Compared to Japan, where 90 of golf courses operate without caddies and use an automated service model, golf course management in Taiwan still heavily relies on human labor Facing a labor shortage of up to 70, adopting a site and membership management platform to provide intelligent golf services may be a transformation worth considering for golf course operators 'Taiwan's software technology is comparable to international standards and definitely has the capability to compete in the global market,' says Tsung-Che Liao, co-founder and CEO of Golface, established in 2014 with the vision to leverage technology at its core, aiming to create Taiwan's first golf entertainment platform With over 9 years vested in cultivating intelligent golf services, Liao is well-versed in the nuances of golf course services He has considerable domain knowledge and has launched a comprehensive intelligent golf solution The world's first networked smart golf cart hits the road automation of golf courses is no longer just a dream In mid-May, Golface's newly developed ARES Smart Golf Cat, the world's first networked smart golf cart, officially became operational Equipped with a dedicated vehicle computer mainframe, dual network systems, AI-based visual recognition cameras, and high-precision GPS tracking, golf courses can now confidently allow golfers to drive themselves The system enables real-time monitoring of any driving violations, and the presence of digital consumption traces allows for insurance coverage The procedure is as follows golfers book the cart via a reservation platform, receive a QR code, pay through the platform, and unlock the cart with the QR code at the golf course The golf cart can then be driven onto the course The course management platform can monitor and restrict the areas through which the cart can travel, ensuring it does not leave the paths Upon completion, the cart is returned through a tablet in the cart In instances of any infractions, penalties are applied directly through the user's account, and for severe violations, future access to the carts may be prohibited This achieves the goal of 'automation' ARES Smart Golf Cat is the world's first networked smart golf cart, officially in service since May 2022 'As labor costs continue to rise, recruiting and training caddies are becoming common pain points in the market While Taiwan's courses still employ caddies, there's a 70 labor shortage,' Tsung-Che Liao added This smart golf cart tablet, combined with a mobile app, has become the ultimate smart caddy Golface is striving to complete the last piece of the 'automated golf course' puzzle Amassing digital consumption trails for advanced client segmentation services Starting with consumer needs, Golface has sequentially launched services like the golf cart tablet, mobile app, golf reservation platform, instructional videos Golface TV, golf tourism, and smart carts The smart cart has been operational since May 2022, currently featuring four units with plans for mass production in the latter half of 2022 Although the cart currently requires manual operation by golfers, remote operation is anticipated early in 2023, with autonomous driving expected in the third phase Via the cart tablet and management system, staff can understand the status of the course through on-screen visual representations, showing each cart's real-time and relative location, departure times, and duration of service per hole, which aids course managers in monitoring on-course consumption effectively, thus reducing traffic jams and customer complaints 'Previously, we relied on staff's mental imagery now, we can employ imagery to visualize real-time situations on the course This makes it possible for those who don't understand golf to work in this field,' emphasized Tsung-Che Liao While course control has traditionally been handled by experienced professional players, the shortage of skilled professionals makes hiring even more challenging Therefore, replacing manpower with digital tools yields twice the result with half the effort The golf cart tablet has entered the Japanese golf market, installed at Fukuoka Century Golf Club Golface's golf cart tablet has been introduced to 14 domestic courses, and has now officially entered the Japanese market, favored by Fukuoka Century Golf Club, where tablets have been installed in carts providing automatic voice announcements for hitting strategies, distance measurements, and visual charts displaying hitting data During the COVID-19 pandemic, with borders closed, Golface utilized OTA technology to provide software updates and troubleshooting, ensuring uninterrupted services, which was highly appreciated by the Japanese golf courses Tsung-Che Liao remarks that Taiwan's software technology is not inferior to other countries like Japan, but more support from golf courses is needed to help transform the industry intelligently 'To assist in the transformation of golf courses, the first step is digitalization,' Liao pointed out By helping courses accumulate data and understand customer service cycles and hitting rhythms, it enables courses to avoid congestion and serve more customers To date, Golface has accumulated data on over 20,000 teams, 35 million scorecards, and over 10 million records This data helps enhance management performance, segment customer layers, reduce complaints, and plan marketing strategies for off-peak periods Golface co-founder and CEO Tsung-Che Liao has spent 9 years deepening intelligent golf services, aiming to build Taiwan's first golf entertainment platform「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date：2024-05-19」

