Vivian Wang: Hello Audrey, Thanks for having me here. It’s a real honor to be here. I briefly met you a year ago at the "Ask Me Anything Event for the Taiwan UX Gathering in the SF Bay Area a year ago. Albert Wang was the organizer.

Audrey Tang: 對，那天有一場很大的年輕 designers 的聚會。

Vivian Wang: Yes, it was wonderful to see the level of engagement you had with the community there. Your speech inspired a lot of people. Is the Social Innovation Lab a product of your vision? It’s beautiful.

Audrey Tang: It’s a collective vision. 我們大概 100 多人一起設計的。

Vivian Wang: It’s amazing. I am encouraged by the recent growth of incubators and accelerators sprouting up throughout Asia, and especially in Taiwan. This place is different and it’s an outlier. An answer to those searching for something with deeper meaning, community, and impact. Holding a third space to foster the importance of civic participation. I am delighted and very fortunate to be here.

Audrey Tang: We can use all English if we prefer. [laughs]

Vivian Wang: Are you sure? OK. then I won’t get to practice my broken Chinese. [laugh]

Audrey Tang: [laughs] It’s just fine.

Vivian Wang: Here’s my old business card. I think this is my last card...

Vivian Wang: （對彭筱婷）你好，我有聽說...

Vivian Wang: She’s the stenographer?

Sheau-Tyng Peng: Oh no, no. Not me.

Vivian Wang: "Background" -- I was born and raised in the Silicon Valley, both my parents grew up in Taiwan. My dad was an electrical engineer and my mother studied library science in the US, returning to Taiwan in 1983. Both sets of grandparents came to Taiwan in the late 1940s, they worked in civil service, academia, and defense. I am a marketer by training and started my career in the late 1980’s as a product manager in computer imaging hardware and software. Since I was discouraged from pursuing a more creative endeavor in the arts, tech became my immediate calling,although to this day I prefer combining it with creativity and the arts. I started to work in scanning technologies during the transition from the mini-mainframe to PC era, studied quantitative economics and visual arts as an undergrad, and gradually found my way into brand management, business development, then venture capital early-stage investing primarily in broadband & wireless technologies, a bit of biotech and cleantech. I gravitate towards strategy as long as there’s an opportunity to integrate it with creativity with "best practices" so that it scales.

Vivian Wang: In 1988 I joined Microtek 全友電腦 founded by Taiwanese-American entrepreneurs in Los Angeles whom had left Xerox. We worked on the introduction of a newer breed of imaging peripherals and OCR technologies fit for digital creatives. The company listed on the Taiwan exchange that same year in Taiwan while North American sales were starting to build up. Microtek’s IPO was one of Taiwan’s first initial offerings. We were fairly good and scrappy. We had dedicated product managers and a brand marketing team, customer service, and engineering staff in CA that worked closely with corporate management, R&D, and manufacturing out of Hsinchu Science Park. There was confluence and lots of traveling back and forth. It was integrative. The staff was multicultural, professional, and savvy with the tech media garnering strong relationships with press which at the time were publishers of MacUser, PC Magazine, and Byte. We had over 150 employees in the US operation.

Vivian Wang: Although we were small, we were the "new kids on the block" with a fresh industry presence. Those were great times for Taiwan startups. We had a strong niche in the market. This cross-border footprint in the US was integrative, agile, and quite effective for international startups. We knew how to build narratives had a loyal following among Apple users.

Vivian Wang: I headed back for further at the Peter Drucker Management Center at Claremont Gradual School in 1991. Peter Drucker (the founder of modern management) was still vibrant and teaching which was surreal. My goal was to get as much exposure to practices outside of technology -- to grasp the fundamentals of how Madison Avenue liked to operate from the CPG (consumer packaged goods) point-of-view. That wasthe dominant thinking for market-driven organizations at the time. The tech industry was also on the brink of valuing human capital with marketing skills knowing that having technological expertise alone wasn’t going to be sustainable. By the time Acer mustered up a $20 USD million ad budget for North America, the battleground in personal computing was already consolidating by industry giants - Apple, Compaq, HP, IBM, Gateway, and Toshiba. Besides Apple, no one else stood out on an emotional level.

Vivian Wang: Drucker also taught us about the importance of management by objectives, and the role of strengthening organizations to strengthen society. As a young Jewish boy growing up in post-WWI Austria, he didn’t think he had much of a future there. So he left for America in 1945 as a young man after working as London, and got a job as a management consultant to Alfred Sloan, chairman of General Motors. Drucker was astute and made profound observations that had been lost in the sands of time. He encourages every business to get in the mud of its customer and clearly communicate your difference. His quote "The purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two - and only two - basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs." His lectures were fundamentally about the role of society, ethics and culture. Without it you really have nothing to lean on. Customer satisfaction, employee engagement and development, innovation, social responsibility and financial strength. He also believed that companies worked better decentralized. Those were Drucker’s key principles.

Vivian Wang: In 1992, I joined a company called Avery Dennison, a chemical company that rivaled 3M but was much smaller and was in the middle of minor restructuring. Avery had senior folks from consumer-driven organizations and management consulting firms like Nestle, Mattel, Pepsi, P&G, Booz Hamilton, and Boston Consulting. America was going through a recession and layoffs were happening. The goal was to transform their office products business units under competing brands into a new digitally savvy office products group. This was happening when the price of laser and ink jet printers ware still above $1000. Japan had the best technologies then. Color ink jet technology from Epson going to drop to $500 within a year. I instigated "design and expression" thinking into the product development cycle, while running a premium priced paper merchant business that was dwindling, beefed our vertical software capabilities, and added a water-based greener adhesive application that was less harmful to the environment. We later struck partnerships with AOL, American Greetings, Disney Interactive, HP, Epson, Mattel Interactive, Microsoft Home and Prodigy. The shift from corporate employment to self-employment was spawning a new breed of "home office" worker during the recession. The combined growth of those categories went from $10 million to $350 million in six years. Then the internet arrived.

Vivian Wang: What many folks don’t realize is the majority of the monetization of the Internet originated in Los Angeles but was perfected in Silicon Valley. A serial entrepreneur named Bill Gross founded an incubator in Pasadena called Idealab after he sold an educational CD-ROM software company Knowledge Adventure to Cendant. Idealab was all about the Internet. No one else had the fervor or determination to ratch it up within an incubator like him. Search was highly competitive, fragmented, and experimental. The cost per click (CPC) model was being developed through several companies within the portfolio. They incubated around 50+ companies beginning in 1996. Some came from the outside. There were startups there from online car buying, photo sharing, toys, cookware, bill paying, ticket selling, weddings, etc... I worked for one of their LPs at the time. There was no shortage of skills. The confluence of talent from Caltech, NASA JPL, Pasadena Art Center, UCLA, USC and media companies like Disney, and Vivendi brimmed with talent. We had a separate investment company in our portfolio called Global Crossing, which went public in August 1998.

