AppWorks Demo Day 2020! Lin Chih-chen: The next decade presents excellent entrepreneurial opportunities

As the epidemic eases, Taiwan's startup accelerator AppWorks Accelerator held its 2020 Startup Demo Day today (October 15). From the two batches of startups, AW#20 and AW#21, that joined in the first and second half of this year, 23 outstanding AI/IoT and Blockchain/Crypto startup teams were selected to take turns showcasing their products.

A Paradigm Shift That Will Shape the Future

AppWorks Accelerator is a significant startup accelerator in Taiwan, but its focus is not limited to Taiwan alone. Regardless of whether it's in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Sweden, or Guatemala, as long as there are promising startup teams, AppWorks Accelerator actively reaches out to and supports them.

Currently, AppWorks has positioned ABS AI, Blockchain, and Southeast Asia as the three main pillars for recruiting new startup teams. Since AW#17 in 2018, they have encouraged outstanding entrepreneurs to be forward-looking, exclusively recruiting startups in the AI/IoT and Blockchain/Crypto fields because the organization believes that AI/IoT and Blockchain/Crypto have become crucial paradigm shifts that will shape the future.

Furthermore, AppWorks is optimistic about the economic growth in Southeast Asia and the growth dividends brought about by the digital wave. Starting from this year's AW#21, in addition to AI and Blockchain, they have also included startup teams targeting the Southeast Asian market.

Ten Years Ago, Ten Years Ahead

AppWorks Chairman and Partner Jamie Lin, before the event began, talked to the attendees about how the world has drastically changed over the past ten years.

In the past, people could only hail a taxi on the street, but now they can directly call for a ride through their phones; in the past, only specific fast-food or restaurants could offer delivery, but now there are many delivery platforms where you can place orders. Overall, most innovations come from the widespread use of smartphones.

"Over the past ten years, from the birth of smartphones to everyone having one, there have been many entrepreneurial opportunities in the overall social fabric of food, clothing, housing, and transportation."

The innovations of the past decade, driven by smartphones, lead to the question of which areas will present opportunities in the next decade. Jamie Lin pointed out that foundational infrastructures like 5G, IoT, MEC, ML/DL, and Blockchain/Crypto/DeFi all have significant potential to drive the next wave of startups. With the backdrop of Cold War 2.0 and the social distancing caused by the pandemic, the opportunities for startups in the next decade will be even greater than in the past decade, with immense potential to disrupt current industries.

Additionally, Jamie Lin also predicted that startups focusing on digitization and automation, vertical integration, AI artificial intelligence, and projects targeting the unbanked population will have substantial room for development in the future.

Blockchain/Crypto/DeFi Startups

Although this event was by invitation only, open exclusively to investors and professionals, the venue was packed, indicating that most investors in Taiwan still hold high expectations for the potential of startup teams.

Among the 23 startup teams showcased today, 8 of them are focused on the Blockchain/Crypto/DeFi sector. These include Steaker and Fuly.AI, which provide digital asset investment solutions, Mighty Jaxx and Lootex, specializing in NFTs and digital collectibles, Poseidon Network and Pelith, offering infrastructure solutions, and Divao and Turing Certs, integrating blockchain technology into passwordless verification and certificate issuance fields.

As Chairman Jamie Lin of AppWorks mentioned, the evolution of infrastructure will bring more opportunities for startups. With the maturation of blockchain technology and the growing strength of cryptocurrencies and decentralized financial markets, there will undoubtedly be more and more startups entering this blue ocean market, developing unique and innovative business opportunities.