The 21st National Innovation Award ceremony was held on the 26th, recognizing 196 winning teams, marking a three-year high in awardees. China Medical University (CMU) and the Chang Gung healthcare system were among the top winners. Additionally, ten startup teams, including Ever Supreme Bio Technology, V5med, and Immunwork, were selected to present at the Demo Day, where they are expected to draw significant investment attention.
Notably, Jubo Health, led by Professor Shih-Chung Jessy Kang of National Taiwan University, and a winner of the 16th National Innovation Award, received this year’s highest honor—the National Innovation Sustainability Model Award. Over the past five years, Jubo Health’s valuation has grown nearly ninefold.
Among this year’s awardees, Ever Supreme Bio Technology's "CAR001: Allogeneic Cell Therapy for Solid Tumors" has received Phase I and IIa clinical trial approvals in both Taiwan and the U.S. V5med’s "V5 Lung Imaging Interpretation Software" has proven to improve detection rates for physicians by 20%, earning Taiwan’s TFDA smart medical device certification and securing international orders.
Immunwork's "Innovative Fatty Acid Conjugation Platform for Ultra-Long-Acting Peptide Drug Development" has advanced two drugs into Phase I clinical trials, both demonstrating promising results without side effects. In the smart healthcare and health technology category, EVAS ("Evas"), developed by EBM Technologies, functions as an AI-powered virtual assistant for surgeries. Equipped with deep medical knowledge and AI technology, EVAS provides real-time voice prompts and auto-generates medical records during surgeries. Its application in Japan has been shown to cut surgical time by nearly half.
According to the organizers, the Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry (IBMI) and the Research Center for Biotechnology and Medicine Policy (RBMP), fundraising for startups, especially in the capital-intensive biotechnology and medical industries, is a long-term challenge. Over the years, 24 prominent investors, including Fubon Financial, Hua Nan Financial, Wistron Corporation, and AUO, have invested in National Innovation Award-winning teams, demonstrating the high potential and investment value of these teams’ technological applications.
This year’s Demo Day featured key figures from the investment sector, including Charlene Hu, Vice President of Hermes-Epitek; Yao-Fang Hsieh, Chief Consultant at Quanta Computer; and Shih-Hung Liao, General Manager of AUO’s Smart Healthcare Business Unit. Their subsequent resource support is highly anticipated.
In the clinical medical research category, notable projects included:
"GP-01 Long-Acting Intravitreal Injection Therapy: A Breakthrough in Optic Nerve Injury Treatment" led by Rong-Kung Tsai, Director of the Hualien Tzu Chi Ophthalmology Research Center.
"Innovative Real-Time Endoscopic Optical and Intelligent Imaging Analysis System for Blood-Barrier Visualization" by the team of Meng-Huang Wu, Director of Orthopedics at Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
Projects led by Chen-Yu Chen, Distinguished Professor at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and DeepRad.AI’s "AI-Assisted Decision-Making System for Concussion Syndrome."
Medical schools also showcased several groundbreaking technologies. This year, CMU and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital systems were the top winners, with 14 awards each. They were followed by Yang Ming Chiao Tung University with nine awards and Taipei Medical University with eight, reflecting the robust research and development capacity of Taiwan’s medical community.
Resource: 196組獲國家新創獎 中DeepRad.AI 醫大、長庚體系大贏家
