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Beautiful coasts, mountains and startups, Business Next Media places flag in Hualien
For the first time, the Hualien County Government has teamed up with Business Next Media to launch Meet Hualien, an innovation startup carnival. Featuring locality, diversity, and uniqueness, the startup festival invited startups themed on High-quality life, ESG, digital transformation, and workcation. The event sparks the synergy of cultures and innovation, seeing more young entrepreneurs engage in this land.
One hundred and nineteen kilometers away from Taipei, Hualien County is known for its several world-class scenic attractions, towering peaks, azure skies, vast seas, and scenic valleys. “Formosa”, another name for Taiwan, was actually named by Portuguese sailors when they passed by the eastern coast, where Hualien locates. But Hualien can be more than a tourist attraction. With a diverse cultural heritage and fabulous craftsmanship, Hualien has a strong potential for innovation and creativity. Thus, Business Next Media stopped by and host this startup event.
On August 11th and 12th, Business Next Media invited by Hualien County, is set to create a whirlwind of innovative startup energy at the Hualien Cultural and Creative Industries Park, all while honoring and celebrating the profound heritage of the region. The first-ever Meet Hualien saw a convergence of 70 teams to celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship.
Creation of New Value in Hualien: startups renovating agriculture, travel, and transportation
Emphasizing the theme of local revitalization, the carnival also attracted a plethora of digital technology startups from various regions. A cornerstone concept of this entrepreneurial exhibition was the "Creation of New Value in Hualien".
Agriweather, consisting of team members from Hualien, aims to utilize foundational data and integrate various algorithmic models to help farmers manage the land smartly. This includes dynamic growth predictions, enhancing the effective components in crops, and controlling risks from adverse conditions.
The startup has placed over 300 "Agui" sensor devices in fields around Taiwan. These sensors work tirelessly, recording field data every moment, covering 11 types of metrics, including temperature, rainfall, wind direction, humidity, ultraviolet rays, sunlight intensity, and more. The data collected, paired with real-time images, are transmitted wirelessly to cloud databases and displayed instantly on dashboards and LINE notifications. Not only in Hualien, but across Taiwan, from the northernmost tip to the southern end, nearly a hundred farms have begun to embrace a cutting-edge tool designed by the startup.
By making the process more streamlined and potentially more lucrative, the hope is to inspire more young individuals to return to their hometowns and engage actively in agricultural endeavors. Through this, Agriweather envisions a future where technology bridges the gap between tradition and modernity, ensuring the sustainability of farming practices.
Based on the existing ecosystem, these startups manage to further uplevel the tourist experience in many aspects, such as accommodation and transportation. For example, Founder Charlie Lin shared that although Lockists began as a C2C platform, offering a motorbike rental management system, their visit to Hualien aimed at targeting motorbike rental businesses. They hope to introduce them to new IoT management tools and even push the idea of motorbike sharing.
Another standout innovation came from 26e-touch, which caters to bicycle tourism. They have designed a system that can convert regular bicycles into electric ones by installing a motor, an electronic control system, and a battery that charges in just six minutes, providing up to 180 kilometers of ride time. They envision offering this to tourists in Hualien as a novel cycling experience. "Unlike other tourist spots where it's well-known that you can ride bicycles, Hualien boasts well-maintained bicycle tracks, like the paths around Ci Sing Tan Scenic Spot and Carp Lake," remarked Chun-Hsiang Chan, the founder of 26e-touch.
Encouraging the young generation with full support
Hualien stands out as a fertile ground for young entrepreneurs. Recognizing the challenges that young business enthusiasts face, the County Government has proactively worked with industry, academia, and official entities to create an environment conducive to youthful business ventures.
This year, in the spirit of "International Youth Day", the Meet Hualien included two significant forums: the "International Youth Entrepreneurship Forum" and the "Sustainable Growth Business Forum". The aim was to infuse broader industry perspectives and involve more industry professionals, thereby broadening the horizons of local entrepreneurs.
The "International Youth Entrepreneurship Forum" host speakers from both domestic and international arenas. These speakers shared insights ranging from tales of their successful ventures to envisioning the future of Hualien's local lifestyles, as well as imagining new industry paradigms.
Taijiro Kusunoki, the representative director of the KotoBus Group, will be in attendance to share his insights. KotoBus group was the recipient of the prestigious "Local Revitalization Minister Award" at the 2022 Japan Service Awards, as well as the winner of the 2023 Kagawa 21st Century Award. "Building deep and connected relationships, cultivating fans who love this place, and promoting bidirectional dialogues and exchanges are the long-term strategies," says Kusunoki, enriched with extensive experience in local revitalization. He believes that "talent" is the key element in local community rejuvenation.
Beyond innovative tourism projects, many Hualien-based teams introduced a refreshing wave of change in experiential and culinary offerings, showcasing the region's rich potential for innovation. Meet Hualien is just the beginning to unleash the potential of Hualien’s innovation.
©2026 Business Next Media Corp. All Rights Reserved. No.102, Guangfu S. Rd., Da'an Dist., Taipei City 106, Taiwan