Vivian Wang: Los Angeles was a hub of innovation during that era. It rivaled the SF Bay Area in terms of the number of new internet startups. Earthlink, eToys, CitySearch, Napster, Overture, Goto.com, Picasa, Tickets.com were all founded within a 20 mile radius from one another. Then roughly two years went by and the dot-com bubble popped in August 2000. Everything came to a standstill. The Internet had just gone through its very first hype cycle. Broadband adoption was still too low, companies overspent, and the music stopped. "Everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face, " as world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson would say.

Vivian Wang: "China Tech Happens" -- I started commuting between San Francisco, Los Angeles, Taipei and Shanghai. We did cross-border venture investing in the mobile telecom sector as Asia and China was opening its doors to foreign technology and a new breed of investors. Taiwan tech was also moving to science-based parks in its surrounding areas. Our parent company Hsinchu-based Microelectronics Technology Inc had a plant in Wuxi. We pursued wireless manufacturing,satellite television and telecommunications projects, while maintaining a $150 Million fund to augment broadband, telco grade WIFI, mobile, and early IoT initiatives.

Vivian Wang: We developed RFID pilots and applications to understand food traceability and cold-chain logistics paired with mesh networking and smart antenna capabilities for commercial indoor and out use, invested in stem cell blood tissue mapping and private banking, rudimentary brain interface computing devices and IP -- most of these companies were founded by overseas Chinese entrepreneurs from North America and Taiwan.

Vivian Wang: The Solar and wind energy equipment wave was entering China in 2007. The unit economics were attractive since nothing of this kind was built yet. Energy projects was parallel to that of telecom infrastructure. China was an early adapter of clean energy and markets we were willing to experiment.

Vivian Wang: "2006-2010: The US Cleantech Bubble" -- Are we Headed toward a Green Bubble? is the name of an article by Julie Bennet in Entrepreneur Magazine in 2010, which provided interesting facts and opinions regarding green technology markets. Bennet suggested that the Cleantech bubble deflated during the Sub-Prime Crisis in 2007, and the green market was in a pivotal time in 2010. Seduced by visions of making a fortune while saving the planet, venture capitalists invested a then-record $123 million in the first round of fundraising for 16 such companies in 2006. By 2008, they sank nearly $1billion in over 100 new clean-energy companies. It turned into a fad, and the bubble popped.

Vivian Wang: But when these investments began to shrink, few investors went back in. Since 2009, VCs barely funded 25 new cleantech companies a year, slowing investment to a trickle. From 2011 to 2016, US venture capital investment in cleantech declined from 650 deals a year to 450 deals a year and from 17% of total venture capital dollars to 7%.Few VCs went to back the start-ups, because the sector itself could not deliver the outsized returns found in other sectors could deliver (i.e. software and even medical technologies) Commercializing cleantech would require a more diverse set of actors and funding models. The once-hot sector turned into a graveyard.

Vivian Wang: Still, guided by such lessons learned from the US VC boom and bust cycle, new private and public funding sources may be able to better support revolutionary technologies with alternative forms of capital.

Vivian Wang: Looking at the nature of exits from the two sectors offers a clue. Medical technology start-ups were 50 per cent more likely than cleantech start-ups to return profits to investors through an early lucrative acquisition. But there is a dearth of large investors willing to buy cleantech start-ups, which therefore often end up as stranded companies — ones that have run up against the capital and time constraints of VCs in spite of their promising technologies. A new wave of public and private support will be required to reboot investment in cleantech Without a likely pathway to a profitable takeover and facing a long grind to win support for an IPO, the cleantech sector has outlived the patience of VCs unwilling to lock up capital for a decade or tolerate massive expenditures to scale up.

Vivian Wang: Venture Capital and Cleantech: The Wrong Model for Clean Energy Innovation, MIT Clean Energy Initiative Working Paper by Gaddy, Sivaram, O’Sullivan, July 2016) - http://energy.mit.edu/publication/venture-capital-cleantech

Vivian Wang: A new wave of public and private support will be required to reboot investment in cleantech with slower capital event horizons. Without a likely pathway to a profitable takeover and facing a long grind to win support for an IPO, the heavy lifting requires supportive public policies that could attract such capital from institutional investors such as pension funds and family offices. Government procurement could also be used to create market beachheads for advanced technologies. But a new wave of public and private support will be required to reboot investment in the sector for it to advance forward at all.

Vivian Wang: "2017 is the Right Time for Cleantech 2.0 to Shine Again" -- Radical cost reductions in IT—particularly in sensors, cloud computing, and data analytics—are unlocking completely new market opportunities for cleantech – markets we didn’t even imagine a few years ago. All of a sudden, anything can be connected. We can now measure and sense almost anything in real time.

Vivian Wang: Over the last 2 years in the US, nearly 40% of companies that raised an A round came through an incubator or accelerator program, most of which were programs with a local or regional focus. These organizations exist to help companies at the earliest stages develop their pitches, business plans, and strategy. As the companies grow, the incubators plug them into the network, connecting them with customers, investors, pilot and demonstration opportunities.

Vivian Wang: "California Governor Officially Commits to 100 Percent Clean Energy and Signs it into Law***"

Vivian Wang: The state of California, for example, is an important leader in climate action—including through a bill, now being finalized, that would shift the entire California grid to zero-emission sources of electricity. That’s great, but California represents only 1 percent of global emissions. What California does won’t matter unless others make similar efforts—soon.

Vivian Wang: The State of California Adopts Its Boldest Energy Target Yet: 100% Clean Electricity by 2045, Vox News, September 10, 2018

Vivian Wang: New law makes California the largest global economy to commit to 100 percent clean energy. Hawaii is the only other U.S. state to set a similar goal. A great deal of its appeal (though not all) can be traced to its flexibility. SB 100 actually sets three targets for California:

Vivian Wang: - 50 percent renewables by 2026

Vivian Wang: - 60 percent renewables by 2030

Vivian Wang: - 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2045

Vivian Wang: Note the difference between “renewables” and “carbon-free.”

Vivian Wang: "A New Wave of Cleantech is Coming to Asia" -- Global demand for cleantech in the Asia Pacific region already massive.

Vivian Wang: Contrary to common perception, cleantech is not a niche market – in fact, it has never been. According to data from the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, the total global annual market for low-carbon and environmental products and services is over $5 trillion. That’s massive, even bigger than the markets for industries like ICT or defense.

Vivian Wang: "Strengthening startups" -- By 2015, Asian Development Bank’s pilot Climate Technology Finance Center (CTFC) sought to advance the innovation, transfer, and commercialization of cleantech in developing Asian countries by supporting accelerator and incubator programs for high-potential cleantech entrepreneurs to help address the causes and impacts of climate change in the region.

Vivian Wang: "Cleantech startups can be key drivers of innovation and development" -- By 2020, the market for this new wave of “smart cleantech” for cities, grids, and manufacturing is projected to be in the trillions of dollars. And the future is even more exciting when you factor in potential trends like the “sharing economy” and financial technology. Imagine what is about to come in the next 10 years.

Vivian Wang: "Cleantech Taiwan Advances Forward" -- With the Tsai administration making a heavy commitment of resources to promoting seven sectors (5+2) of the economy as the key to transforming Taiwan’s industry since joining office in 2016. Taiwan Premier William Lai has vowed to stick to the goal of taking all the island’s nuclear reactors offline by 2025 while maintaining a stable energy supply. Could this be the moment that Taiwanese startups and industry come together to reduce carbon emissions while bringing more balance and growth in cleantech to proudly do their part?

