As a business person, you don't want a situation where your stock level either exceeds or is way less than the customer demand.The merchandising process should be optimized in such a way that the available stock meets consumer demands without excess or deficiencies. This is where inventory control comes in – it allows you to track stock levels while keeping an eye on customer demand, ensuring optimal business performance.When you're able to meet this demand optimally, you avoid chances of over or understocking, theft and damage, and so much more. As technology has evolved, it's become even easier to keep track of your stock levels amid varying customer demands.A manufacturing inventory software, for example, can allow you to manage your stock more accurately, especially because it offers real-time data that makes the process even more efficient. Regardless of your business size – whether large or small – the importance of inventory control can never be overstated. Read on to gather more insights.Reducing Overstock and Understock: Balancing Supply and DemandAs you've already read in the introduction, inventory control is a great way to avoid over or understocking. When done right, this mechanism can save a company up to 10% of inventory costs.When there's too much inventory, you can end up restricting your business' capital and miss out on opportunities for growth and expansion. Walmart, for example, lost a chance of making $3 billion worth of sales in 2014 due to stockouts that arose from insufficient inventory control measures.Inventory control has an integral part, supply chain management (SCM), which ensures a proper flow of inventory to the point where the organization or buyers consume the products. As a report by ADS suggested, 79% of companies that establish efficient SCMs often experience more-than-average revenue growth within their industrial sectors. Inventory control can help to improve your profits while enhancing customer satisfaction.If you are looking to improve the accuracy of your record levels, then inventory control is the way to go. Actually for retail businesses, inventory is only accurate for up to 63% of the time.With better control, you can always be sure that customers are receiving high-quality products – which is a plus. Zonka Feedback demonstrated that 69% of customers who find satisfactory products tend to shop more consistently.Ensuring that customers can find their needed products any time they want them can greatly add to your sustainability. Stockouts are to be avoided as research has indicated that convenience stores could lose one in 100 customers completely due to such experiences. Plus, up to 55% of customers are not willing to shop for an alternative product if their regular item is out of supply.Minimizing Waste with Precise Inventory ControlEspecially during instances where you overstock or hoard large amounts of products, a good percentage of these items might go unsold or out of date. As a result, the environment has to deal with the pressures of dumping, resource depletion, carbon emissions, and so on.If companies can handle and manage their inventory properly, it eliminates the need to construct sizable warehouses to store excess products. Mark you; these warehouses contribute to the overall carbon footprint of buildings as they consume large amounts of energy.Just recently, in early 2024, DAA Capital Partners did a write-up that showed that warehouses accounted for 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To add on the emissions from the warehouses, you'll also have to deal with the discharges from the transport sector – moving the surplus inventory occasioned by overstocking increases the distance traveled and, thus, the carbon released.These parts of the many side effects of overstocking suggest the critical importance of implementing precise inventory control. The Just-in-Time (JIT) method, for example, ensures no excesses as goods are only received in production when needed.With ABC analysis, you can partition the inventory into three categories depending on their importance and volume. Other methods like First In, First Out (FIFO) and Last In, First Out (LIFO) streamline operations by managing the valuation of stock.Best Practices for Implementing Precise Inventory ControlFor those who are wondering about how to get started, these practices will help you to develop an effective system:*Ensure you have an organized floor plan: You can achieve this by using proper labels and signage and placing the most popular items closer to the shipping area. A labeling software can come in handy when you need to print the tags. Plus, you can consider other tools like RFID systems to help you in real-time control.*Take advantage of cycle counting: This can help you identify inaccuracies quickly since you count items in small sections rather than counting them all at once.*Implement warehouse management systems: In a world where so many factors affect customer demand, nothing beats the power of real-time tracking. Plus, with these management systems, the chances of human error are minimal.Undoubtedly, businesses that ensure their stock levels align with customer demands without compromising satisfaction have a great opportunity to improve their competitiveness. This is so because customers are always assured of finding their regular products. As more consumers are becoming environmentally conscious, precise inventory control ensures that you can improve your appeal to such shoppers.

