The First Event of the International Entrepreneurship Salon: International Collaboration among Startups and Innovative Enterprise

​​​​​​​Figure: Minister Mei-Hua Wang (front row, third from left), Mr. Lee-Feng Chien from iKala (front row, fourth from right) and twenty local and international enterprises discussed in the first session of International Entrepreneurship Salon established by the MOEA.

The first event of the "International Entrepreneurship Salon", a platform established by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) for international and domestic innovative enterprises and startups, was hosted by the Minister of Economic Affairs Mei-Hua Wang in the Social Innovation Lab on the afternoon of March 17.

In 2020, COVID-19 had a tremendous impact on global trade and industry supply chains. However, thanks to the success in COVID-19 prevention, Taiwan government has attracted many foreign professionals and Taiwanese emigrants, including international entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other specialists, to stay at Taiwan. The MOEA hopes these professionals can share their experience of professional skills, international networks, and funding with innovative domestic companies and startups. Thus, the MOEA has promoted the "International Entrepreneurship Salon". Topics of the salon include "Industrial Trends", "Innovative Technologies", "Market Business Models", "Investment views", etc. These events encourage international elites and successful entrepreneurs to share their ideas and experiences with innovative domestic companies and startups in order to create more business ideas and collaboration.

The topic of the first event of the "International Entrepreneurship Salon" focused on the international collaboration among startups and innovative enterprises under the digital transformation trend. The Minister Mei-Hua Wang indicated that we need new business concepts, global insights, and promotion of digital transformation so that we can improve industrial competitiveness in this digital era. Therefore, the MOEA has formulated a comprehensive digital transformation policy and supported all the industries.

In this event, Director Lee-Feng Chien of iKala was invited to share his ideas and experience with 20 entrepreneurs from innovative domestic companies and startups. Mr. Chien presented the topic "Navigation of Digital Era", pointing out that SMEs need to think not only how to "put to sea" but also how to connect with talents around the world during the post-COVID period. In the digital economy age, enterprises also need to think how to empower employees, improve co-create collaboration, and boost customer participation. Moreover, the co-founder Edgar Chiu of SparkLabs Taipei, an international startup accelerator; venture partner Jackey Wang of 500 Startups; and famous entrepreneur Joesph Hei also shared their experience, including conducting international business, building the applicable fields and scenarios for services, as well as collecting data for their business model. All attendees then discussed at the event. The MOEA hopes that these successful, experienced entrepreneurs can bring a better international perspective and innovative concepts for domestic companies and policymakers.

The Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) of the MOEA has improved the business innovation and the startup ecosystem by the various policies like "Sufficient Capital", "Universal Service", "Entrepreneurial Cluster", and "Supply Chain Market". In the future, the SMEA will invite more international entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and professionals to share their ideas and experiences with domestic companies, startups, and the relative policymakers in the "International Entrepreneurship Salon". The SMEA hopes that the platform can help international entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and professionals recognize Taiwan's startups and enterprises, as well as support domestic talents and industries to create a better business environment.