Release Date 07 May 2021     Mandarin

Innovation and entrepreneurship have long been critical features of NKUST. Every year our students presented their innovative ideas and entrepreneurial spirits in the U-start Plan for Indigenous Youth (Indigenous U-start Plan) and the U-start Plan for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (U-start Plan).  

The Indigenous U-start Plan was first held in 2020, and Day & Night with Wood Co., Ltd. (和木相處) nurtured by NKUST won the champion prize of NT$1 million. In the first stage of 2021 U-start Plans, NKUST became the biggest winner with the highest number of teams receiving subsidies.

This year, NKUST has 11 teams that passed the first-stage review, including 10 teams for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and 1 team for Indigenous Youth.

The U-start Plan has different application categories. In the category of Manufacturing Technology, there were 3 teams receiving subsidies, including Aizo Optronics (艾佐光電資訊), Taiwan DigiTek (台灣數聯科技), and Ying Chuang Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. (瀛創機械工業).

In the category of Innovative Services, there were 4 teams receiving subsidies, including Healthy Shrimp Inspection (種蝦篩選服務平臺), Sulio Art (藝術線鎖), Animal Angel, and Gods May Help (神助力文創團隊).

In the category of Social Enterprises, there were 3 teams receiving subsidies, including Aquaculture Goods (天生好物企業社), Egg Membrane BioTech (膜力蛋), and Siang-Yi Drone (翔翊無人機產業育才輔導團隊).

Young participants of these teams devoted time and efforts to turn their unique ideas into feasible and profitable projects.

For instance, Sulio Art combined blockchain technology and a patent weaving technique to produce intelligent canvases. They created a reliable art tracing mechanism embedded in the canvases which shortened a professional art appraisal process making all art paintings traceable. Sulio Art also passed the first-stage review of 2021 From IP to IPO Program (FITI) launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

Egg Membrane BioTech took up waste eggshells turning them from garbage to useful biomaterials. The team developed an unprecedented technology, Dry Separation Method of Eggshell Membrane (Patent pending; 乾式蛋殼膜分離技術), and applied many technologies, such as Dissolution of Eggshell Membrane and Egg Albumen (蛋殼膜粉體奈米化技術), Nano Eggshell Membrane Powder Process (蛋殼膜粉體奈米化技術), and Testing Technology for Eggshell Membrane (蛋殼膜檢測技術). 

In the category of Manufacturing Technology, Aizo Optronics provided small and medium enterprises (SMEs) solutions to solve problems of labor shortage and manpower waste; Taiwan DigiTek found new value for recycled smartphones; Ying Chuang Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. made all parts of mechanic instruments into easy-to-assemble modules to reduce the production and maintenance costs.

In the category of Innovative Services, Healthy Shrimp Inspection established a little shrimp database to identify the phylogenetic relationship, health status, and genetic disorder of these shrimp so as to help the shrimp farmers to breed highly healthy shrimps. The team of Animal Angel combined pet funeral services and an online platform that offered pet owners a new way to remember their beloved angel animals. The team of Gods May Help turned Taiwan’s temple cultures and traditional religious practices into creative products. 

In the category of Social Enterprises, Aquaculture Goods utilized existing resources to develop nutritional aquacultural products. The team of Siang-Yi Drone integrated and created a brand new multiple AIot modules that could be applied to machine learning, drone, and even a variety of fields.

In the Indigenous U-start Plan, the awarded team, the Good Day Music (良辰音樂娛樂) combined tribal traditional culture, music, and a digital audio/video database to present their cultural features on a music streaming platform LBRY. 

Translated by Jess Lin     Reviewed by Prof. Amy Tang