Vivian Wang: The initial five “pillar industries” that the Tsai administration have are singing to a similar tune. Opportunities in the Internet of Things, Biomedical, Green Energy, Smart Machinery, and Defense. Later added were high-value agriculture and the circular economy. The government is counting on the program to spur innovation, create well-paid job opportunities. Green growth represents an opportunity to pursue both environmental and economic goals without abandoning one pursuit of one for the other.

Vivian Wang: "Taiwan’s 5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan" -- To help meet its goals, the administration has initiated a number of policies and programs in support of renewable energy, viewing it both as a clean energy source and a potentially valuable export industry. For investors the most compelling feature is business opportunity. It’s not often in a developed economy where the renewable market is still relatively young and offers opportunity.

Vivian Wang: - Internet of Things (Taiwan’s “Asia · Silicon Valley”)

Vivian Wang: - Smart Machinery

Vivian Wang: - Biotech and Medtech

Vivian Wang: - Defense Technology Upgrading

Vivian Wang: - Green Energy technology

Vivian Wang: -- Next Generation Agriculture - The Future of Food**

Vivian Wang: -- Circular Economy 2.0**

Vivian Wang: Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program

Vivian Wang: US$ 30 billion to implement in eight-years (2017-2025)

Vivian Wang: - Green Energy

Vivian Wang: - Railway Development

Vivian Wang: - Aquatic Environment

Vivian Wang: - Digital Infrastructure (Fintech, cybersecurity, broadband)

Vivian Wang: - Rural and Urban Development

Vivian Wang: European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan - Low Carbon Initiative (LCI)***

Vivian Wang: Based on Taiwan’s policy movement and the members’ core technologies and solutions

Vivian Wang: Six categories from 3 existing pillars

Vivian Wang: - Green Energy

Vivian Wang: - Green Mobility

Vivian Wang: - Green Financing

Vivian Wang: - Smart Cities

Vivian Wang: - Smart Manufacturing

Vivian Wang: - Circular Economy

Vivian Wang: "Taiwan’s Use of Soft Power" -- At a time when many parts of the world appear to be growing wary of China’s displays of “sharp power,” Taiwan has an opportunity to bolster its own “soft power” and, in the process, garner goodwill for its contributions to the international community, writes Ryan Hass. This piece originally appeared in the Taipei Times. Here are excerpts:

Vivian Wang: 1. Expand investment within the New Southbound Policy strategy. In the near-term, Taiwan’s engagement with Southeast Asia is making progress Over the longer-term, Taiwan should invest heavily in strengthening personal relationships with next-generation political and business leaders in ASEAN and South Asian countries. Done right, such efforts will cultivate enduring support for Taiwan’s role in—and contributions to—the region.

Vivian Wang: 2. Increase investment in the Global Cooperation Training Framework and the International Environmental Program. These flagship initiatives provide a platform for Taiwan to bring representatives from key countries in the region and beyond to the island. Through these efforts, Taiwan is able to play a leading role in addressing critical challenges, such as halting the spread of infectious diseases, scaling up renewable energy projects in developing countries, stopping human trafficking, and promoting women’s empowerment. These activities showcase Taiwan’s spirit of innovation, generate goodwill, and deepen its relevance in regional affairs.

Vivian Wang: 3. Raising public awareness of Chinese Communist Party tactics for influencing public discourse through propaganda, clandestine operations, and computer network exploitations is necessary. Taiwan is ground zero for China’s employment of “sharp power.” Transparency can be the best disinfectant against such efforts. It also can help forge consensus within Taiwan on the scale and scope of the challenge, making it easier to formulate responses that enjoy public support. However frustrating things might get in the future, Beijing must be made to understand that the military option simply isn’t an option. In pursuing this track, Taiwan may wish to draw lessons from Finland’s recently established Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, which is playing a similar role in a European context. https://www.hybridcoe.fi/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Helsinki-in-the-era-of-hybrid-threats-%E2%80%93-Hybrid-influencing-and-the-city_ENG.pdf

Vivian Wang: "Motivating a Community of Innovators and Social Entrepreneurs to Redefine Taiwan industries" -- Moving towards an innovation economy, the intersection of Culture + Creativity + Technology must be at the heart of it. Build from the nation’s innate talents and strengths in food, design, culture, empathy, diversity and resiliency.

Vivian Wang: Further leverage technology to support traditional development

Vivian Wang: - Cultivating new media and journalism

Vivian Wang: -- New domestic media: The News Lens (English), The Reporter (Chinese)

Vivian Wang: -- Spotlight key leaders in more diverse forms of Western media that engage with progressive GenX and GenY readers (Examples: NPR, VICE Media, TechinAsia)

Vivian Wang: -- Celebrate diversity in all its formats

Vivian Wang: - Create more conditions for Cross-border Collaborations that Advance Social Progress

Vivian Wang: -- Further seek out collaborative partnerships with those who aim to address the world’s toughest challenges through market-based solutions in areas where Taiwan already has core strengths and competencies

Vivian Wang: --- Social Capital Markets *** (integrate this venue with SDG events)

Vivian Wang: --- Closed Loop Fund

Vivian Wang: --- The Ocean Cleanup

Vivian Wang: --- Intentional Media

Vivian Wang: --- Sustainable Brands (needs more Circular Economy representation)

Vivian Wang: --- Stanford Social Innovation Review

Vivian Wang: --- Develop an integrated program or prize that invites the world to solve a global challenge (Example: Tang Prize in partnership with XPrize)

Vivian Wang: - Continue vital support efforts to bolster the Taiwan’s startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem

Vivian Wang: -- Taiwan Startup Stadium, Appworks, Taipei Tech Arena, FutureWard

Vivian Wang: -- SOS Ventures - World class vertical accelerator running six programs worldwide (MOX, IndieBio, FoodX, HAX, RebelBio Chinaccelerator) https://sosv.com - Have a presence now in Taiwan

Vivian Wang: -- Welcome more members of the international community (Spark Labs, TechStars, Singularity University, VentureCraft, Kafnu Taipei co-living and co-working Asia style)

Vivian Wang: -- Hosting more international events outside of traditional trade promotion (Slush, Rise, TechCrunch, Mobile World Congress)

Vivian Wang: - Further relationships with other global R&D innovation clusters around the world

Vivian Wang: -- Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, CERN Switzerland, Cork Ireland, Nordic Startups

Vivian Wang: -- Cultivate R&D talent with cross-cultural communications and human dialog

Vivian Wang: - Assistance for innovations coming out of universities and research institutions in getting funded and commercialized

Vivian Wang: -- Domestic and international

Vivian Wang: -- Focus on leading companies, institutions and brands

Vivian Wang: - Lovable Taiwan and Its Soft Power Quest*** - A perspective on the importance to showcasing culture and the arts with empowering language, expression and attitude. Interview with Dr. Pierre Tzu-pao Yang, Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Culture

Vivian Wang: "Stay Mindful of Global Developments"

Vivian Wang: Fighting climate change is a global multilateral effort, change is happening faster than those who can address it.

