September 28 – TAIPEI – MassChallenge, a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators, and several Taiwan accelerators, including Inspiring Super Ideas (ISI), the Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB)’s Nankang Biotechnology Incubation Center (NBIC), and BE Capital, announced Bridge to MassChallenge Taiwan, a partnership to catalyze and support a regional startup community at GEC+ Taipei 2018, a Global Entrepreneurship Network event.

“MassChallenge is proud to partner with ISI, NBIC, and the BE Accelerator to foster cross-sector innovation and cooperation in the health tech sector,” said Mike LaRhette, President of MassChallenge. “Bridge to MassChallenge Taiwan will help grow the highest impact, highest potential startups across Asia, while connecting them to MassChallenge’s global network.”

Bridge to MassChallenge Taiwan will identify and accelerate to startups interested in Asian markets and who want to leverage Taiwan’s ICT and healthcare resources. Startups selected for the program will receive startup bootcamp training, valuable advice from MassChallenge’s mentors, as well as the mentoring and coaching resources available from ISI, NBIC and BE Capital. In addition to free co-working space, startups may also receive grants and product development support.

In addition, to support the digital transformation of industries in Asia, Mike LaRhette and Dr. Gary Gong, Chairman of Taiwan’s Digital Transformation Association (DTA), today have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the joint effort to promote a sound startup ecosystem at the Linkou Startup Terrace site to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the APAC region and help spread innovation and best practices, specifically in digital health and connected healthcare.

MassChallenge entered into a partnership with DCB’s NBIC this year, through a pilot collaboration, in which MassChallenge provided bootcamp and mentoring support to NBIC’s Taiwan Phoenix Project, Taiwan’s first dedicated digital health accelerator. Following peer mentoring which took place in Boston in June 2018, MassChallenge this week organized a second week-long bootcamp during GEC+Taipei, in which the 15 Taiwanese startups selected by the Taiwan Phoenix Project received mentoring sessions from MassChallenge’s mentors, including Alan Lucas and Stephen Davis, and coaching sessions from MassChallenge senior staff.

About Bridge to MassChallenge

Bridge to MassChallenge strengthens innovation ecosystems and drives the creation of high-quality jobs by supporting entrepreneurs and connecting them to MassChallenge’s global network. The program collaborates with local entities to understand the potential and strategic value of their unique ecosystem, empowers them to build their own innovation communities, and connects them to global markets.

About MassChallenge

MassChallenge is a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators. Headquartered in the United States with locations in Boston, Israel, Mexico, Switzerland, Texas, and the UK, MassChallenge is committed to strengthening the global innovation ecosystem by supporting high-potential early stage startups across all industries, from anywhere in the world. To date, more than 1,500 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $3 billion in funding, generated over $2 billion in revenue, and created over 80,000 total jobs. Learn more about MassChallenge at masschallenge.org.

About ISI

With the Taiwan government’s policy to develop ICT software industry, Inspiring Super Ideas (ISI) was spun off from Institute for Information Industry (III, a Taiwan leading research institute dedicated to the development of software industry) in 2014, and assisted Small & Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) of MOEA to operate the Nankang Software Incubator (NSI) and Kaohsiung Software Incubation Center (KSIC) till now. To boost the competitiveness of software industry, ISI cooperates with III to expect that by providing comprehensive and supportive services, including adequate technical assistance, consulting services, resource sharing, overall marketing, seed-fund matchmaking, facility management and so forth. ISI would be able to assist emerging and existing ICT vendors to archive innovative independence or upgrade their R&D capacities to establish the presence in the global market as a brilliant star for the foreseeable future.

About DCB

DCB was founded in 1984 by the government of Taiwan, in conjunction with the industrial sector, with the mission to develop Taiwan’s biomedical industry. Today DCB is a leading organization entrusted by the government to serve as an enabler for the domestic biotech industry.  In addition to leveraging its core competence and capacities to help construct Taiwan’s preclinical drug discovery and development infrastructure, DCB also possesses a business army specialized in various aspects of commercialization, from market intelligence analysis and forecasting, to intellectual property analysis and protection, to business development and negotiation.  Learn more about DCB at dcb.org.tw

About BE Accelerator

BE Accelerator, backed by BE Capital and Daren Medical Group, headquartered in Taiwan, offers a 4-month venture building program to transform medical and healthcare startups into groundbreaking enterprises. BE Capital’s mission is to support global enterprises that are looking to expand in Asian regions such as Taiwan, China, and Southeastern Asia. For the past years, we have established ourselves as “The Gateway to Asia for HealthTech.”