With "Voice as a Service VaaS", VM-Fi Inc launched the world's leading 5G real-time AI voice translation service "VM-Fi," providing AI real-time translation subtitles TranSpeech and AI multi-lingual smart counter TransDisplay The service is applied to real-time translation services in diverse fields, such as international exhibitions, tourism industry, and retail stores The translation service can be quickly set up in 15 minutes, which can significantly reduce the customer's interpretation service cost by 50, creating benefits in terms of time and labor costs This killer application is a product launched by VM-Fi, which has been established for three years It can significantly reduce the cost of interpretation by half It successfully entered the Japanese market and is highly popular among consumers TranSpeech real-time subtitles for speeches and TransDisplay smart counter AI service solution For organizers of international forums and exhibitions, paying high interpretation fees has always been a common pain point hard to put into words According to statistics, to hold an all-English forum in Taiwan, including two interpreters, setting up an interpretation booth, on-site radio station, control panel, and audio, the total cost will be at least NT100,000 to meet the on-site interpretation needs Established in September 2020, VM-Fi launched the "VM-Fi 5G real-time AI voice translation service" In just 2 years, and successively won the Mobileheroes of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Industrial Development Bureau, Start-up competition in the Smart City Project, Qualcomm Innovate in Taiwan Challenge QITC, Japan's JR Kyushu Innovative Business Competition Excellence Award, and the CES 2022 Innovation Award It has not only received praises in the market, but also attracted great attention from Taiwanese investors and was adopted by large Japanese trading companies It hopes to help people around the world avoid communication barriers through smart city solutions, and enjoy a convenient life in smart cities 5G real-time AI voice translation does not require expensive interpreters and equipment and reduces the interpretation cost by 50 The VM-Fi team, which has a solid technical foundation in language translation, digital content, and UX development, has learned that only 20 of high-end consumers in the market can afford the high cost of interpretation To meet the remaining 80 of market demand, VM-Fi combines 5G high-speed transmission and AI voice recognition technology help customers reduce labor and costs Its business solutions can be applied in international exhibitions, tourism services, shopping malls, and online and offline business meetings 5G high-speed AI speech translation service process "Unlike traditional interpreters' sentence-by-sentence interpretation, which is a time-consuming and inefficient process that prevents the audience from smoothly listening to a speech," VM-Fi further stated that the real-time AI speech translation service uses AI algorithms to analyze the speakers speech The AI determines the parts of speech and subject of the speaker, and then immediately translates it The lecturer does not need to wait for the interpreter, and only needs to connect the microphone cable to the VM-Fi 5G real-time AI voice translation service to speak freely The audience can immediately read the translated subtitles 5G real-time AI voice translation was used in the Kyoto Smart City Summit amp Expo for two consecutive years in 2022-2023 The "VM-Fi 5G real-time AI voice translation service" currently supports Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, and German, providing translation services between these seven languages During the pandemic, when the demand for online activities increased significantly, VM-Fi introduced the world's first real-time subtitle service solution The contents spoken by the foreign speaker is translated in real-time and displayed on the live broadcast screen, allowing the audience to understand contents shared by the speaker in real time The operation method is also very simple Audiences do not need to download the APP All they need to do is open the Youtube or Facebook live broadcast platforms provided by the organizer The real-time subtitle solution not only saves customers the trouble of translation work, but also allows online listeners to enjoy seamless real-time translation services without any worries Real-time subtitles provide audiences with seamless real-time translation service In addition, the smart counter solution TransDisplay launched by VM-Fi in Japan is also very popular among consumers VM-Fi stated that Japan has a large elderly population and a large number of tourists Especially during the pandemic, most consumers wore masks and there was often a gap in communication