On February 16, 2023, the Sports Administration of the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with HYPE GVA Taiwan, organized the “2023 APEC Sports Policy Network Dialogue X HYPE Global Virtual TW Demo Day” in Tokyo, Japan. The event brought together 7 APEC member economies, 10 representatives from academia, government, and industry, as well as 9 startups from Canada, Switzerland, India, and Taiwan, to discuss sustainable development of sports events and youth participation in sports, and to showcase various sports innovations.
The APEC Sports Policy Network (ASPN), proposed by the Sports Administration Taiwan in 2016, holds 1-2 international conferences annually. At the morning session of the event, member economies from Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea, and Singapore focused on the “Young & Green” theme, discussing and sharing experiences of youth participation and event sustainability, and exchanging ideas on how to integrate sustainability concepts into more international sports events and increase youth participation. Mr. Yip Ren Kai, manager from Singapore, gave a keynote speech on the “Future of Esports in Asia,” bringing new sparks to the integration of sports and esports. In the afternoon, Mr. Hidenori Suzuki, CEO of the ticketing and customer management division for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, shared his experience in handling large-scale sports events.
- APEC Sports Policy Network (ASPN) Economy Representatives
HYPE GVA Taiwan has successfully nurtured a total of 95 innovation teams both domestically and internationally over the past 5 years. The 9th cycle startups presented a variety of team products, including smart field hockey sticks, table tennis paddles, next-generation smart clothing, sports venue automation management systems, and MR virtual interactive sports tables. After scoring by nearly 30 professional judges from investment, sports industry, corporate executives, media, and other related fields online and offline, Space Capsule and GoSky AI won the Sports Administration Award, followed by 3T Magic and Bolt Sports winning the IAPS Award, and Space Capsule and Dartle winning the HYPE Award.
- Mrs. Maggie Hsu, Director of Sports Administration、Mr. Jay Hung, Founder of Space Capsule
- Cycle 9 Taiwan Startups
Led by Volker Heistermann, Director of Mosaic Venture Lab from the United States, the Taiwan Sports Innovation Accelerator panel brought together outstanding graduation teams from Taiwan, including Ness Wellness, a mind-body-spirit integration platform, AQUIVIO, Uniigym, and mbranfiltra, to share their competitive advantages and opportunities for future cooperation on the international stage.
- Uniigym、mbranfiltra、Mr. Volker Heistermann、Ness Wellness、AQUIVIO
With the support of many APEC economies and sports innovation teams, the conference concluded successfully and met with the Japan Sports Tourism Alliance and Kawasaki Deep Tech Accelerator, and Shibuya Startup Support Accelerator, with the aim of continuing interaction between Taiwan and other economies through the ASPN platform in the future.