Origin of competition

With the massive data from the Internet of Things, the increasing maturity of chip technology, and the continued evolution of algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) related applications have attracted great attention and become a major technology worldwide. AI has become a key indicator of the future digitalization of human society, and competition for AI-related patents and intellectual property rights is rapidly becoming more severe in various industries.
In response to the "AI Taiwan Action Plan" of the Executive Yuan, the Administration for Digital industries (ADI), Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) is dedicating its efforts to the "AI Application Service Development Environment Promotion Project," and encourages information and communications technology (ICT) companies to cooperate with AI technology companies through the competition and matching platform. Deploying AI and edge computing products in hopes of developing AI technologies and applications that meet market needs. The ADI hopes to produce more innovative value-added products or services to lead the internationalization of Taiwan’s diverse AI applications.

Purpose of competition

The purpose of the "2024 AI+ Rising Star Competition" is to bring together domestic technology companies (hereinafter referred to as “Requesting Units”) and AI technology companies (hereinafter referred to as “Proposal Teams”) to jointly develop innovative AI value-added products or services guided by market demand, thereby achieving the purpose of guiding AI technology companies, and deepening cooperation results between Requesting Units and Proposal Teams in AI value-added products or services. This will further achieve the goals of "internal and external cooperation, accelerating research and development" and "trials in Taiwan for going global."

Description of competition mechanism and qualifications

This project uses a competition to gather together Requesting Units and Proposal Teams to facilitate R&D and cooperation in technology and application between AI supply and demand sides. Requesting Units prepare topics based on their needs to implement AI in their products and services/supply chain/related industry fields. Proposal Teams with AI technologies will then make proposals, and the Requesting Unit will provide guidance and assistance to the Proposal Team to jointly carry out a problem-solving plan.

I. Application to become requesting unit:

(I) Eligibility (all of the conditions below must be met)

1. Domestic enterprises: Locally registered sole proprietorship, partnership, limited partnership, or company.
2. Foreign enterprises: A locally recognized foreign company with a track record in R&D and registered a branch in the Republic of China (R.O.C.); or a subsidiary registered locally by a foreign company that has a track record in R&D.
3. The above-mentioned organizations should have clear needs and have innovation guidance capabilities (e.g., the company has an innovation service development unit), and should have a project liaison who can cooperate in attending various conferences and competition-related activities, and also provide the Proposal Team with development resources (such as hardware, training materials, and computing resources).

(II) Matters requiring cooperation in the topic guidance stage:

1. Requesting Units provide the "Statement on Enterprise Verification Requirements," and then the AI requirements put forward by Requesting Units are collected and submitted to the project office.
2. The project office invites expert committee members to conduct review for the competition, and sends the AI problems of Requesting Units to the committee members for evaluation and to provide correction suggestions or guidance for adjustments.
3. Topics that have been evaluated and approved by the committee members will be disclosed on the project website for startup teams to evaluate submissions.
4. The Requesting Units must agree to the obligation to cooperate with the organizer's event needs, and be fully responsible for the content provided. The participation of Requesting Units may be used for publicity and promotion purposes.
5. Requesting Units must appoint project liaisons (at least 2 people) who will focus on topics (content revision and interpretation), attending competition-related activities (including but not limited to request matching briefings, review meetings, and results presentations), and other liaison matters to facilitate the implementation of this project.

(III) Matters requiring cooperation in the matching and verification stage:

1. Participate in the request matching briefing: Requesting Units attend the briefing to explain the contents of the topic and answer questions from Proposal Teams, so that both parties to clearly understand the direction of cooperation in the verification stage.
2. Requesting Units must provide topic-related resources and guidance to help Proposal Teams carry out R&D, training, implementation, and complete problem solving.

(IV) Application process for requesting units:

Step 1. Online registration: seminars.tca.org.tw/D15r00688.aspx

Step 2. Download the attachment from the competition website: aicontest.tca.org.tw

(1)    Consent Form for Competition Requirements Provided by Requesting Units (Attachment)
(2)    Personal Information Consent Form (Attachment)
(3)    Statement on Enterprise Verification Requirements (please go to the [Download] section of the competition website to download)
(4)    Verification Requirements Brief (please go to the [Download] section of the competition website to download)

Step 3. Mail the 4 files in Step 2: Consent Form for Competition Requirements Provided by Requesting Units (Attachment), Personal Information Consent Form (Attachment), Statement on Enterprise Verification Requirements, and Verification Requirements Brief the form of electronic files (scan after affixing seal) to the designated e-mail address: Contact Email: una_chang@mail.tca.org.tw .

II. Competition team proposal application:

(1) Team proposal qualifications: (all of the conditions below must be met)

1. Businesses:

(1) Sole proprietorships and partnerships legally registered in Taiwan after January 1, 2016 (within the past 8 years).
(2) Not blacklisted by banks and no record of dishonored check within the past year.
(3) Not a Chinese enterprise (according to the latest Directory of Chinese Enterprises in Taiwan published by the Department of Investment Review, Ministry of Economic Affairs).

2. Domestic colleges and universities with AI-related research centers (there is no limit on the number of years it was established, but the Proposal Team be from its AI or IoT-related research centers). (Once selected, Proposal Teams must complete specified matters before the final review to receive the prize)

3. Has core development capabilities to provide products or services through image recognition, natural language/speech, algorithms, data analysis and other AI technologies, such as machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks.

(II) The Proposal Team must complete the following within the specified time based on the competition topic proposed by the Requesting Unit:

Step 1. Online registration competition website: aicontest.tca.org.tw

Step 2. Download the attachment from the competition website

(1) Proposal Team Participation Agreement (Attachment)
(2) Personal Information Consent Form (Attachment)
(3) Proposal brief (please go to the [Download] section of the competition website to download the format)

Step 3.

(1) Upload the 3 files in Step 2 and the company’s related supporting documents to the system.
(2) The company’s related supporting documents:

A. The company registration certificate (including change registration card)
B. Proof that the company is not blacklisted by banks and has no record of dishonored check within the past year (must be affixed with seal)

(III) The team must select 1 proposal, and can make up to 2 proposals (one proposal each for two different Requesting Units), and the number of proposals accepted is limited to 1 proposal.

Proposal teams participating in this competition are not allowed to participate in the AI Application Competition under the AI Application Service Development Environment Promotion Project at the same time. Violators will be disqualified from both competitions.