Vivian Wang: - The world order needs a robust United Nations now more than ever

Vivian Wang: - Trump is an aberration of the rise in populism that is spreading quickly around the world

Vivian Wang: -- Quality of democracy has fallen to its lowest level in 12 years

Vivian Wang: - Rise of Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent will be heavily shaped by AI

Vivian Wang: -- Social, mobile, and AI technologies are the new force multiplier

Vivian Wang: --- These tools are only as good as the people that use them

Vivian Wang: - Diplomacy and treaties matter - they are strategic and tactical means to sustain healthy democracies

Vivian Wang: - Freely elected governments bound by the rule of law have less power to exploit its citizens

Vivian Wang: - The Internet has no borders (pay attention to foreign meddling, cybersecurity, new incoming threats)

Vivian Wang: The effects of the 2014 Sunflower Movement will continue to reshape public policy in Asia going forward. Like Hong Kong, South Korea, and elsewhere, Taiwan has been jolted by massive protests spawning renewed citizen activism. The durability of this wave of activism suggests that it had deep societal roots and was not really about just a single trade. It underscored several interrelated social problems that paved the way for active youth participation and engagement.

Vivian Wang: "How Will We Prepare for the Era of Artificial Intelligence?" -- In Dr. Kai-fu Lee’s upcoming new book to be released in September 2018 AI Superpowers: The U.S., China and the New World Order he offers blunt advice on the rising challenges that America and others will face from China. It is especially profound for anyone interested in the impact that the coming AI revolution will have on their lives, their work, and intensifying US-China dynamics that will be all encompassing. We are not passive spectators in the future of AI—but will become the authors of it, but he feels that the US and China will co-define it. Book’s website: https://aisuperpowers.com.

Vivian Wang: Here are a few quotes that stood out:

Vivian Wang: "It’s in the mobile age that China came of age. China is roughly entitled to 50% of the world’s market capitalization of mobile companies. Chinese companies are expanding globally and in most cases, in areas where the U.S. has no control. For example, if you look at where will the future of mobile internet be – let’s not even go into AI, you will see that American companies have a very strong foothold in the U.S., English-speaking companies and Western Europe."

Vivian Wang: "Chinese companies are – slowly but successfully -- going into Southeast Asia and Islamic countries, and also probably Africa in due time. Unknown territories will be Eastern Europe and South America. (And) that is pretty much the world"

Vivian Wang: "There are those who think that the U.S. will define the future of AI. That’s also not the case, because China and the U.S. will co-define AI."

Vivian Wang: Kai-fu Lee is managing partner of Sinnovation Ventures - with $2B assets under management between six USD and RMB funds in total, and over 300 portfolio companies across the technology spectrum in China and the U.S. http://www.sinovationventures.com/

Vivian Wang: China’s One Belt Initiative - Opportunities abound, but concerns should not be ignored

Vivian Wang: When you look at how deals are playing out in Southeast Asia right now, countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines are becoming tough negotiators and business partners. Deals that quickly help them without the risk of giving China any control of their economy will work, while others will face a backlash, analysts claim.

Vivian Wang: The pushback against China’s “sharp power” tactics is most visible in Australia, where Canberra is developing new regulations to prevent outside actors from buying influence through political contributions. A similar story is playing out in New Zealand. There are mounting calls in the United States, including in the U.S. Congress, about the need for vigilance against Chinese efforts to influence America’s public discourse. Anxieties are also heightened across Europe—not just over attempts to fracture the European Union’s approach to China, but also over Chinese acquisitions of leading high-tech manufacturing firms.

Vivian Wang: Source: Voice of America News, September 05, 2018

Vivian Wang: According to recent polling by the Pew Research Center, many countries throughout the Asia-Pacific are coming to view China’s rise as threatening. Even its most stalwart supporters, such as Pakistan, have begun to express concern about the scale of China’s influence within their borders.

Vivian Wang: "The reason why the increased inflow of Chinese investment in Vietnam is noteworthy is that it is occurring in spite of the Vietnamese public’s unfavorable attitude toward Chinese economic influence and penetration,” said Fabrizio Bozzato, a Taiwan Strategy Research Association fellow specialized in East Asia. China is finding Vietnam to be a tough partner as Chinese firms try to do more business with its long-time political rival along its southern border.

Vivian Wang: "Vietnam’s legislature, faced with public protests, has put off until May 2019 a bill that would let Chinese and other foreign investors use special economic zones. The government in Hanoi also warns against taking out preferential loans from China for infrastructure development. It has cautioned as well against Chinese development aid."

Vivian Wang: Meanwhile, the fate of two hydropower projects in Nepal is unclear, while a rail link through Laos could end up costing half of its GDP. China should be more aware of the risks associated with its “Belt and Road Initiative” and how it affects local communities overseas, observers point out.

Vivian Wang: The leadership needs to end the current practice of striking in all directions. Focus its money and resources on projects that can make them sterling successes as examples for others to follow. Chinese leaders should direct more funding in areas that would improve the livelihood of people in belt and road countries to win more goodwill and improve transparency to ease international concerns.

Vivian Wang: Opportunities for Taiwan

Vivian Wang: 1) Foreign Direct Investment in AI - 2018

Vivian Wang: With U.S. technology companies now converging on Taiwan to build regional research and development centers, drawn by the island’s stagnant wages and government strategy of forging closer ties with the Washington. Industry leaders like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM, and Oath, the parent company of Yahoo, all announcing plans to build their R&D hubs on the island and to initiate large recruitment projects marks a "better is good" breakthrough.***

Vivian Wang: 2) Country’s 5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan - How can it attract more young people?

Vivian Wang: Policy-makers across East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) recognize that their manufacturing-based economies rely on vast amounts of reliable and affordable electricity. They are well aware of the environmental and economic limits for future growth that a “brown growth” model (based on the exploitation of cheap and plentiful fossil fuels) can deliver, especially given that all these countries are net importers (not producers) of fossil fuels. Indeed, from the perspective of high-level Korean officials in the former Presidential Committee on Green Growth (now the Prime Ministerial Committee on Green Growth), green growth represents an opportunity to pursue both environmental and economic goals without necessitating a trade-off in the pursuit of one for the other. By investing in and exporting renewable energy technologies, East Asian countries are attempting to secure their energy security (in a world of declining sources of fossil fuels) and techno-economic competitiveness, in addition to environmental protection.

Vivian Wang: Why is East Asia joining the race now (as opposed to decades earlier like Germany and Denmark)? More perplexingly, what would drive these countries, which were (and still are) dependent on cheap and plentiful fossil fuels, to become such strong advocates of clean energy technologies? Aside from the Paris Agreement, state-run power monopolies and the move away from nuclear power, Green Growth represents an extension of the long-held tradition of “developmentalism,” or developmental environmentalism. In spite of Trump, the world community needs to rally behind solving climate change "episodic multilateral" fashion with existential fervor and urgency.

