Following the re-election of four key opinion leaders in the fields of health, technology and finance as board of directors in mid-February, IBMI announced on 25 March that it had appointed five infleuncers from the technology and finance sectors, including Rock Hsu (許勝雄) of Kinpo Group, Kuo-Yi Yeh (葉國一) of Inventec, Richard Tsai (蔡明興) of Fubon Financial Holding, Eugene Wu (吳東進) of Shin Kong Group and Hong-Tu Tsai (蔡宏圖) of Cathay Financial, as advisors. The industry believes that this "golden lineup" in its history will lead the industry into a new generation of transformation.
President Tsai said in her speech during the IBMI event that the government aims to provide better services to citizens from prevention, diagnosis to care. She expected that Taiwan's healthcare industry will become an indispensable player in the global healthcare market, and that IBMI will continue to unite the strengths of the industry to serve as a bridge of communication for the industry so that Taiwan's biomedical industry can continue to shine in the international arena.
Hong-tu Tsai, chairman of Cathay Financial, indicated that in addition to Cathay's healthcare system, Cathay Life Insurance has combined digital technology and spillover policies to promote health promotion, nearly-optimal-health and elderly services for all of Taiwan's 8 million clients, and has also invested in biotechnology through venture capital and private equity funds. Last year, the company participated in a $1.5 billion fund for developing biotechnology. The second funding scheme is also undergoing the planning process.
Chairman Tsai stressed that the biotech industry has a bright future, with Taiwan's medical technology and biomedical R&D capabilities being internationally renowned and its ICT industry being world-class. In the post-epidemic era, it is expected that cross-disciplinary cooperation will become even closer.
At the ceremony, outstanding contribution awards were also presented to founders and initiators of IBMI, including Kuo-Chiu Yang (楊國宙), Wei-Chao Chen (陳維昭) and Jin-Pyng Wang (王金平) for their outstanding contributions and influence on the promotion of the healthcare industry, as well as their reputation for excellence.
Among the 35 members of the Board of Directors, 13 are from the technology industry, with almost all of the big names in place, except for Foxconn and Advantech; 15 are from hospitals (including colleges of medicine), with the exception of the Mackay Memorial Hospital; and Thomas Wu (吳東亮), chairman of Taishin Bank, is the first representative from the financial sector to serve on the Board. The appointment of Fubon Financial Holdings Chairman Richard Tsai, Shin Kong Group Chairman Eugene Wu and Cathay Financial Holdings Chairman Hong-tu Tsai as advisors signifies that the biomedical industry has entered a new generation.
In a pre-recorded message, Chi-Huey Wong, president of IBMI said that with the establishment of a new board of directors and advisors, the new platform for cooperation in the healthcare industry will jointly promote the link between "healthcare and information and communication technology" in Taiwan, further strengthen the capital market and open up new opportunities for the industry.
