TTA Leads Taiwanese Startups to VivaTech, Jointly Targeting European Market Opportunities

Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has joined forces with the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration (SMESA) and the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs to lead a delegation to VivaTech, Europe’s largest start-up and technology event in France.

For the eighth year, the delegation is centred around Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), bringing together 34 Taiwanese technology start-ups and 61 supply-chain partners as a national team aimed at generating further international partnerships and business opportunities. The official NSTC announcement confirms the 34 start-ups and 61 supply-chain partners participating this year. 

VivaTech 2026 is taking place in France, with this year marking the event’s 10th anniversary. According to a statement issued by the NSTC today, the event is focused on opening a new chapter for the next decade and has introduced additional investor engagement mechanisms to strengthen connections and matchmaking between start-ups and international investors.

This year, the TTA Taiwan Pavilion is located on the second floor, which has the highest concentration of major international brands, alongside global companies including Meta and Microsoft — underscoring the event organiser’s recognition of Taiwan’s growing presence. 

Reflecting the global momentum behind artificial intelligence, the TTA pavilion is themed “AI Taiwan” this year, showcasing Taiwan’s diverse achievements in AI technologies and applications. It focuses particularly on how AI can be deployed in everyday life and across industrial settings, bringing smart applications more closely into real-world environments.

The pavilion recreates a European streetscape to provide a more immersive, everyday setting for visitors. Through the exhibition, Taiwan aims to demonstrate how AI can drive innovative applications across a wide range of industries and help build smarter living environments, while further strengthening the country’s pivotal role in the global technology supply chain. 

The NSTC said the opening ceremony for the TTA Taiwan Pavilion was held on 17 June, Taiwan time, bringing together representatives from the Taiwanese and French governments and think tanks, as well as leading figures from industry and start-up ecosystems in the Netherlands, Canada, the UK, the US and other countries. Their presence reflected strong international support and recognition for Taiwan’s start-up sector. 

Der-Sheng Lin, Director General of the Department of Academia-Industry Collaboration and Science Park Affairs at the NSTC, said TTA had helped nearly 200 start-up participations enter the European market and establish global connections through VivaTech, generating international orders worth nearly NT$1.3 billion.

Lin said last year’s model of bringing start-ups and supply-chain partners together at the exhibition had generated more than NT$800 million in business. Building on that success, this year’s delegation comprises 34 start-up teams supported by 61 supply-chain partners. 

Unlike in previous years, when start-ups largely focused on demonstrating individual technologies, teams this year have been asked to work with their supply-chain partners to present complete solutions and real-world application scenarios. The approach is intended to enable international companies to understand the overall value of the technologies more directly and create further opportunities for commercial partnerships.

The participating companies have also reached a higher level of maturity this year, with many already establishing a presence in European markets. They are seeking to capitalise on emerging opportunities including France’s net-zero and carbon-reduction regulations, demand for AI certification and the development of computing infrastructure, as they prepare to expand further in Europe.

As global technological innovation increasingly focuses on sustainability and social impact, VivaTech has established the Tech for Change Award, centred on three major areas — the environment, society and health. The initiative selects 400 high-impact start-ups worldwide, recognising their ability to use technology to address global challenges.

The NSTC said seven Taiwanese start-ups and organisations received Tech for Change recognition this year. Precise Big Data reached the Top 30 in the Health category in its first year participating in the event.

Apollo Power, DeCloak Intelligences, LEDlas, the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), Richten Energy and TanE AIOT were also recognised, demonstrating the strength and growing international influence of Taiwan’s technology innovation ecosystem. 

Source: CNA / Yahoo Taiwan