The smart counter directly converts the communication between two parties from voice to text and displays on the transparent partition, providing the most considerate service that the public can clearly see at a glance In the future, VM-Fi will work with Taiwanese panel manufacturers, integrating software and hardware to provide voice-to-real-time subtitle translation services in Japanrsquos shopping malls, stations, airports, and government agencies Smart counters provided people with friendly communication services during the pandemic User experience is the key to VM-Fi taking root in the Japanese market Facing the explosive growth of cross-border tourism business opportunities after the pandemic, VM-Fi is confident in business expansion VM-Fi stated that the VM-Fi 5G real-time AI voice translation service has demonstrated excellent product and service resilience during the pandemic, and can flexibly meet customer needs for various physical or online services VM-Fi plans to establish a headquarters in Japan before April 2025, and actively cooperates with Kansai and Kyoto prefectural and municipal governments to expand its operations After establishing a solid foundation in the Japanese market, the EU market will be the next important target VM-Fi participated in fundraising activities of the AI Founders Alliance of the AI Program of the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs The company relied on the assistance of the Institute for Information Technology III, Taiwan-Japan Industrial Collaboration Promotion Office TJPO, and the Japan External Trade Organization JETRO to actively seize Japan's market "Japan's market not only values digital transformation, but also user experience UX" Therefore, after the successful launch in Japan, everything will fall into place when it expands to other markets around the world VM-Fi app in Japan's shopping malls, stations, airports, and government agencies VM-Fi is a startup with passion and innovative spirit nbspfounded in 2020 We focus on AI speech recognition and real-time translation technologies, and are committed to allowing people around the world to enjoy high-speed speech translation during international speeches, at service counters, and during communication, completely removing the language barrier and allowing everyone to enjoy equal rights to information VM-Fi's AI service is not only a technological innovation, but also a commitment to global sustainable development A Digital solutions We are committed to reducing paper use Every sheet of A4 paper saved reduces carbon emissions by 78 grams, using practical digital solutions to promote environmental protection B Renewable energy decisions We choose cloud services that use renewable energy and plan to achieve the goal of using cloud services that use 100 renewable energy by 2025, in order to create a greener technology foundation for the future C Water saving decisions We are committed to using cloud services that achieve positive water benefits before 2030, ensuring that the replenishment of water resources exceeds consumption, and contributing to the future of the Earth D Net zero emission decisions When using new data centers, we will choose net-zero deforestation to protect the natural environment E Sustainable development goals Through the decisions above, we are making active efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDGs 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 13, exerting every effort to create a better world VM-Fi's vision is to create a world without communication barriers, allowing everyone to communicate freely and jointly move toward a better future Let us work together to contribute to global communication equality and sustainable development, and create a greener and better future nbsp

One rainy Thursday afternoon near Taipei Arena, the Taipei Experience Center of RelaJet was fully booked with appointments from people with hearing loss eager to try hearing aids made with a voice separation engine For the hearing impaired, having affordable, lightweight, and effective noise-reducing hearing aids is truly a blessing 'We hope to help users in need to hear the world's wonders again' This empathetic expectation by RelaJet's founder and CEO Po-Ju Chen, who is also hearing impaired, illustrates his understanding of the needs of the hearing impaired He hopes that RelaJet's unique voice amplification hearing aid technology will benefit many more people Affordable hearing aids benefit many with hearing loss Founded in 2018 by Po-Ju Chen and his brother Yu-Ren Chen, RelaJet developed a multi-voice separation engine paired with Qualcomm's Bluetooth audio platform, drastically reducing the price of imported hearing aids, typically costing 80,000-100,000 NT dollars, to just under 10,000 NT dollars They aim to develop affordable goods with excellent noise-cancelling capabilities that wirelessly connect to smartphones In its first two years, the company primarily developed the multi-voice separation engine, which significantly improved the noise reduction quality Once equipped with Qualcomm Bluetooth earphone chips, the audio processing time is drastically short, at about 7 milliseconds to enhance main