AI PCs were undoubtedly the hottest topic at Computex 2024. Various PC manufacturers showcased related solutions, and major processor players like AMD, Intel, and Arm emphasized the importance of AI PC applications.As one of the earliest companies to implement AI functions on PCs, Synaptics brought even more advanced solutions with Edge AI technologies to the event this year. Their latest innovations build upon its three technology pillars: sensing, processing, and connecting."At the demos you saw, even for things like a PC touchpad, there are techniques such as accidental contact mitigation (ACM), which uses AI algorithms," said Satish Ganesan, Synaptics' SVP & GM of Intelligent Sensing Division and Chief Strategy Officer. "Our goal is to infuse more and more AI features into PCs, smartphones, and automotive at the sensing edge where the user interacts with the device.""The other side is our processing solutions with our newly announced Astra family of processors, where we are uniquely positioned. We are building processors that go after markets wherever computer vision, voice, or any form of edge AI is required, like in smart home, industrial automation, and so on," he added. "Some of the same elements are then used in the PC space where you saw user presence detection techniques which implements vision AI algorithms to enhance overall user experience."In a demo at Computex 2024, Synaptics showed how the intelligent sensing solution with its new Edge AI chip enhances the PC user's experience. The demo focused on practical, everyday use cases in office environments. Features include Human Presence Detection (HPD), head pose tracking, and gesture control, which allow for automatic adjustments such as waking up the computer, locking it, and managing battery and privacy settings.For instance, users can mute their microphone or switch focus between monitors effortlessly using gestures. Integration of vision AI algorithms and PC cameras provides seamless interaction, ensures user privacy and security, saves power, and improves overall productivity by recognizing user identity and preferences, thus illustrating the real-world benefits of AI-enhanced PCs beyond just technological advancements.Ganesan emphasized that many talks about AI PCs from major companies at Computex 2024 focused on the computational power of processors, but "We're not going to compete with those main processors, we're not doing LLM processing or things like that, our value proposition will be in other areas, where we provide chipsets in the touchpad, fingerprint and so on. Of course, we're doing it on Astra for other markets as the main processor."Synaptics Astra was launched at Embedded World with the debut of the SL-Series, a new family of edge AI processors described as "AI-native SoCs" capable of running the Linux and Android OS. The series uses Arm Cortex-A cores, scales from 2 to 8 TOPS performance, and targets multi-modal consumer, enterprise, and industrial IoT workloads. The upcoming SR-Series MCUs with tiered inferencing were also demonstrated. Together with the SL-Series, the MCUs make context-aware computing a reality across the smart home, the factory floor, and at work.According to Synaptics, the SL-Series and SR-Series of Astra SoCs deliver a unified experience combining standards-based open software frameworks, rapid prototyping kits, full-featured AI/ML toolkits, and Synaptics' Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity solutions. The SL-Series is also supported by the Astra Machina Foundation Series development kit, which allows easy and rapid prototyping.Beyond hardware, Synaptics' solutions emphasize optimizing AI algorithms to operate efficiently at the edge, "So we can work with a smaller memory footprint and lower speed processors," Ganesan mentioned. "Right now, the take rate of AI PCs is still pretty small, but I think it is going to be pretty explosive. We focused on AI early, and the biggest thing in AI is about basically the software and the framework." Synaptics' AI software accepts commonly used input frameworks such as TensorFlow, TFLite, TLFM, ONNX, CAFFE, and PyTorch.For clients with varying levels of AI expertise, the company can provide comprehensive support, including the compiler, tools, and resources like predefined models and libraries for different use cases, such as vision and audio. "That is where we will differentiate in the market," said Ganesan. "Most companies only focus on hardware or software; we are the only ones who deliver an end-to-end solution. That would help our customers bring products to market faster because they don't need to learn from scratch. we have done all the learning for them."Advances in Docking, Enterprise Headsets, and Fingerprint SensorsBeyond the intelligent sensing technology applications for PCs' HPD functions mentioned above, Synaptics also showcased a range of other solutions at Computex 2024, including Docking Station Solutions supporting the latest DisplayPort (DP) 2.0 standard and with the ability to add virtual displays and enhanced user guides for troubleshooting. Low-latency wireless video was also shown, along with audio solutions that enable ultra-low-power Enterprise Headsets that support simultaneous audio streaming with BT Classic, BLE, DECT, and USB-connected devices.Regarding the touchpad and fingerprint solutions for PCs, the fingerprint market is shifting away from traditional palm rest placement towards integration on the keyboard. This change offers a more streamlined and reliable integration.The touchpad sector is witnessing a significant increase in size to match larger screens, emphasizing the importance of advanced palm rejection technology. Synaptics AI-based algorithm can improve palm rejection, addressing common complaints about accidental cursor movements during typing. The algorithm enhances accuracy when distinguishing between fingers and palms, especially at the touchpad edges.Additionally, the integration of Zoom and Teams functions directly into the touchpad was introduced. This allows users to control mute and video settings without moving the cursor, thus simplifying the user experience during online meetings.This customization provides flexibility based on OEM preferences. And, the haptic force touchpad is poised to become dominant in flagship PCs, offering a larger touch area and integrating touch and force using a single chip. This technology allows clicks anywhere on the pad and provides a consistent tactile response, enhancing user experience. The development of piezo technology, combining thin piezo disks with touch sensors, promises even more precise and localized haptic feedback, potentially simulating different textures and offering advanced notification patterns.Taiwan's Pivotal RoleDue to the boom in AI PCs, this year's Computex gathered numerous top executives from major companies and garnered worldwide attention. Ganesan also acknowledged Taiwan's pivotal role in the global PC market and ecosystem, "Taiwan is a big center for PCs, almost all the PC makers and ODMs are here. We're going to see a lot of developments here focused on AI PCs and things like that. It plays a very important role in the hardware ecosystem that supplies worldwide. That is why Taiwan is one of Synaptics' biggest R&D centers."Although the local team is already significant, as the market for AI PCs and other Edge AI applications grows, Ganesan did not rule out the possibility of further expansion, with more investment and the recruitment of more local talent. Synaptics plans to enhance its support and infrastructure in Taiwan, leveraging the country's central role in both implementation and innovation.In a demo at Computex 2024, Synaptics showed how the intelligent sensing solution with its new Edge AI chip enhances the PC user's experience.