Vivian Wang: 3) Keep an Eye on California - The world’s 6th largest economy signs into law 100% renewable by 2045, September 2018. For decades attempts to forge global cooperation have stalled, in part, because they relied on global summits where all nations were expected to agree. That never happened in any meaningful way. What needs to be done better is to spread the word—about what works and fails—share it in ways that make it easier for others to pick up the lessons from these living laboratories. This new approach, which relies on leaders mainly within nations, is much more decentralized and flexible.

Vivian Wang: We should look out for companies in CA and elsewhere with the intent for market expansion and collaboration in Asia. Actively invent, participate and don’t do things alone***

Vivian Wang: The fact Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Oath and Apple invested in Taiwan in 2018 for R&D centers and AI tells us that our engineers are valued and have distinct career opportunities to stay in Taiwan. This is an achievement that we can all be proud of.

Audrey Tang: NVIDIA too.

Vivian Wang: Ahhh that’s right. Good reminder.

Vivian Wang: How can we ensure that the momentum continues? The low-cost hardware manufacturing and engineering narrative is not a way to sustain an economy when other countries can undercut on price. We have tremendous, broad-spectrum engineering talent as a country that is once again reinventing itself. We also need to focus on intellectual property and innovations that are less capital-intensive.

Audrey Tang: That’s right.

Vivian Wang: Taiwan has much potential and I feel as if we have an obligation to invest and identify the key areas of progress to reinforce that message, otherwise society won’t see it. I believe we have a clear, long-term vision and methodical multi-pronged approach to achieve it. Taiwan also has a tremendous sense of humor infused in so many areas, a sophisticated sense of design, love of color, and graphics, a motivated workforce with the technical skillsets to both invent and execute. Plus one of the most lively food cultures in the world.

Vivian Wang: Audrey, I heard from the folks at New Harvest (a US food technology think tank) that you are also interested in latest trends shaping the Future of Food (i.e. cultured meats).

Audrey Tang: Yes.

Vivian Wang: Speaking of food... (handing out Future of Food Asia slides)

Romona Guan: I got one.

Vivian Wang: You got one?

Romona Guan: I got one.

Vivian Wang: Southeast Asia has a tremendous amount of startup momentum, accelerators, and access to traditional developmental banking capital that will soon be blended into alternative forms of impact investing and venture capital. They are also keen on looking at global challenges from a multilateral approach with agtech and foodtech playing a large part in the region. I recently came across a boutique advisory firm in Singapore called ID Capital, which is raising a $30 million fund to focus on this sector. They are not just creating an investment vehicle but will create a "Future of Food in Asia" platform where companies from all over can innovate on this theme. It’s their main thesis.

Vivian Wang: As we know, Asia will have one of the fastest rising middle-class populations on the planet, while obesity and starvation persists in different regions. Asia also has the least amount of arable land available on the planet, so food safety & resiliency is going to be a huge challenge. FFA will organize an annual event and startup competition each year with cash prizes for startups supported by a panel of food industry experts, investors, scientists and entrepreneurs. It would be good to join in as active program sponsors and participants if we have the desire to assume a regional part. They are essentially creating a movement that the US has already started which has spawned several new multi-billion dollar companies. Global participation will have greater impact and is welcomed. www.idcapital.com

Vivian Wang: The movement in North America has been happening for a few years. Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Taiwan’s UniPresident and Li Kai-shing have helped to catalyze it. https://www.digitaltrends.com/future-of-food/

Vivian Wang: Cross-Border Collaboration Opportunities: Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)

Vivian Wang: Arensis - Powerplant as a service. The company is a creator of decentralized energy through waste streams. They combine solar, waste conversion, batteries, and other existing power technologies, from wind to diesel, to create a self-contained microgrid. The grid is managed entirely by Arensis using secure, cloud-based, proprietary software, and IoT. They believe that the sweet spot for Taiwan is power generation could be from agricultural waste. https://arensis.com/

Vivian Wang: Ampaire - Aims to provide the world with all-electric powered commercial engines that are quiet, environmentally conscious, and affordable to operate. Founding team consists of Caltech, Stanford, UPenn, USC, Northrop Grumann, Boeing, and SpaceX alumni. Los Angeles County is the #1 manufacturing hub in the United States, home to Tesla, SpaceX, NASA/JPL, and the design hub to 9 global automobile and 4 aerospace corporations. https://www.ampaire.com/

Vivian Wang: US cleantech companies including startups will need to internationalize rather quickly in Asia. I am looking for the right types of companies with a potentially strong Asia strategy. They often overlook Taiwan because the management teams are not exposed to what we have to offer. For me to get the visits and meetings here are often quite challenging. Lately, I’ve been waiting for them to visit other Asian countries first, before they eventually realize that Taiwan has the skillsets, expertise and now a clean energy market to make a compelling move. This is when it will start to get interesting.

Vivian Wang: The main point is to get ahead of the curve, so that we can prepare for the opportunities with a willing and capable ecosystem that is ready to participate. Plan for the not so distant future with strong narratives in mind.

Vivian Wang: Whether it’s building electric airplane engines that can be retrofitted onto small aircraft (i.e. Cessna), or modular power plants as a service, these technologies will need markets and regional partnerships to scale. Cleantech by and large is social innovation. From human health to planetary health and everything else in between. There are stories to tell

Audrey Tang: Sure. It’s clean energy. That’s one of the SDGs.

Audrey Tang: Any participatory project that meets one of the SDGs can use the help from social innovators.

Vivian Wang: Therefore, we should pursue these conversations to create opportunities, right?

Audrey Tang: Mm-hmm.

Vivian Wang: I look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guidepost. With new Circular Economy initiatives occurring in Taiwan, we need to pursue those goals. Cleantech also needs to be more fun and engaging to attract and recruit talent on an aspirational level. When Elon Musk tries to tackle an environmental challenge, people stop to listen and eventually come onboard.

Vivian Wang: I really admire what Arthur Huang, CEO of Miniwiz Taiwan has accomplished throughout the years. He is creating new IP and impact simultaneously. By partnering with recognized brands like Nike, Cliff Bar, and Jackie Chan Foundation, the impact starts to accelerate. He recently co-launched a new line of circular furniture called Pentatonic out of London and Berlin. It’s energetic and has a certain edginess to it. You can also start buying the products online: www.pentatonic.com

Vivian Wang: Plastic Whale from the Netherlands is an NGO has a line of well-designed circular office furniture using canal plastic waste. They call themselves the "World’s First Plastic Fishing Company" that captures a fun spirit as well. They even build their own fishing boats out of Amsterdam Canal Plastic. The main point is to turn the entire "circular act" of cleaning up the environment into something beautifully impactful that fully illustrates the circular philosophy with a branded approach. The key is to collaborate, collaborate, and collaborate. They are inclusive and want others to join in on the movement. We can do this by teaming up. "Lets start doing" https://plasticwhale.com

Vivian Wang: An overarching strategy is to make Circular Economy a household term. It has yet to take hold. The term itself is more European than American, circular in nature therefore mentally challenging to grasp. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation needs champions from all over the globe to help make it easier to understand. Help the Circular Economy movement find its tipping point.

Audrey Tang: That’s right.

