor-intensive and low-automation production lines, including those at electronics assembly, food production and garment manufacturing plants, Law indicated, adding that the technology can replace mechanical networking to inject new intelligence into low-automation industries.Law continued that the AI image recognition technology can also help manufacturers achieve more efficient shift of production lines to meet the growing "small-volume, large-variety" production mode.PowerArea will move to further optimize its AI image recognition functions to boost yield rates at production lines, according to Law.PowerArena co-founders Ryan Chow (left) and Ken Law (right)Photo: Chloe Liao, Digitimes, December 2018

While Ultra-HD (UHD) content is still insufficient at the moment, related makers and service providers should expand the scope of information applications to highlight the value of such high resolution and stimulate demand for 8K TVs.Cable operators have just started offering paid 4K value-added service in 2018 in line with the completion of 4K terrestrial broadcasting standards and trial broadcasting. OTT has then become the earliest platform to roll out 4K video services, although some short 8K videos have appeared on YouTube. OTT is likely to pioneer the 8K video services, Digitimes Research believes.But the lack of 8K videos will highlight the value of 8K TVs' video processing capability. The scaling technology used for video processing has begun to utilize AI applications in the 8K era. The use of AI gives TV chips the learning ability to self-improve the quality of image, and therefore will be instrumental to driving up demand for 8K TVs.Digitimes Research also believes that in addition to improving the image of non-8K videos through AI scaling technology, the TV industry should also expand related information applications to crease demand for 8K TVs. As compared with video content, the presentation of a large amount of text or maps through information applications will highlight the superior image quality of 8K TVs.Smart TVs supporting information applications have not been popular due to a lack of an efficient human-machine interface for inputting commands. Since AI-based voice technology has become mature in recent years, the TV industry should make good use this technology to expand the scope of information applications through TVs, which in turn will benefit the development of 8K TV market.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) recently held a presentation to showcase its outstanding results in facilitating developments of the retail and logistics sectors at the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC). The event was attended by nearly 550 individual participants and corporate representatives.According to May Lee, director general, Department of Commerce, MOEA, the ministry keeps a close watch on new developments and trends of the retail and logistics service sectors. The small and medium businesses sectors currently lack the capability of developing or applying technologies by themselves to undergo digital transformation. Moreover, commercial services are going increasingly mobile and international, which presents big challenges for these businesses to deliver precise and prompt services.As such, MOEA aims to facilitate industrial upgrade and transformation by combining smart technology and creativity to help Taiwan businesses develop innovative services, revolutionize business models and build up competitiveness through differentiation. The event was held for the purpose of demonstrating and sharing the breakthroughs and accomplishments after one year of hard work.A smart store demonstration jointly developed by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the convenience store chain Hi-Life was also a highlight of the event. The store featured a myriad of smart applications including a face enroll system, self-service coffee machine, self-checkout station, people flow analysis, in-store hotspot detection, electronic shelf label and retail service robots. Visitors could interact with these smart applications and gain a firsthand experience on the convenience and charms of shopping at a store of the future.In 2018, MOEA has helped more than 80 firms and 8,000 sales locations apply advanced technologies or transition toward smart services. In addition to presenting the results of its campaign, MOEA also hopes that the demonstrations of smart high-tech applications enabled through joint efforts by MOEA and the collaborating firms will inspire and lead Taiwan's service sector to transform toward smartization, engage in innovations and thereby mark a new milestone.Participants at the 2018 smart business and logistics presentationPhoto: Digitimes staff, December 2018

Smart machine boxes can be integrated with order management system to better monitor dynamic conditions at production lines and realize the true value of data collection and management associated with the boxes, according to JY Huang, vice president of Impelex Data Transfer, a Taiwan-based system integrator and smart machine box supplier.Huang said that smart machine boxes are usually adopted by manufacturers short of digitalization capability for production upgrades. The boxes and sensors can be combined to collect, process, store and transmit production data.But general smart machine boxes cannot address the issues of when shipments can be delivered or whether production progress can meet shipment schedule, Huang said.To fix the issues, she continued, Impelex has developed smart machine boxes that can integrate order management system, warehouse management system, distributed control system (DCS) and equipment management system into enterprise resources planning (ERP) system.This way, manufacturers can figure out optimal equipment utilization based on order fulfillment needs while effectively improving production efficiency, Huang indicated. JY Huang, vice president of Impelex Data TransferPhoto: Chloe Liao, Digitimes, December 2018