Synopsys Users Group (SNUG) Taiwan 2024 demonstrated the state-of-the-art EDA innovations and Artificial intelligence (AI) driven solutions for the chip design community.With the theme of "Our Technology, Your Innovation," this annual event took place on June 19, 2024, and showed how Synopsys uses its advanced technology to help customers forge success with innovation. Joachim Kunkel, Synopsys General Manager of Solutions Group, delivered a keynote titled "Powering Innovation in the Era of Pervasive Intelligence."Kunkel said, "AI technology has brought unprecedented new opportunities to the industry. All of this will drive an explosion of intelligent systems and smart applications. But this is also pushing the limits of computing and energy resources. Synopsys' solutions will support customers to cope with these challenges."The Pervasive Intelligence era is comingSynopsys highlights three key paradigms driving the era of Pervasive Intelligence. That is the rapid advancement of AI, silicon proliferation, and software-defined systems.These days, more electronic products are now driven by sophisticated software. The rapid acceleration of AI technology is empowered and embedded in various smart devices and systems.A huge number of AI chips will be required to achieve these benefits. These efforts will increase the proliferation of silicon, which is powering AI acceleration, bringing it to multiple applications controlled by sophisticated software. This will lead to the burst of Software-Defined Systems.Together, these three paradigms are shaping the new era of pervasive intelligence, where AI and smart technologies are seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. Whether it is PCs, smartphones, autonomous driving cars, or industrial automation systems and robots, behind these systems are the technological foundations of AI chips and integrated software that will help us find better ways of doing things to achieve better outcomes. All these efforts support the exponential growth of the semiconductor industry.However, three key challenges immediately arise including silicon complexity, productivity, and software-defined system capabilities. To respond to these challenges, Synopsys provides solutions ranging from New AI-driven EDA tools, IP offerings and Systems Design Solutions.AI across the entire EDA flow from Synopsys.ai to Synopsys.ai CopilotSolving the silicon complexity challenge, the engineering team is dealing with projects such as trillion transistor counts in a single chip. Considering performance, Power Performance and Area (PPA) improvements, Synopsys provides the AI-driven EDA suite Synopsys.ai for a chip design spanning implementation, verification, testing, and simulation to manufacturing processes.These autonomous AI-driven full-stack EDA suite launched in 2020 and has achieved hundreds of successful tape-outs that supported customers' gaining project goals. In 2022, Synopsys also implemented a set of AI-driven data analytics solutions that allow insightful analysis of the vast amount of data collected on the customer side and released the Synopsys.da product line.In addition, with the introduction of Synopsys.ai Copilot, Synopsys is harnessing the power of generative AI to help design teams with new levels of productivity. Integrated into the full Synopsys EDA stack, Synopsys.ai Copilot allows design engineering teams to be more flexible in the use of customized data sets and facilitates internal deployment of physical isolation to meet data security requirements.The integration of generative AI capabilities is just the latest step in the journey to drive greater productivity for solving silicon complexity challenges. These AI-assisted tools will continue to evolve, and new tools will bring continuous design creativity.Synopsys Expands Silicon IP Portfolio to help customers to drive productivityIn addition to providing full stack of AI-driven EDA solutions, Synopsys further reduces customers' chip design burden through the offering of silicon intellectual property (IP). Synopsys is a leading provider of silicon-proven semiconductor IP solutions for SoC designs and partners with customers and collaborators to enhance their next-generation designs, incorporating new features to reduce the complexity of large-scale chip design.It is worth mentioning that Synopsys continues to expand its IP product portfolio with a design team of 2,000 engineers. After 2020, the offerings further expand to use subsystems as an extension of IP products to help customers' AI chip projects enhance the standard architecture for their next-generation designs, incorporating new features now available with the latest specifications, which will further shorten the design process.As part of its efforts to drive mainstream adoption of multi-die design, Synopsys has successfully demonstrated the first silicon-proven UCIe-connected and a result of collaboration between Synopsys and its foundry partners. UCIe's high-speed data transmission features will continue to assist in the design of multi-die systems in the future.This is an important foundation for High-Performance Computing (HPC) and AI chips that require large amounts of data transmission and processing capabilities. Synopsys helps customers to stay competitive in a market where new standard developments are already being adopted.The development of 2.5D, 3D, and even 3.5D multi-die heterogeneous integrated chips will continue to evolve. Moreover, a broad IP portfolio, an end-to-end, AI-driven EDA platform, and the most advanced multi-die solutions will boost the development and enable the march to trillions of transistors IC innovation.Digital twins of electronic devices enhance software-defined systems prototypingWith software-defined systems, taking the example of the modern car with its 500 million lines of code, in which operations and enablement of new features are primarily managed through software, verification, and validation of these systems are dominating the cost of product development. For these products, digital twins enable a dramatic reduction in cost and design risks.In response to the design requirements of software-defined systems, software simulation, and verification have become important requirements. For faster, higher capacity emulation and prototyping, Synopsys provides system-level design and simulation tools to verify the real software execution to ensure the correct operation and use of software-defined systems.The HAPS-100 12 virtual prototyping solution is targeting high-capacity FPGA-based prototyping with a mix of fixed and flexible interconnects and a rack-friendly design, particularly useful for prototyping big designs that require many FPGAs, such as multi-die systems and large SoCs.Meanwhile, the ZeBu EP2 hardware simulation system is the latest version in the Synopsys ZeBu EP family of unified emulation and prototyping systems with the fastest emulation and prototyping platform for AI workloads, making it ideal for software bring-up, hardware validation, and power performance analysis. Both systems can help customers reduce design risks and provide automotive engineering teams with digital twin applications of vehicle electronic systems to facilitate automotive software and ensure that increasingly complex semiconductor designs and high-function software systems can be integrated and operated smoothly as expected.Kunkel pointed out that AI-driven EDA tools are developing rapidly to assist engineers in solving problems. By automating tedious repetitive tasks and optimizing design process flow, AI can free up the mental bandwidth of design engineers for the creative work that drives growth.His advice to engineers is: By continually analyzing data and learning optimal approaches through AI-driven EDA solutions, engineers still need to go back to the role of a designer to focus on design and creative work that drives innovation and growth. Learning more about application areas and system architectures will help engineers understand how to design things and make your work more fun.