Vivian Wang: Now we’re leading into a topic that hits close to home. The advent of bioplastics is to fend off petroleum-based plastics with a plant-based alternative. As much as we all dislike plastics its hard to avoid it. In addition, most humans can’t tell the difference between petroleum based plastic vs. bioplastic, but if there is a method to bypass the traditional recycling stream and guide it to its cleanest loop then that too becomes a disruptor.

Sheau-Tyng Peng: Sorry, would you like to speak in all English?

Vivian Wang: All English, OK. 我會不會講得太快？

Audrey Tang: It’s just fine. 我們可以分兩次處理逐字稿。

Vivian Wang: Bubble Tea Crisis: Will the Plastic Straw Ban Turn Tea Vendors Into Environmental Pioneers?

Vivian Wang: The move to eliminate straws -- which invariably end up in our waterways, choking wildlife and mixing with our food supply -- is happening more quickly than you might realize. In Taiwan, plastic straws will be gone by 2020. The island’s EPA rolled out an aggressive new plan to eradicate all plastic waste. The first step: straws. The plan is to ban them from most fast food establishments by 2019, before eliminating them completely the following year. The EU has pushed its members to eliminate disposable plastic products (including straws) by 2030. California is contemplating a statewide measure, and plastic straws are now outlawed in parts of Florida.

Vivian Wang: The big players in the bubble tea market already have huge presences internationally. ChaTime has over 1,000 stores worldwide and is publicly listed (via parent company La Kaffa) on the Taiwanese stock exchange with a market cap of $71.5 million; Quickly has more than 2,000 stores on four continents; Gong Cha has over 1,000 stores and adds well over one hundred each year; and CoCo Fresh is expanding into South Africa as well as Asia and North America.

Vivian Wang: At the same time, the popularity of boba is growing worldwide. According to Joe Garber at Datassential, a food-business consultancy that tracks menu trends, the term “boba” has grown more than 200% on menus over the last four years; “bubble” tea has jumped more than 150% in the same time. And when it comes to Taiwanese food as a whole, this cuisine has been broadly pegged as “one to watch” by the American media in recent years. In other words, whoever solves the straw problem stands to become an incredibly important part of the boba economy. It’s a topic that everyone’s passionate about right now.

Vivian Wang: Recent Articles:

Vivian Wang: - Trouble for Bubble Tea Shops as San Francisco Bans Plastic Straws

Vivian Wang: - The Plastic Straw Apocalypse Is Coming. What Will It Mean for Boba?

Vivian Wang: - The War On Plastic Straws Has Gone Mainstream, But What Comes Next?

Vivian Wang: - America is a Coffee Country -- Does Bubble Tea Stand a Chance?

Vivian Wang: REALISTIC SOLUTIONS:

Vivian Wang: 1) Loliware

Vivian Wang: - Most promising new player***

Vivian Wang: ”Hyper-compostable, marine-degradable straw aimed at replacing plastic straws and edible cups.

Vivian Wang: New York-based bioplastics started founded by two female industrial designers from Parsons School of Design New York aims to replace plastic with hyper-compostable, edible materials derived from seaweed. Duo met a design competition and claims their product is a 100% plastic-free, gluten-free, gelatin-free, BPA-free, non-GMO, all natural, non-toxic, FDA-approved seaweed-based product. Founded in 2015, company launched a successful Indiegogo campaign in January for “the world’s first edible, hyper-compostable straw aimed at replacing plastic straws. Taiwan, EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan has recently recommended Loliware in outlining the island’s plans to go plastic-free. Loliware’s founders are setting a goal to replace 1 billion plastic straws, cups, and lids by 2020, the same year that Taiwan has pledged that the plastic straw will be eliminated.

Vivian Wang: 2) Starbucks and McDonalds Lead NextGen Consortium***

Vivian Wang: A groundbreaking effort led by Starbucks and McDonald’s committed to solving the single-use plastic cup challenge. There is a new competition available for eager entrepreneurs to get their hands on which is supported by Starbucks and McDonald’s. The NextGen Cup Consortium and Challenge seeks a new idea on entirely compostable cups for the two companies.

Vivian Wang: The immersion of this challenge comes months after both companies have pledged to eliminate plastic use in their chains. In 2019, McDonald’s is testing out the elimination of straws in their overseas stores while Starbucks is replacing straws with different lids and a paper alternative.

Vivian Wang: Starting in March 2018, Starbucks is committing $10M in partnership with Closed Loop Partners and its Center for the Circular Economy to establish a groundbreaking consortium to launch the NextGen Cup Challenge. This is the first step in the development of a global end-to-end solution that would allow cups around the world to be diverted from landfills and composted or given a second life as another cup, napkin or even a chair – anything that can use recycled material.

Vivian Wang: Through an innovation challenge and Accelerator Program, we aim to:

Vivian Wang: - Identify and commercialize existing and future recovery solutions for environmentally friendly single-use hot and cold paper cups

Vivian Wang: - Ensure single-use cups are recaptured with the highest material value through recycling and/or composting

Vivian Wang: - Minimize raw material use

Vivian Wang: - Encourage reusability

Vivian Wang: - Closed Loop Fund website

Vivian Wang: - Full Details

Vivian Wang: "NextGen Cup Challenge and Accelerator" -- The NextGen Cup Challenge is open to innovators and solution providers with promising designs for 100% single-use cups. Awardees receive grant funding up to $1 million based on key milestones. Up to seven awardees enter a six-month accelerator program to help scale their solutions.

Vivian Wang: "Value Chain Engagement" -- The Consortium works across the value chain – with municipalities, material recovery facilities, pulpers and paper cup manufacturers – to ensure we provide viable market solutions that get through the supply chain and bring value to the recovery system.

Vivian Wang: The Challenge launches in September 2018.

Vivian Wang: Accelerator: http://www.closedlooppartners.com/the-center/accelorator

Vivian Wang: 3) Smart Bins: Make Plastic Recycling Intelligent and Ubiquitous

Vivian Wang: TOMRA www.tomra.com ***

Vivian Wang: "Reverse Vending Machines" for Collecting Drink Containers for Recycling. The "cleanest loop"

Vivian Wang: Norway based 40-year company is world leader in the field of reverse vending, material recovery, industrial grade food sorting technologies, with over 82,000 installations across more than 60 markets. From expert advice for reverse vending providers to engaging recycling experiences for end users, you can rely on TOMRA for the best reverse vending machines for collecting aluminium cans and glass and plastic bottles for recycling.

Vivian Wang: Users get an instant reward when returning used containers to reverse vending machines, motivating repeated use and further raising collection rates. As reverse vending machines are often an integrated part of consumers’ routines, everyday recycling is made convenient, efficient and profitable for all stakeholders. Deposit and redemption rates around the world are generally pegged to Container Redemption Laws defined by government policies started in the 1970s when used to address aluminium cans and glass containers.

Vivian Wang: How do Container Deposit Schemes Work: Explainer video provided by ReLoop Foundation EU, demonstrations, use cases

Vivian Wang: CAMBRIDGE ASSOCIATES - AI Smart Bin ***

Vivian Wang: A Smart Recycling Bin Could Sort Your Waste for You

Vivian Wang: A new “smart” recycling bin aims to help relieve any confusion. The bin uses computer vision and machine learning — an algorithm that can “learn” to recognize images much the way the human brain does—to identify the material held in front of its cameras, and then tells the consumer exactly where to place the container.

