Today (21st), TMU BioMed Accelerator and BE Accelerator's fifth TMU X BE accelerator program starts. This program assists 10 potential startups from Taiwan, France, South Korea, India, United States, and Canada for 6 months. Through the resources of the one university and six hospitals of TMU and the international links of BE accelerator, Taiwan has become a new innovation verification and stepping stone to the international market.

Maisi Wu, president of TMU, said that the 10 selected startups stood out from 73 startup teams from 16 countries. The TMU BioMed Accelerator will assists the startups to grow and thrive with their advantages.

Maisi Wu said that first, the TMU BioMed Accelerator has a strong connection with the international innovation ecosystem including Biodesign founded by Stanford University in California, the SkyDeck accelerator of the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Tokyo, Tohoku University and others. Secondly, they provide rich clinical resources from TMU, accelerate the clinical and business model verification of the startups' products through one-on-one consultation with clinical practitioners. It also uses TMU's new venture capital fund to invest in potential teams, allowing the teams to use TMU's resources and funds to accelerate appreciation in the development process. Third, TMU has a deep connection with Taiwan's biotechnology industry, which can accelerate the development of innovative products into manufacturing. Therefore, whether it is from product clinical verification, manufacturing to commercialization, or entering the international market, TMU can provide key resources and assistance.

Andy Chen, Director of TMU, said that TMU's goal is to promote innovation and progress in the healthcare industry. The TMU X BE accelerator program is the cornerstone of achieving the goal, and we hope that the selected startups will actively open up and work with TMU to benefit patients.

Arthur Chen, executive partner of BE Accelerator, emphasized that each selected startup has the potential to solve healthcare problems. The TMU X BE accelerator program has been implemented for five years and has three key values. First, it is the only Hospital VC in Asia. In addition, there is a strong network of more than 100 industry experts who can provide one-on-one consultation for startups. Lastly, BE Accelerator has promised to invest in at least one startup with USD $500,000.

Chih-Chen Yeh, director of the NSTC Department of Science Education and International Affairs, said that in the past two years, due to the reorganization of supply chains in Asia of the COVID-19, Taiwan has become a trustworthy partner of various countries. The United States, Canada, Europe and others have carried out scientific and technological cooperation with the NSTC, especially Europe's attention on biomedical technology, this will also help Taiwanese biomedical startups increase their visibility in the European market.

Yaogui Xiao, manager of the Polymer Industry Technology Development Center, shared that the Polymer Center has been involved in medical device services since 2000, including biocompatibility, material development, processing, safety and functionality evaluation, etc. It also assists in the commercialization of medical devices with the assistance of accelerators. In the future they will continue to assist the development of startups.

Renwen Gong, chairman of Innovation to Industry (i2i), said that over the past 20 years, incubation centers have been built with the joint efforts of public and private resources, including Taipei, Kaohsiung, etc. Taiwan's medical system has still stood firm despite the epidemic, which is a good opportunity to develop the biotech industry, and also hopes to work with accelerators in the future to help new innovations develop into the Canadian, American and Japanese markets.

Jowy, CEO of TMU BioMed Accelerator, and Karen, assistant manager of BE Accelerator, jointly introduced the TMU X BE accelerator program. It is a 6 months program focusing on clinical study, regulatory, market, and fundraising. The program also invite the hospital director in the perspective of hospital executives to share the key points of accepting innovative medical products.

Jowy pointed out that in the TMU X BE accelerator program, TMU BioMed Accelerator will focus on the clinical research plans of the startups and how the innovative products can be accepted by the hospitals, and allow startups to understand the process of hospitals accepting innovative medical products. In addition, there is a data center that allows startups to learn how to use medical big data and the National Health Insurance Research Database, both of which can accelerate startups into the next stage of development.

TMU X BE accelerator program has assisted 49 local and international startups in the past four years. The program assisted Aesop Technology, LongGood, DeepRad.AI, and LuminX Biotech to enter the international market. 

The four companies participated in this event to share their company progress. Aesop Technology was successfully selected into the Skydeck accelerator at Berkeley University and the Mayo clinic accelerator in the past two years. Last year, the company launched predictive immunotherapy AI software with AZ Pharmaceuticals, and successfully signed cooperation contracts with many medical centers in Taiwan. This year, AI intelligent lung cancer screening platform (DeepLung-CAC) from DeepRad.AI will be submitted to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) for certification. Last year, LongGood cooperated with several long-term care institutions in Japan, such as WELFUTURE, and obtained nursing care insurance benefits from Japan's JLTC Insurance. LuminX Biotech also started cooperation with well-known Japanese universities last year.

The following are the selected 10 startups to enter the TMU X BE accelerator program:

1. Broadsims: Develops an open 5G-Vital-Sign Platform, offering mobile access to physiological parameters such as ECG, blood oxygen, and blood pressure
2. AeproMED Innovation: Develops the AirHyper Platform, an intelligent inhalation therapy system, and is currently in the process of pre-A round fundraising
3. Instant NanoBiosensors: Entering into Alzheimer's disease detection with the development of a molecular detection device
4. Pythia Biotech: Accurately simulates the human physiological environment with 'organ-on-chip' technology
5. PanCAD.ai: Develops AI-assisted detection of early pancreatic cancer
6. InVenis Biotherapies: From France, preparation of platelet lysate for treating various brain conditions 
7. MedySapiens: from South Korea, develops genetic testing diagnostic kits and AI interpretation and prediction platforms
8. Neodocs: From India, develops home remote urine testing medical kit
9. Auspex Diagnostics: From United States, uses AI to analyze the risk of cancer recurrence and treatment efficacy prediction
10. Clarius Mobile Health: From Canada, develops high-resolution portable wireless ultrasound imaging and AI image interpretation system