Walter Liu has been hired by American Express for the recently created role of Head of the Asia Region.In this capacity, he is in charge of managing AmEx's issuance operations in the markets of Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He oversees the Company's proprietary business and acts as the Managing Director of their operations in the market.Liu has over 20 years of experience with American Express and is a seasoned business leader and risk management expert. He is in an excellent position to manage the region as AmEx pursues its goal of controlling and catering to the premium segment in Asia because of his background in creating and managing high-performing teams and his comprehensive knowledge of the Asian market.Liu's appointment marks a huge step in AmEx's expansion plans, and it is expected to boost its presence and adaptability in the market. With his deep understanding of the Asian market dynamics, Liu is poised to lead AmEx's efforts in expanding its footprint across key Asian economies.One of the key areas of focus under his leadership will be the enhancement of AmEx's digital and online services. As more consumers and businesses in Asia embrace digital payments, AmEx aims to provide cutting-edge solutions that cater to the evolving needs of its customers.The evolving needs of AmEx customers mean that the plastic card is becoming popular for a variety of uses. From shopping to online gaming and gambling, AmEx is leading the way in Asia.When it comes to online gaming and gambling, the AmEx payment options are endless, with a huge variety of gambling sites now accepting AmEx. As Techopedia author and casino expert Sergio Zammit notes, AmEx is popular because players get points in return for every payment. Beyond that, AmEx is also setting itself apart by offering players:Safety and security: AmEx is known for its strong security features. This makes it a trustworthy choice for online transactions. Users appreciate the added layer of protection that comes with using a credit card with a strong fraud prevention system.Convenience: Many online casinos and betting sites have started accepting AmEx because of its popularity and ease of use. Players can quickly and securely deposit funds into their gambling accounts, allowing for a hassle-free gaming experience at online casinos and crypto betting sites.Beyond online gaming and gambling, AmEx is also widely used for online shopping across Asia. Let's explore why AmEx, in particular, is becoming one of the most popular plastic cards for shopping in the region:Partnerships with Retailers: AmEx has established partnerships with major online retailers, offering exclusive deals and discounts to cardholders. This has encouraged more consumers to use their cards for online purchases.Growing E-commerce Market: The e-commerce market in Asia is growing, with countries like China, Japan, South Korea, and India leading the charge. AmEx's presence in this market is growing as more consumers turn to online shopping for convenience and variety.Cross-border Shopping: AmEx is favored for cross-border transactions because of its reliability and acceptance at international online stores. Asian consumers often use AmEx when purchasing goods from overseas, leveraging the card's global acceptance.Under Liu's direction, AmEx is starting this new chapter in a position to take advantage of the expanding potential in the Asian market. AmEx is poised to solidify its position as the area's top financial services provider by emphasizing digital transformation and customer-centric solutions.American Express names its new head of the Asian region and plans to grow in the online and digital sectors

The finance sector is one of the key areas where AI is put to use to drive innovations.FinTechSpace provided the challenge for the AI finance division of the AI Wave: Taiwan Generative AI Applications Hackathon, challenging the participating teams to utilize generative AI to develop innovative fintech solutions. The teams named "Happy Oh Oh" and "I Want to Travel Abroad" stood out from the competition and won the gold and silver awards.Happy Oh Oh drives green finance with generative AIYi-Ling Li, Xiang-Yi Ke, Hong-Chang Lin, Jia He, and Shao-Wei Chu from the Interdisciplinary Program of Management and Technology at National Tsing Hua University formed Happy Oh Oh. They used generative AI combined with green finance to solve financial difficulties for farmers and drive the low-carbon agriculture transition.Leveraging AWS Partyrock to build a generative AI application platform without coding, the team built three systems. They include an evaluation system that assesses farmers' credit risk and expected return, a check system that tracks farmers' project progress, and a settlement system that calculates carbon credits and issues payments.The way it works is that the bank grants a green loan to the farmer to cover upfront investment costs and the farmer earns carbon credits which can be used to pay off the loan. After the load period ends, the farmer can sell the carbon credits at the purchase price and the bank can trade the carbon credits in exchange for profit and SG responsibility fulfillment.With the solution, farmers can get extra income from selling carbon credits. Corporations can buy carbon credits as a way to reduce spending.Banks can make a profit while making a