Vivian Wang: “Brands are wanting to go in this direction to create positive PR for themselves as responsibility for the end of the product life cycle,” Wimalaratne says. In addition to being in chain cafes like Starbucks, the Cambridge Consultants team envisions bins in public spaces like parks, airports and malls, sponsored by various corporations—Coke or McDonald’s, say, or the mall or airport itself. (Read more)

Vivian Wang: Broader Points - How to Solve the Plastic Crisis***

Vivian Wang: Study Reveals Eight countries responsible for most ocean plastic. They need help.

Vivian Wang: Takeaway: Improve regular trash collection at the source. A recent study by the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment found that boosting trash collection rates to 80 percent in just five Asian countries — China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam — could reduce ocean plastic waste by a whopping 23 percent over a decade. No other solution can promise such an immediate or lasting impact.

Vivian Wang: Garbage collection and disposal is often the most expensive line-item on city budgets in the developing world, and achieving the study’s goal would require $4 billion to $5 billion per year. But that’s not impossible: In the U.K., aid organizations are pushing the government to spend 3 percent of its annual foreign aid on waste collection and disposal in the developing world (currently, it spends 0.3 percent). If that goal were adopted by other rich countries, it could be a game-changer for ocean plastics.

Vivian Wang: The private sector could also help. An American advocacy group called Closed Loop Ocean is raising $150 million from global corporations — including 3M Co., Coca-Cola Co., and Procter & Gamble Co. — to invest in scalable waste collection and disposal businesses in India and Indonesia. (Article)

Vivian Wang: Boba Tea and Global Plastic Problem: A Crisis in National Identity

Vivian Wang: Given that Taiwan is known as the originator of Bubble Tea, the plastic straw ban is the tip of the iceberg. Without a good solution, worldwide sales of bubble tea which is growing can become an instant liability. The plastics problem not only tarnishes the nation’s identity with this iconic beverage that took decades to build, it can potentially destroy the business and Taiwan’s reputation by equating its people to chronic pollution.

Vivian Wang: Since bioplastics are still a plastic, city legislators in California have every rational justification to ban bioplastics. Suppliers should be doing everything they can to make them "hyper-compostable". Revolutionary solutions also need to come from the collection and reuse side of the equation. If mankind can engineer ways to reuse aerospace rockets, then they can certainly find ways to make bioplastics hyper-compostable. It is definitely a big enough problem that everyone can identify with and feel passionate about to want to solve.

Vivian Wang: End game: Close the Loop or Die

Audrey Tang: It certainly got lot more momentum after this general awareness that the stores are going away or being replaced by something else.

Vivian Wang: It’s great to see Taiwan push an aggressive agenda on this.

Audrey Tang: We even got 16 years old and they are going their civil society participation class in senior high raise an e-petition with thousands of people participating about accelerating the schedule of banning petroleum plastic.

Vivian Wang: Wow. Is civil society participation commonly taught in high schools? That’s impressive.

Audrey Tang: Yes. For things like that, so there’s a really grassroots. It doesn’t really meet agenda setting. It’s on everybody’s agenda.

Vivian Wang: Maybe what we we need to do is just make it more fun.

Audrey Tang: Gamify it.

Vivian Wang: Yes. Some of the smart bins are in fact gamifying trash. The redemption prize is cash or a store coupon and can be iPhone and Android compatible. The bins themselves can also be sponsored by another entity. (See TOMRA and Cambridge Associates)

Audrey Tang: In Taiwan for the class, recycling, which is one of the least profitable part of recycling. We also got 春池, which was lot of artsy participatory stuff on it. We chose to make it part of fashion even. There’s quite a few contributors in Taiwan, 大愛感恩 to name the two major ones who can actually help make this happen.

Audrey Tang: There’s also a startup that came here in the office hour just not even two months ago to talk about their technology of turning sea plastic waste back to fuel, to something that they can burn again. They’re now working on a bartering scheme with the local fishers’ union so that they can go fishing and fish some fish but also fish plastic. Instead of dropping that away, they just trade it to fuel on the port. There’s no money changing hands. It’s essentially bartering.

Vivian Wang: Turning ocean plastic to fuel is effective reuse. I think it’s important to do it, yet not everyone wishes to be a part of it. Similar to asking a vegan if they would rather to eat meat or nothing. Bartering plastic for food is a healthy way to trade. Yes, that inspires creative thinking about the notion of value.

Audrey Tang: Paying for those others to fish the plastic back to land. That’s pretty creative as well.

Vivian Wang: It can go beyond plastic. (laugh)

Audrey Tang: That’s exactly right, yeah. Their main value proposition is to work somewhere that’s tourist based and has a lot of plastic sea waste so that people would initially just spend lots of time cleaning the beach.

Audrey Tang: That’s not very sustainable because it sometimes just a one time event and two months afterwards, the beach is still polluted. They have an active fishing union. That’s going on everyday so maybe.

Vivian Wang: I see. That’s more resilient thinking. The best way to change polluter behavior is to make smart bins ubquitous. The tyranny of convenience can go both ways.

Audrey Tang: Yeah, it is.

Vivian Wang: Canal fishing is in shallow waters, but ocean fishing is a whole other ballgame.

Audrey Tang: Ocean fishing is something else entirely.

Vivian Wang: There is an organization called Plastic Bank. Are you familiar with them?

Audrey Tang: No.

Vivian Wang: David Katz started a non-profit called Plastic Bank in 2013 in Vancouver. He has as an excellent TED talk. Their goal is to create social and environmental impact in areas with high levels of poverty and plastic pollution by turning plastic waste into a currency. There is a direct correlation plastic pollution and extreme poverty in the world where recycling infrastructure does not exist like places in Haiti and recently the Philippines. So they created a system to compensate the collectors for their efforts as quickly as possiblewith mobile technology. With the currency, collectors could use it to immediately to pay for goods that are essential to life water, books, school tuition, electricity, a stove, mobile phone chargers, maybe even a bus pass. Anything that the extreme poor would need and cannot afford could be sold. The idea was to also make the goods conveniently accessible. The term Social Plastic® refers to plastic that has been verified by Plastic Bank where collectors receive an above-market price for the value of the waste. https://www.plasticbank.org/what-we-do/#.W5jcRpNKjR0

Romona Guan: It’s called Plastic Bank.

Vivian Wang: Yes, David Katz, founder of of Plastic Bank.

Audrey Tang: I was just going through the material. Very interesting.

Romona Guan: This one, right?