voice projection and reduce ambient noise, less than half the time required by traditional medical standard of 16 milliseconds for hearing aids, nearly 'zero-delay' 洞見未來科技推出平價助輔聽器，大大嘉惠聽損者 Yu-Ren Chen explains that the primary use of Qualcomm chips for edge computing, along with a streamlined algorithm, achieves extremely low latency and better noise reduction The hearing aids can cover 18 channels, whereas traditional hearing aids cover 4-48 channels In the future, RelaJet will progressively increase the number of channels According to statistics, there are 470 million people globally with hearing disabilities, with a 30 average device use rate in developed countries, with the highest in Western countries Taiwan has nearly 15 million people with disabling hearing loss, of which the middle-aged and elderly make up 30, yet the device use rate is only about 10, which is quite low Yu-Ren Chen further analyzes that the low device usage rate is due to two reasons firstly, the high average selling price of international big brands ranges from 80,000 to 200,000 NT dollars with a three-year usability period, which deters many due to the high cost and maintenance Secondly, in noisy environments, the noise is also amplified which does not necessarily ensure clarity for the users, and the sound parameters can't be adjusted in real-time, making it inconvenient to frequently visit stores for tuning Thirdly, most models cannot connect to smartphones, making it inconvenient for the hearing impaired to take phone calls Utilizing Qualcomm Bluetooth chips for rapid product development In light of this, Po-Ju Chen, formerly a semiconductor engineer at MediaTek, leads the technical development, while Yu-Ren Chen, with a legal background, manages the operations Their seamless collaboration, along with their team employing AI algorithms and chip integration, learns from thousands of hours of audio files in databases through neural networks and deep learning technologies to develop low-latency, high-noise-reduction voice amplification technologies for hearing aids In 2019, this sound processing technology was integrated into Qualcomm Bluetooth chips, winning first place in the Qualcomm Taiwan Startup Competition and becoming a partner in Qualcomm's Global Expansion Program, significantly boosting product development pace In 2021, they launched their own Otoadd series of hearingenhancement products in Taiwan, which received both market favor and positive reviews from many with hearing loss Based on different consumer needs, various product designs are available According to Yu-Ren Chen, the Otoadd wireless earphones with hearing enhancement functions, model N1, are entry-level neckband style priced at 9,500 NT per pair Users can wear the hearing aid while taking calls, and control noise reduction strength and volume through a mobile app They plan to develop accessories in the future tailored to the needs of older adults Besides being available for trials at experience centers in Taipei and Kaohsiung, this hearing aid is also sold through PChome, Taiwan Mobile's myfone, and Elder Age networks, among other channels Another model intended for individuals with mild to severe hearing loss is the Classic R hearing aid, which received the Japanese Good Design Award in 2021 Since its market debut last year, it has attracted those with congenital hearing loss, with users noting improved clarity in noisy environments and appreciating the convenience of Bluetooth connectivity for calls and watching videos This product is anticipated to be exported to international markets in the latter half of this year Additionally, a hearing aid product combining Bluetooth functionality, set to launch in June this year, is sized like typical Bluetooth earphones, targeting visually conscious consumers with hearing loss Its small size and attractive wireless earphone design allow for phone calls, and if approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, eligible users can apply for government subsidies RelaJet to expand into overseas markets, using the USA as a beachhead An interesting question arises due to the pandemic everyone must wear masks which impedes lip-reading How does this affect those with hearing loss Yu-Ren Chen indicates that this situation highlights RelaJet's advantages As each person with hearing loss has different levels of hearing ability, hearing aids can only augment to an appropriate volume, assisting users to hear about 60-70 content, with the remainder relying on lip reading and gestures During the pandemic, as everyone wears masks, masks also muffle sounds, but RelaJet's voice separation engine can correct and strengthen the separation, making it easier for those with hearing loss to recognize voices Besides the Taiwan market, RelaJet's next stage will be expanding into overseas markets, expecting to obtain ISO 13485 medical device quality management system certification and US medical device approval in 2022 They plan to enter the US market, either under their own brand or through OEM arrangements Apart from the Taiwan market, RelaJet will also enter the US market in the next phase for hearing aids「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date：2024-05-19」