social influence. Governments can use the opportunity to build a carbon trading and offsetting system. Benefiting multiple parties, the solution integrates generative AI with green finance to improve farmers' financial well-being and drive low-carbon agriculture transition.I Want to Travel Abroad uses generative AI for fraud preventionMeng-Ru Chuang from AVA Angels and Hsiao-Hung Huang from Taiwan Association for Blockchain Ecosystem Innovation formed I Want to Travel Abroad. The team used generative AI to develop an innovative solution that fights increasing financial scams on social media.The team built a chatbot on the foundation of AWS PartyRock. Using an automated process, their solution gathers past performances of stock market gurus, analyzes the content, finds suspicious investment advice using big data algorithms, sorts the findings into personalized investment portfolios, performs fact checks, and offers the information to users via a friendly interface. The solution was aimed at using generative AI to help users identify suspicious investment advice and prevent them from falling victim to financial fraud.The rapidly rising popularity of social media on top of people's increasing need to invest their money provides a breeding ground for financial scams. The solution from I Want to Travel Abroad uses generative AI to collect different perspectives and convey them via a chatbot.It perfectly fits what users need and thus has great market potential. Future developments of the solution include collaborations with brokerage firms to provide their clients with tailor-made AI investment advice to create more revenue streams.The teams named "Happy Oh Oh" won the gold award for their innovative generative AI fintech solutionThe teams named "I Want to Travel Abroad" secured the silver award with their creative AI-driven fintech innovation

Rugged embedded computer brand – Cincoze recently received two international awards honoring its DS-1402 high-performance and PCIe expansion rugged embedded computer. Part of the Rugged Computing – DIAMOND product line, the DS-1402 meets the performance and expandability demands of edge computing, with the reliability and stability required for smart factories, machine vision, and other industries.The DS-1402 was recognized by two professional media outlets, receiving the Innovators Awards from Vision System Design (a well-known American machine vision media outlet) and the Product of the Year Awards from Control Engineering (a major industrial automation magazine), affirming its design innovation and technical prowess.Cincoze DS-1402 can be equipped with Raptor Lake-S / Alder Lake-S 65W processorExcellent Computing Performance for Machine VisionFor machine vision and industrial applications, performance is key, and the DS-1402 is the ideal choice. It can be equipped with a 13/12th gen Intel (Raptor Lake-S / Alder Lake-S) 65W processor, with up to 24 cores (8P + 16E) and 32 threads that deliver 1.35 times the processing performance of its predecessor, the Comet Lake-S.The DS-1402 supports 64GB 4800MHz DDR5 ECC memory to meet the needs of applications requiring high reliability and data integrity. Storage options include 2.5" SATA, mSATA, and M.2 Key M, offering flexible configuration to match application requirements.PCIe Expansion for Various ApplicationsThe DS-1402 has two PCI/PCIe expansion slots that support various I/O, GPU, image capture, data acquisition, and motion control cards to tailor-match the system to application requirements. For applications that require maximum computing performance, a 110W GPU card with a size of 111 x 235mm can be installed.Poor contact is a big headache when cards come loose in high-vibration environments, so the DS-1402 has a patented adjustable PCIe holder (patent number: I773359) that secures the expansion cards and eliminates the loosening that can cause operation shutdown. GPU cards can generate a lot of heat, so Inhaling and Exhaling fans are available to wick that excess heat away, these fans can be added according to the cooling needs of the GPU card to improve the cooling performance.The DS-1402 can also easily add additional I/O and functions (PoE or IGN) through Cincoze's exclusive CMI/CFM moduleRich Expandability for Wireless and MoreIn addition to the native high-speed I/O interfaces (2x 1GbE LAN, 8x USB), the DS-1402 can also easily add additional I/O and functions (PoE or IGN) through Cincoze's exclusive CMI/CFM module, effectively shortening the Configuration deployment cost and time. Three Mini-PCIe slots support the full spectrum of wireless transmission, such as WiFi, GNSS, 4G, and Bluetooth, and also support other add-on cards to meet diverse application needs.Professional-Grade Protection and Industry CertificationsThe DS-1402 is built tough, with industrial-grade protection design and industry certifications in different fields to back it up. The DS-1402 can withstand a wide temperature (-40 - 70°C) and wide voltage (9 - 48 VDC) range; boasts overvoltage, overcurrent, and ESD protection; and complies with the US military shock standard MIL-STD-810G. Internationally recognized UL 62368-1 safety certification further ensures its safety and reliability. For maximum security in railway computing solutions, it has also passed the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) EN 50121-3-2 standard in EN 50155.