UnlimiterHear, a Taiwan-based hearing technology specialist, has teamed up with Airoha Technology to develop Bluetooth chips for hearing aids.Airhoa, a subsidiary of MediaTek and the largest supplier of solutions using True Wireless Stereo (TWS) technology, wanted to enter the Bluetooth hearing aid market more than three years ago, only to realize that it faced a high entry bar without the necessary expertise, according to company CEO and president David Chang.Airoha has now decided to form a partnership with UnlimiterHear to jointly develop the chips, he said. Many first-tier earphone brands are clients of Airoha.UnlimiterHear has been devoted to developing technologies for hearing protection and enhancement for over 10 years, and currently owns 171 audio-related technological patents.UnlimiterHear chairman Kuo Ping Yang pointed out that Apple and Samsung Electronics have also been developing technologies in the field, showing the potential of the hearing healthcare market amid.Figure from World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015 showed that the world had around 1.1 billion young people facing the risk of hearing impairment by unsafely using smartphones and earphones.Most of UnlimiterHear competitors' technologies only allow manual adjustments on the sound volume. In addition to protecting users' hearing, the companies are also keen to avoid any possible dispute arising from misuse.But UnlimiterHear's in-house developed smart algorithm features ability to comprehensively detect sound level and dynamically adjust the output volume for each piece of music to ensure users are listening to the music within a safe sound range.According to NIOSH's standard, users are able to enjoy up to eight hours of listening activities with a sound level of 85dB, but with a sound level of 103dB, the maximum usage time is cut sharply to only seven minutes and 30 seconds. Beyond the time limit users will start to suffer hearing impairment.The hearing safety level is determined by the sound strengthen (loudness), continuity (length of the sound) and frequency (occurred often or not). The three factors are related to each other, forming the level of the overall sound volume, according to UnlimiterHear.Yang, who also has an expertise in the acoustic technology, explained that the total sound volume that a person can accept safely is unchangeable. The energy generated from a long-term low-volume sound and the one from a short-term high-volume sound are the same.Yang noted that hearing impairment is irreversible and will eventually affect a person's understanding of speech and life quality.Yang revealed that UnlimiterHear's technology of dynamic hearing protection can be embedded into a smartphone or Bluetooth chip.The company has also signed agreements with Bluetooth chip and medical healthcare platform developers to integrate its 171 IPs, including Hearing Test, EarSafe, EarEQ, EarClarity and Ubiquitous Hearing, into their chips. Related products and services are expected to become available in the market shortly, it said.For hearing protection, limiting the sound volume at a fixed level, adopting noise reduction functionality and using sound volume warning are three types of solutions that earphone and smartphone brands usually adopt.However, none of these solutions are capable of providing dynamic management of overall sound energy and hearing volume levels that have critical impacts on hearing safety. UnlimiterHear's core technologies not only are able to create personalized and smart hearing protection, they can also be integrated with big data for further management, said Chang.During a recent Internet of Things (IoT) summit, a China-based medical healthcare platform demonstrated a smart Bluetooth earphone with hearing protection functionalities that use technologies from UnlimiterHear. An executive from the platform noted that the smart Bluetooth earphone is able to track usage time, signal energy and hearing volumes and can real-time respond with dynamic sound level adjustments and visual information to prompt users to change their listening behaviors in order to help them continue enjoying their music without noticing any dramatic volume reduction, while still under protection, according to UnlimiterHear.Airoha CEO David Chang (left) and UnlimiterHear chairman Kuo Ping Yang (right)Photo: Digitimes, December 2018

