Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) are becoming parts of important criteria to evaluate a company's value. ESG is crucial for a company not only because it brings positive changes to society, but also because it provides another indicator for its investors to evaluate a company's ability to mitigate risks and identify opportunities.

The ever-changing business environment has urged companies to always stay agile to prepare for the unexpected. Innovation, then, becomes the main factor for companies in different industries to ensure their organic growth. The traditional industries, such as textiles and apparel, bike manufacturing, food, and even real estate, are also looking for innovations either internally or via collaboration with partners.

Megvii Technology, a China-based artificial intelligence (AI) company, has finally received its notice of admission for listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR market). The approval in September 2021 comes after six months of waiting.

Boxed is a US warehouse club delivery service company, which delivers anywhere in the continental USA, with revenue in the hundreds of millions. The company invests heavily in its technology: it has its own software, runs its own state-of-the-art fulfillment centers, and builds its own automation robotic in-house.

Remote work becomes the norm and will continue to change every single aspect of our life even in post-pandemic. Phil Libin, cofounder of Evernote and currently CEO of mmhmm shared his insights on post-pandemic trends and advised startups on how to find product-market fit, in a keynote speech on Sept 9, the first-day event of the 2021 US-Taiwan Startup Forum (UTSF), co-sponsored by the North America Taiwan Engineering & Science Association (NATEA) and Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA).

After 12 years as an engineer and salesperson in the semiconductor industry, Andy Lin founded Yo-Kai Express, a food technology startup. Lin has integrated Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology, modular supply chain management, artificial intelligence (AI), and material science to develop a new platform that breaks through the confines of space and time.

Hiring employees from many different countries can be a long process of legal and accounting counseling and can keep businesses from accessing foreign markets sound and fast. Singapore-based HR tech startup Slasify offers solutions to legal compliance and payroll transfers. In an interview with DIGITIMES, Slasify CEO Carlos Wang and SparkLabs Taipei managing partner Edgar Chiu are sharing what they see in the HR tech industry.

Innovative new business models by SpaceX and Blue Origin have reduced the costs of space tourism and satellite launches, creating a gradual paradigm shift in the new space industry supply chain.

The southeast Asian region has become another innovation hub in the world. With a valuation of US$340 billion in 2020, the region attracts many venture capital firms and startups to innovate the local economies. Rachel Lau, managing partner at RHL Ventures, a Malaysian private investment firm that focuses on growth capital investments in Southeast Asia and the US, shares her insights on the latest innovation trends, brought by major startups in Southeast Asia.

North American Taiwanese Engineering Association (NATEA) and Taiwan Tech Arena Silicon Valley (TTA SV), a startup ecosystem-building program sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Taiwan, are pleased to announce that they are jointly hosting the U.S. Taiwan Startup Forum (UTSF) 2021, a virtual showcase of 16 tech startups that were founded by Taiwanese and Taiwanese American entrepreneurs. The event will take place on Sept. 9 and 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. PDT.

Poland-based Renderro was selected by the Epoch Foundation Garage+ Accelerator in early June as one of the 46 must-see startups to participate in Computex Taipei 2021 Virtual Exhibition. It provides a cloud-based solution for creative production desktop platform service that targets 55 million users worldwide to overcome the restrictions of time and geographical boundaries. Ronderro founder and CEO Piotr Chomczyk talked to DIGITIMES recently about what inspired him to create this solution and his vision for future developments.

Adaptive ICS (industrial control system) cybersecurity solution developer TXOne Networks has completed Series A funding to raise NT$360 million (US$12.9 million), so far the largest fund-raising amount among cybersecurity solution developers and/or service providers in Taiwan, according to company CEO Terence Liu.

The demand for smart metering and asset tracking solutions is growing. Many countries are adopting many smart techs, especially IoT solutions, to optimize energy consumption and to well manage buildings and facilities. In light of these trends, IoT startup UnaBiz, based in Taiwan and Singapore, developed IoT solutions on smart water/power/gas meters as well as smart tracking of assets and people, for smart management in buildings and industrial/commercial facilities, according to the company's Taiwan managing director Carter Ho at a Digitimes interview.

Industry 4.0 is no longer a new concept, but there are always some parts of the manufacturing process that are so difficult to automate, including quality management or quality assurance (QA). Relimetrics is a startup that offers full-stack computer vision and machine learning software for quality audit, process control and predictive maintenance in Industry 4.0 applications, according to company founder and CEO Kemal Levi. In a recent interview, Levi shared with DIGITIMES about his vision of Relimetrics' role to play in the Industry 5.0 era and their solutions for high-precision QA automation.

India's production-linked incentives are attracting both domestic and foreign companies to start manufacturing in India, including Tata Group, Dixon Technologies, and Japan-based Rexxam. While promoting development of electric vehicle, India is considering reducing tariffs on EVs.