Targeting one of the most complex and sensitive parts of the human body, any minor error during a spinal surgery could lead to severe consequences such as infection, nerve damage, or spinal cord injury. This makes spinal surgery a high-risk surgical procedure.To overcome the challenges, Point Robotics MedTech created a minimally invasive spine surgery robot platform by combining medical expertise and state-of-the-art technologies such as robotic arms, optical positioning, and algorithms. The platform can help surgeons perform complex spinal surgeries with high precision and optimize the patient's medical experience.Point Robotics' surgical robotics technology is inherited from a professor at Imperial College London with over 30 years of experience. The company was founded in 2016 with support from the National Science Council's Germination Program. It aims to leverage the technical prowess of Taiwan's medical and mechanical industries to develop a spinal surgery robot that assists surgeons in enhancing surgical precision and reducing risks.Minimally Invasive Spine Surgical Robot with Precision and ReliabilityAccording to Brad Lin, Chief Marketing Officer of Point Robotics, there are two main challenges in existing spine surgeries. First, surgical precision requirements from medical institutions and patients are increasing, especially in minimally invasive surgeries.Traditional surgeries rely on surgeons' experience and tactile sensation, but this approach has limitations, particularly in tasks like bone grinding, where achieving high precision is more challenging. Moreover, surgeons performing spine surgeries over a long period are prone to wrist and eye fatigue, which can adversely affect surgical quality and career longevity.The second challenge lies in the increasing expectations of patients regarding surgical outcomes and post-operative recovery periods. Improving surgical efficiency and post-operative recovery outcomes have become significant missions for medical institutions. Not only to achieve precision, surgeries today also aim to minimize incisions and recovery time as much as possible.While technologies and equipment for spinal surgery have advanced rapidly, there is still room for improvement to meet all those demands. Particularly in the realm of robotic surgery equipment, existing systems are mostly focused on soft tissue surgeries, with fewer applications for hard tissue surgeries. Point Robotics' minimally invasive spine surgery robot and navigation system are perfect for addressing clinical needs today.Michael Lo, Head of Corporate Strategy of Point Robotics, explained the architecture of their product, which integrates a six-motored robotic end-effector with navigation systems and control technology, combining precision and flexibility. The company's surgical robot uses a robotic end-effector to compensate for deviations from the planned path, enabling real-time tracking of patient movement during surgery. This allows surgeons to perform precise and stable surgeries.By precisely controlling the robotic end-effector, the surgical robot has expanded its functionality to decompression capabilities. The precision of bone grinding can reach mere paper-thin thickness. During surgery, the force feedback system detects changes in bone density and dynamically adjusts grinding force, depth, and path accordingly to ensure surgical precision and safety.Point Robotics' Detail-focused Product Development Builds a ReputationAccording to Lo, for a medical device to gain industry recognition and successfully commercialize, it needs to overcome technical challenges and undergo lengthy clinical validation. "Robotic technologies are categorized as the high-precision, cutting-edge field, and the medical products are closely related to human safety," he emphasized. Thus, every prototype of a medical device must undergo rigorous validation and continuous communication with clinical physicians to ensure that the product design meets medical needs.In practical application, variations in each patient's bone density and other external factors can also impact the surgery process and outcomes, presenting challenges from theory to clinical practice and commercialization. Point Robotics' products have undergone iterative modifications and validation to achieve the clinical benefits doctors expect.Point Robotics' navigation system has been in clinical use since 2023. As of now, it has been utilized in 150 surgeries. The first-generation navigation system and robotic-assisted surgical system were cleared by the U.S. FDA and certificated by Taiwan FDA between 2022 and 2023.Regarding the product marketing plan, Lo mentioned that because the medical industry is typically cautious about new products, they will initially focus on the navigation system, which has higher market acceptance. Next, the company will develop a decompression surgery robot capable of performing various functions such as bone grinding, assisting surgeons in conducting more spine surgeries and improving surgical efficiency.According to Lo and Lin, the success of Point Robotics' technology in transferring from concept to product is due not only to the full commitment of the team members but also to the continuously improving ecosystem for startups in Taiwan. For example, while Point Robotics was looking for clinical resources, BE Accelerator – a TTA accelerator partner, helped the company connect with suitable physicians, enabled product testing, and received feedback on suggestions and feasible directions.The locally enthusiastic startup atmosphere and policy support have also attracted many young overseas Taiwanese entrepreneurs to return home. These entrepreneurs bring back global perspectives and innovative thinking. When combined with Taiwan's technology, medical and manufacturing industries, a virtuous cycle begins.Looking ahead, Taiwan's startup ecosystem is expected to mature further and be more internationalized. Point Robotics also looks forward to interacting and collaborating with other companies, expanding Taiwan's influence in the global medical technology field.(Editor's note: The original article was published in TTA Magazine Issue 14. Read more startup stories in TTA Magazines.)Point Robotics’ robotic-assisted surgical system and navigation system can help surgeons perform complex minimally invasive surgeries with high precision.