Taiwan government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute's (ITRI) Service Systems Technology Center (SSTC) has developed a cold chain logistics solution based on sharing of cold chain logistics resources.Supermarket operators face two major problems while establishing cold chain logistics systems: huge cost for freezing warehouses and low-temperature trucks; and maintainig quality of all fresh food because optimal temperatures vary from product to product, SSTC said.To solve the problems, SSTC has set up a service platform to integrate cold chain logistics resources for sharing through collecting information on available freezing warehousing units and low-temperature trucks. The platform then matches the supply with demand for cold chain logistics services to reach efficient sharing of cold chain logistics resources, SSTC indicated.Such a sharing-based solution is operated on a cooperative basis, with four local fresh food store chains and 14 operators of cold chain logistics services having participated in the program, SSTC said. The solution has resulted in 25% decrease in overall cost for cold chain logistics services, SSTC noted.

The government of Keelung has been keen on proceeding with smart city development in recent years, aiming to turn the harbor city in northern Taiwan into a people-serving city from the past cargo-serving one in the context of industrial upgrades and transformations, according to mayor Lin Yu-chang.In a recent interview conducted by Digitimes, Lin stressed that smart city development should not be restricted by administrative boundaries, and instead should cover the whole northern Taiwan with a population of 10 million including residents in four northern cities - Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan.Northern Taiwan boasts an expansive tech industry corridor covering Hsinchu Science Park, Taoyuan Aerotropolis special area, as well as Taipei's Beitou-Shihlin Technology Park, Neihu Technology Park and Nangang Software Park, which can combine with Keelung River valley corridor to form a global smart innovation ecosphere, according to Lin.Lin pointed out that the community formed by the four northern cities has become Taiwan's cash flow, people flow and logistics centers, with Taoyuan as the western gateway and Keelung as the eastern one.Mega city with 10 million residentsThe belt-type tech industry corridor spanning the northern cities together are like a mega city with a population of 10 million. In this regard, all must seriously mull how to effectively integrate productivity in the mega city, Lin continued, indicating that the Keelung Harbor and industry-use land parcels along the Keelung river valley can combine to to attract innovation and high-value industries to station in the harbor, and the enclave of the harbor area can be utilized to create new economic momentum for northern Taiwan.Lin stressed that positioned as the gateway of northern Taiwan but with a population of only 370,000, Keelung cannot attract industries to station in without sound infrastructures. To enhance the attraction and competitiveness of Keelung, the city government will map out a comprehensive city and harbor renewal project based on the architecture of the whole northern Taiwan.With Keelung 93% covered by hills, the development of the Keelung harbor has been restrained by limited hinterland available. To maximize the economic benefits of the harbor city, the government will build a third cruise center and innovation industrial complex at the old sites of container yards and military harbor in the eastern coast after their relocation to the western coast, so as to attract high-end talent and enhance the competitiveness of the city through building sea-friendly environments.Lin emphasized that industrial upgrades driven by smart applications may bring a turnaround opportunity for Keelung, the development of which has stayed stagnant for a long time. He said that his government is seriously mulling what industries could be best developed in the planned industrial complex in the eastern coast.Smart applicationsIn terms of smart applications, the Keelung government has readied a pilot area for the development of a smart fishing port, Lin disclosed, adding that LED streetlamps installed in the area can serve as micro weather stations, conduct security control, and accurately detect the locations of returning and departing fishing vessels, while also saving power consumption by 65% compared to mercury lamps.In addition, the local government is also actively promoting smart bus stops to provide dynamic bus service information by utilizing LPWAN (low-power wide-area network) wireless communication system, with the power generated by hand dynamos. The smart bus stops will be first deployed at the Maling recreational farming area.Moreover, the city government is also planning a public transportation system dedicated to autonomous electric vehicles, Lin revealed, adding that the system, spanning 2.86 kilometers, will first connect the east and west coasts and may be extended, if needed, to connect all scenic spots and local districts of the city to help upgrade local commuting, tourist and commercial services.As to smart education, the city government has installed education-use computers and 55-inch projectors in all the classrooms at all the 56 elementary and junior high schools in the city, and one smart classroom will be set up at each school by the end of 2018, equipped with video conferencing equipment, 3D printers, touchscreen TVs, and Chromebooks. Keelung mayor Lin Yu-changPhoto: Michael Lee, Digitimes, November 2018