The annual awards ceremony and achievement presentation for the U-start Plan for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (“U-start Plan”) and U-start Plan for Indigenous Youth were held today (11th) by the Youth Development Administration(YDA), Ministry of Education. The U-start startups of 2019 and 2020 were commended and each awarded prizes ranging from NT$250,000 to NT$1,000,000, giving the entrepreneurial teams substantial support and encouragement to keep on going. At the event, the U-start startups also presented their bountiful entrepreneurial achievements.
To promote a culture of campus innovation and entrepreneurship, the U-start plan combines the incubation and innovation resources of colleges and universities to help young students bring out their youthful passion for creativity, and give them the opportunity to realize their own start-up dreams. Since its launch, this plan has reached 80% participation rate of universities and colleges, and a total of 1,036 start-up teams have received subsidies. It has facilitated the establishments of 717 startup companies, the markets of which have expanded globally to Europe, America, South Africa, and China. The startups have made brilliant and bountiful achievements. This year, YDA has partnered with the Council of Indigenous Peoples to launch the U-start Plan for Indigenous Youth, which integrates the cultivation efforts of schools and regional guidance resources. The plan encourages and assists young people to achieve entrepreneurial dreams with substantial qualities, including tribal traditional wisdom, cultural literacy, unique local agricultural products, and social networks.
The 2019 and 2020 U-start Plans had 18 and 19 teams selected as U-start outstanding teams, respectively. Diverse and abundant capabilities were exhibited by the teams' startup proposals. For instance, the highly flux hollow fiber membrane developed by Mbran Filtra Co., Ltd. of the Chung Yuan Christian University in 2019 is effective in isolating bacteria, microorganisms and microplastics without using electricity so that the general public may drink clean and pure water anywhere at any time. In 2020, GTA Robotics Co., Ltd. of the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology took up the theme of humanoid robot and combined the education of STEAM fields. The company develops courses including robot mechanical design, draft drawing, machine body application and assembly, as well as professional teacher training. It also holds robot combat events and promotes the generalization of robotic education to keep up with the global trend of programing education.
For the 2020 U-start Plan for Indigenous Youth, 6 teams were selected as U-start youth startups. Day & Night with Wood Co., Ltd. was started in 2020 with nurtured by National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology. The Company cooperated with aborigine embroiderers and colored glaze artists to create all sorts of art crafts. That contribute to circular economies that reuse waste, the spreading of indigenous culture, and regional revitalization. The team of the National Ilan University's Bee Warriors Co., Ltd. develops manual wild bee breeding techniques with what they learned in their biological resources program. They promote and assist people of indigenous villages to learn apiary making and wild bee breeding techniques. Through under-forest economies, the company develops wild bee products with high added value to raise the economic income and job opportunities of remote villages. By this opportunity to cooperate with tribe and become a platform for the sale of related products of the indigenous people.
On the day of the event, Director-general Hsueh-Yu Chen of the Youth Development Administration was there to welcome and thank all participants, as well as to give encouragement and her best wish