Cerebrovascular Accidents (CVAs), or stroke, are the top cause of disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide, posing significant threats to human health.Unfortunately, many individuals only become aware of their condition after experiencing a stroke, missing the optimal window for early intervention and treatment.Carotid Artery Stenosis (CAS) has been identified as a crucial factor contributing to strokes, serving as an early indicator. Therefore, early detection and treatment of carotid artery stenosis are vital measures for stroke prevention.However, traditional methods for detecting carotid artery stenosis are limited by expensive equipment, heavy reliance on specialized medical personnel for operation and interpretation, lengthy testing procedures, and high costs, preventing widespread early detection of risk for stroke.Through collaboration with a team of professionals from National Taiwan University, Pulxion Medical Technology has developed a non-invasive AI imaging technology for rapid screening of the risk of carotid artery stenosis, PulStroke, which breaks through traditional testing limitations.With rapidity, standardization, and high cost-effectiveness features, the technology can significantly reduce the need for medical manpower and resources. It is poised to enhance the accessibility of early stroke screening greatly.The limitations of traditional methods make early stroke detection challengingPulxion was founded by Professor Hao-Ming Hsiao from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Taiwan University. The co-founder is Dr. Hsien-Li Kao, a Professor in the Medicine School at the National Taiwan University and Chairman of the Cardiology Division at the National Taiwan University Hospital. Their long-term collaboration started in 2014, dedicated to addressing numerous challenges in early stroke detection, and they officially established Pulxion in 2020.According to Professor Hsiao, the main reason for choosing the carotid artery as the topic of their research is that there are over 12 million new cases of stroke worldwide every year, which means one new case occurs every 3 seconds. It is not only a threat to human health but also significantly impacts healthcare and societal costs. There's an estimation that by 2030, the global economic burden of stroke, including post-care, will exceed one trillion US dollars.Carotid artery stenosis serves as a critical early indicator of stroke. Existing common diagnostic methods for carotid artery stenosis include carotid artery ultrasound, Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA), and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA). However, due to issues such as expensive equipment and complex operations, early screening is challenging to implement widely.The carotid artery is the closest blood vessel to the body's surface, making it easier to observe the pulsation characteristics. Therefore, Pulxion starts with carotid artery stenosis assessment and utilizes non-invasive AI imaging technology to evaluate the risk of stroke.Unique Screening Method: Rapid, Accurate, and Easy-to-UseBy analyzing subtle pulsation variations on the subject's skin surface, Pulxion's PulStroke can differentiate between the pulsation patterns of normal individuals and those with carotid artery stenosis. The device projects visible light onto the subject's neck and then performs the video motion analysis with AI algorithms to highlight skin surface pulsations.Comparing these pulsations with features associated with carotid artery stenosis, a risk assessment report is generated to evaluate the subject's risk of carotid artery stenosis. The entire process is completed within 1 minute, with reports available within 5 minutes.PulStroke possesses several key advantages. First, compared to traditional methods like carotid artery ultrasound, CTA, and MRA, the technology is non-invasive, offering a non-invasive and radiation-free screening approach for subjects.Second, it's portable and user-friendly, with a compact size and no need for specialized operators, making it suitable for placement in small to medium-sized clinics, health examination centers, and potentially homecare and community service in the future. Third, utilizing AI algorithms and big data analysis supported by PulStroke, clinical trials have demonstrated an accuracy of nearly 90% when compared to ultrasound.Regarding the business model, Joy Chen, CEO of Pulxion, said that PulStroke includes both hardware device and cloud platform. The hardware device can be set up in medical facilities with buyout or leasing options. The analysis reports generated on the cloud platform are billed separately and also come with several options for users.For marketing, Pulxion will first work with health examination centers and large hospitals, with plans to participate in government disease prevention programs. The next step is to enter the community clinics with the ultimate vision of making the technology accessible to the general public and integrating it into home healthcare and nationwide health services to increase stroke screening rates and ultimately reduce stroke incidence.Pulxion has completed its angel round funding and plans to sign an MOU with internationally renowned medical device companies this year. Pulxion also plans to file the medical device regulatory submission to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) this year and is preparing to apply for the Breakthrough Devices Program of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Chen said that Taiwan will be the first launch market for Pulxion, and the company will subsequently begin preparations for regulatory submission in the United States.PulStroke enables rapid and accurate assessment of stroke risk. The company immediately attracted attention from the medical industry upon its release. Professor Hsiao believes the key driving force behind the successful commercialization of Pulxion technology is the Startup Value Creation Program promoted by the National Science and Technology Council. As he mentioned, the program activates the value of academic research by providing resources, regulatory ease, and policy support to allow professors to play significant roles in startups. It also encourages various forms of innovation matchmaking.Pulxion has participated in the acceleration program of Mosaic Venture Lab – a TTA accelerator partner as well. The program not only organizes various activities to increase interaction opportunities with investors but also helps startups to expand their exposure. All the support for Pulxion has transformed into its competitiveness. The company will do its best to broaden the applications of its technology to other diseases, creating a healthy society in the future and fulfilling its vision of preventive medicine and home healthcare.(Editor's note: The original article was published in TTA Magazine Issue 14. Read more startup stories in TTA Magazines.)Pulxion PulStrokePhoto: Pulxion

Endoscopes play an instrumental role in minimally invasive surgeries.They allow doctors to perform inspection and treatment procedures inside the body using smaller surgical cuts or even without cuts while increasing surgical precision. EndoSemio's single-use endoscope developed on the foundation of miniature imaging devices and high biocompatibility tubing materials boosts surgical safety, drives technological innovations, and satisfies special healthcare needs. With EndoSemio's single-use endoscope, hospitals will be able to improve patient experience.Leveraging technological and medical strengths, EndoSemio overcomes the shortcomings of traditional endoscopesTing-Xuan Chen and Chih-Peng Lin co-founded EndoSemio. Chen worked for the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in charge of helping medical research organizations turn clinical needs into products.Lin is an attending physician and director of the Division of Pain Management, Department of Anesthesiology, National Taiwan University Hospital. Their decade-long partnership has brought multiple healthcare products into reality.Following his return to Taiwan after completing advanced study at Stanford University, Lin found Taiwan's healthcare sector, despite being among the world's front runners, still has needs that were not addressed due to the lack of cross-industry