With the rise of Internet of Things (IoT) application services and the growth of the intelligent lifestyle trend, many companies are investing in the development of pioneering products and even cooperating with maker communities, in the hopes of grasping the IoT market trend. Gartner Vice President and Honorary Analyst Jim Tully predicts that by 2017, 50 percent of IoT application services will originate in startups less than three years old, and not in traditional giants.

COMPUTEX organizer Taipei Computer Association (TCA) states that Taiwan possesses a world-class ICT manufacturing supply chain that has supported the production of some of the world’s most sought after innovations such as Fitbit, GoPro and Nest. In addition, COMPUTEX is defined as the exhibition platform for the global internet computing ecosystem. So, with the establishment of the 2016 InnoVEX Startup Exhibit, TCA hopes to encourage interaction between global startups and the Taiwan ICT manufacturing industry through the COMPUTEX platform, and accelerate the commercialization and mass production of innovative products and IoT applications.

Lead by the Hardware Club, InnoVEX Speakers to Share How Taiwanese Manufacturers Could Work with Startups
To facilitate the Taiwanese manufacturing industry to learn more on how to work with startups, TCA has invited Hardware Club Partner Jerry Yang and four startup founders from different countries to speak at the InnoVEX Opening Forum, under the title “How Could the Taiwanese Supply Chain Work With Startups?”, the speakers will share with the audience their thoughts on how the Taiwanese manufacturing supply chain could approach and cooperate with startups, and analyze how startups could draw on the Taiwanese manufacturing advantages to accelerate the development and mass production of new products.

TCA points out, that the Paris based venture capital company Hardware Club focuses on investing in global next-gen hardware innovations, and provides support on manufacturing and distribution, in addition to seed and Series A financing. For manufacturing support, the Hardware Club has established partnerships with more than forty ICT OEMs, which include twenty companies from Taiwan, such as Foxconn, Pegatron, Quanta, and Compal. Forum Host Jerry Yang has had more than ten years of experience in IC design in Taiwan, Silicon Valley and Paris. Yang attained his MBA from HEC while working Paris, and has since entered the field of venture capital. Yang is now the managing partner of the Hardware Club.

The four panelists of the Forum include Christopher Beck, the founder and CTO of Reach Robotics, a British gaming robot developer; Kayvan Mirza, founder and CEO of Optinvent, a well-known French startup for augmented reality glasses; Fred Chak, the co-founder and COO of Blocks, a British Kickstarter sensation for innovating the world’s first modular smartwatch; and Serena Pau, founder of Hong Kong based Groking Lab, which is known for the Ozmo Smart Cup.

Program Topic: How Could the Taiwanese Supply Chain Work With Startups?
Time: 5/31 9:30am
Location: TWTC Hall 3 - InnoVEX Center Stage
Program Introduction: How brilliant early-stage startups from UK, France, Germany and Hong Kong view and work with the Taiwanese Supply Chain partners. Learn from their approach to the inherent challenges as small-volume clients initially.

InnoVEX Forum Registration (Accupass)：http://www.accupass.com/go/innovexforum