Results-driven incubator seeks next big thing
Coming up with an innovative concept might be enough to interest the Industrial Technology Research Institute's (ITRI) Creativity Lab, but it won't be enough to get you in the door of the business incubator unit.
ITRI's incubator is one of the most respected in Asia and is designed in an old-fashioned way to help start-up businesses bring actual products to market by throwing money and tech know-how behind them. But despite the differences, both the Creativity Lab and the business incubator have much in common by recognising the need for innovative, consumer goods.
'There has been too much focus on the manufacturing sector,' said DT Liang, the deputy general director of the incubator unit. 'We need more consumer-end products.'
That is why he is searching for applications for firms that are involved in health-care services, LCDs, intelligent robots and radio frequency identification, a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects.
'We want to incubate good companies, but we also have a responsibility to incubate the next blockbuster industry,' Mr Liang said. That meant ditching the old original equipment manufacturing (OEM) model of making something for big business.
But it's not easy. The incubator only takes on 10 to 12 companies a year, and if a product can't be brought to market in three years, it's goodbye and good luck.
'We have a lot of engineers who understand the mechanics of the products but they need training to understand the consumer end.'?Matt Kovac