collaborations. Such needs can be fulfilled through rapid prototyping and technological R&D to thereby improve healthcare quality and efficiency. This prompted Chen and Lin to establish EndoSemio, focusing on special-purpose single-use endoscopes to solve the many pain points of traditional endoscopes and address a small portion of clinical needs. According to Chen, an endoscope reprocessing guide easily goes over 100 pages and contains more than 150 procedures. In reality, as high as 45% of the important cleaning steps are skipped as they are too complicated.In particular, the steps of brushing the accessible channels and forced air drying are often carried out for no longer than 50% of the specified duration. Furthermore, not only is it costly and labor-intensive to maintain traditional endoscopes, but improper cleaning may also lead to cross infections. All the time and effort for disinfection and preparation also hinder patient flow and undermine hospital operation efficiency. The slew of limitations with traditional endoscopes give rise to tremendous opportunities for single-use endoscopes. FDA has approved multiple single-use endoscopes in recent years as part of the efforts to promote such products.As opposed to traditional endoscopes with a long history, single-use endoscopes are still in early-stage development. Those currently available on the market generally target large usage applications, rather than special-purpose small-quantity needs. In view of this, EndoSemio decided to start with tracheostomy endoscopes, neonatal catheters, and flexible ureteroscopes.EndoSemio introduces three single-use endoscope products to meet clinical needs According to Lin, a traditional tracheostomy requires two teams of medical professionals, one monitoring the bronchoscopy while the other performing the tracheostomy. Things could go wrong when surgeons have to perform tracheostomy without bronchoscopic images.Without an imaging system on the tracheal tube, surgeons can only rely on experiences and feel the way through. Now with EndoSemio's innovative endoscope imaging tracheostomy kit, featuring the world's first tracheal tubes integrated with endoscopes, medical professionals can avoid complications and mitigate the risk of incorrect placement in false lumen, improving tracheostomy efficiency and ensuring patient safety.The product has won the 20th National Innovation Award. Neonatal respiratory imaging devices are generally miniaturized.Their level of precision is critical to neonatal respiratory care. EndoSemio's neonatal and pediatric respiratory imaging catheters help physicians correctly identify delicate infant airways and examine the conditions therein to effectively lower the risks of hypoxia or complications.The flexible ureteroscopes that EndoSemio provides combine miniature imaging modules with tubes made of advanced materials to enable visibility. The solution reduces chances of infection and cross-infection and therefore is an ideal choice for stone removal in a laser lithotripsy.Lin pointed out EndoSemio's advantages in a few aspects. First, the EndoSemio team interviewed 20-some physicians and designed the products based on their comments and feedback to ensure the products addressed their needs. As such, the resulting products feature a user-friendly interface and simple structure design, requiring no learning curve for users to effortlessly operate. Moreover, their digital imaging and navigation functions with enhanced navigation precision and optimized operation flow are also highly praised by medical professionals.Second, the EndoSemio engineering team has a decade-long experience developing endoscopes. Integrated with patented designs including medical-grade high-resolution miniature CMOS image sensors, color calibration, and silicon endoscope tubing, EndoSemio's products boast superior performance and reliability. Last but not least, EndoSemio has grasped critical manufacturing know-how for miniature front-end camera modules and tubing so it has full control over its product quality and performance. It is also able to keep costs at bay through vertical integration efforts.EndoSemio has submitted applications for FDA approval. It expects to obtain FDA approval by year-end 2024, allowing it to launch the products in 2025. Everything is proceeding according to schedule, noted Chen.For the smooth progress, EndoSemio gives credit to not only team efforts but also Taiwan's startup environment fostered by industry-government-academia-research collaborations. Lin spoke candidly that physicians or scholars involved in startup ventures were considered impractical but things are different today.Taiwan's startup scene, especially in the healthcare sector, has exhibited significant changes in the recent decade. The National Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Economic Affairs support multiple projects aimed at cultivating an environment that appeals to entrepreneurs and effectively accelerates startup development. Going forward, EndoSemio has set goals for each development stage and will continue to endeavor on medical imaging solutions for special-purpose applications to help medical institutions create premium patient experiences.(Editor's note: The original article was published in TTA Magazine Issue 14. Read more startup stories in TTA Magazines.)Innovative endoscope imaging tracheostomy kitPhoto: EndoSemioNeonatal and pediatric respiratory imaging cathetersPhoto: EndoSemioEndoSemio's neonatal and pediatric respiratory imaging catheters on display at a medical technology exhibitionPhoto: EndoSemio

In the last six months, four new IT brands — Logitech, Microsoft, Sharp, and Voxicon — have been added to the list of brands with products certified according to TCO Certified. The growing number of certified products helps purchasers make more sustainable choices.The demand for more sustainable IT products remains high. TCO Certified is the world's leading sustainability certification for IT products, and a tool that helps purchasers and purchasing organizations get sustainability right. Since December 2023, four more brands — Logitech, Microsoft, Sharp, and Voxicon — have been added to the extensive list of well-known brands with products certified according to TCO Certified. All certified products are listed in Product Finder on tcocertified.com."Having more brands on board creates a great opportunity to expand the range of certified products. A wider selection is good news for purchasers wanting to make more sustainable choices, drive change, and meet both internal and external sustainability goals," says Sören Enholm, CEO at TCO Development, the organization behind TCO Certified.On 31 May 2024, the following brands had certified products listed in Product Finder: Acer, AOC, ASUS, BenQ, DELL, EIZO, FAIRPHONE, FUJITSU, HP, iiyama, INSYS, Jabra, Lenovo, LG, Logitech, Microsoft, NEC, NTT Systems S.A., Philips, Samsung, SHARP, Soundcore, SteelSeries, V7, ViewSonic and Voxicon.Any organization citing TCO Certified when purchasing IT products can also use Report Generator to assess the impact of purchasing and using certified products. Report Generator allows organizations to create customized sustainability reports on their IT product portfolios – based on independently verified data and claims covered by the stringent social and environmental criteria of TCO Certified.