Vivian Wang: Yes. Plastic Bank also forms partnerships with retailers and brands like Marks & Spencer and Henkel to design premium new products feature Social Plastic® in the packaging of beauty brand Schwarzkopf and Henkel Laundry & Home Care business unit line. Henkel markets and sells the products together with a strong campaign. A portion of its sales revenue goes back to the plastic collectors in Haiti. The value of Social Plastic® goes beyond the commodity price of plastic: a "ladder of opportunity" is created for the world’s poor by providing access to income, goods and services and plastic is kept out of the ocean. This is Circular Economy at its best. The idea is accelerate the act of recycling. Going plastic neutral if you will. Companies and individuals can also buy Social Plastic® credits as a way offset their own plastic footprint. #GoPlasticNeutral

Vivian Wang: Keep in mind that Henkel is a 141-year-old German company which aims to triple the value it creates in relation to its environmental footprint by 2030, and is frequently recognized as a sustainability leader within its sector by independent sustainability ratings and rankings.

Vivian Wang: On a separate note, US-based Method Soap created their own program with recycler Envision Plastics to convert ocean plastics back to a high grade hand soap packaging. A percentage of the sales would also go back to the back community of collectors. Beach to Bottle. Such ideas can be limitless but should be grounded on solid principles. https://methodhome.com/beyond-the-bottle/ocean-plastic

Vivian Wang: Twenty years of innovative recycling and re-manufacturing in Taiwan has spawned cutting-edge industries that the island can be very proud of. Romona, your friend Gordon Yu of EVP’s idea to repurpose coffee waste with a polymer back to diesel and carbon is interesting and a different approach.

Vivian Wang: There are others in the ecosystem starting companies nearby. Jason Chou of GoodTop Technologies in Taoyuan wants to turn "end of life’ plastics and clothing into lumber and furniture. His aesthetics are clean and crisp. After manufacturing electronics and mobile phone accessories for over two decades in China, he came back to Taoyuan where he grew up to build a factory lab. This is another reason why the people of Taiwan are so resilient and enterprising. It truly is inspiring.

Audrey Tang: Yes, I know of this synthetic lumber.

Vivian Wang: When you see people like Jason Chou tinkering away for the past three years, you can’t not help. He is the spark plug that drives the new economy. It would be good to organize a community of veteran talent from everywhere including Pasadena Art Center College of Design and figure out methods to do cross-border collaboration individuals like him.

Vivian Wang: We’ll come up with a list of products. Develop programs and integrate them in ways to achieve multiple objectives without giving away while respecting intellectual property rights. Find ways to establish a certification methodology as well that meets both Circular Economy and architectural requirements.

Vivian Wang: This is how one can grow new industrial base right here, with a stringent process that could be world-class maybe in a few years. These are some of the initiatives I’d am in the process of exploring and want to work on. It’s important to find cohorts, but I think this is the right place and time.

Audrey Tang: Certainly. Every year around May, we host this Social Enterprise Summit here. This year is in Taichung. Next year, it will be again in South Taiwan in which a lot of like the bottling company that I just talking about, they call it the EVP.

Vivian Wang: Oh yeah, Gordon. That sounds very synergistic and therefore exciting.

Audrey Tang: Gordon’s company. They’re also developing a lot of connections with the social enterprises here to serve as possible, because there’s no sorting required. The pipeline is much simplified so that individual endpoints can act as terminals without a labor-intensive sorting process essentially.

Vivian Wang: This is disruptive. They have a process and pilot plant.

Romona Guan: 我覺得很多的 social enterprise 會面臨到一個狀態，就是英文如果不夠好，會出不去，我覺得滿可惜的。

Romona Guan: 那 Vivian 的強項就是在 marketing，還有國際連結這一塊。我就在想說，我們可以怎樣和 Vivian 合作，整合這樣的東西，讓台灣被看見。

Romona Guan: 像 Gordon 他其實已經很厲害了，但是他不是 marketing 的人。所以我覺得怎麼去做這個，要不然台灣好多很厲害的技術，但是出不去，nobody knows，我就會覺得這樣有一點浪費。

Romona Guan: 所以今天特別就是，想看看有沒有什麼建議可以給我們這些做社群的，或是有什麼方式讓這個合作，或是整合，可以發生。

Audrey Tang: I think here in the Social Innovation Lab, we’re committed with a four-year plan starting next year, about 8.8 billion NT dollars from across 12 ministries that are totally dedicated to furthering the SDGs through examples of social innovators.

Audrey Tang: We’re not looking for everybody becoming a social enterprise overnight, but rather just, exactly as you said, creating narratives that makes it alluring to be plastic neutral or whatever new term you have to invent.

Vivian Wang: Yes. It takes a lifetime of learning. Seeking best practices to accelerate the agenda is time well spent.

Audrey Tang: Exactly, to accelerate the agenda. The annual summit is just one of it. Next month, I’m getting to Edinburgh for the Social Enterprise World Forum. We’re bringing with us I think the Taiwanese delegate is maybe, I don’t know, 20, 30 people with five speakers and so on.

Audrey Tang: We’re basically saying, "If we just keep having English-based forums here and bringing people abroad, they’re forced to come up with a English narrative anyway [laughs] just by being showcased all the time." Enabling social impact is also the main theme of the GEC+ Taipei, which is the premium US-based GEN network of startups. The Global Entrepreneurs Network, again, is in Taipei.

Audrey Tang: Basically, anything that’s previously only technology centered -- it could be INNOVEX, it could be GEC, it could be something -- we’re now repurposing it to talk about social impact so that the cleaner or circular inventors could be brought on stage while, of course, they also have another side of being digital and having AI or whatever gamification technologies.

Audrey Tang: Case in point was the APEC Digital Innovation Forum that just happened. The Taiwan showcases, I think one of them was Gogoro. Gogoro presented itself in a green energy and a very sustainability-focused pitch. Of course, there’s also the Pagamo, the education startup from Benson...

Vivian Wang: Ahhh Horace and Benson. Yes, this gives both of them a broader base to be seen and heard. It too reinforces the updated themes. it’s important that they crossover to venues featuring these themes. Will the summit presentations be archived online for those to watch remotely? Social Capital Markets is the largest US conference of this sort will be held in October. It too is global. https://socialcapitalmarkets.net/

Audrey Tang: ...where he presents having calculus as an e-sport. Basically, all of this was just getting new narratives out there and to change the narrative from just competing on one percent of the efficiency or two percent of efficiency into something that’s creating, as you said, new product designs or entirely new product or service categories. That has been the main narrative of the social innovation plan.

Audrey Tang: I don’t have any recommendation per se. I’m always here, particularly on Wednesday. If there’s anything that you would like help to get the word out, to have some activities to connect to other people, or if you run into any regulatory issues that prevents one of your cohorts from advancing, then I’m always here to get the right people from the right ministries so that we don’t block your way.

Vivian Wang: Thank you Audrey. That is good to know.

Vivian Wang: Calculus as an e-sport (laugh)... if that’s what it takes. Good for him!

Audrey Tang: That’s the main commitment.

Vivian Wang: Excellent. I spoke to former Minister without Portfolio Jaclyn Tsai a few days ago. She warned me that bureacracy might slow things down. How have you found that to be the case?

Audrey Tang: Yeah, I’m also taking...

Vivian Wang: Yours is much different. Sounds like an evolutionary approach.

Audrey Tang: ...some of Professor Feng Yen’s job also. There was another minister with a portfolio who created this social enterprise action plan for four years also and who had a different portfolio and indeed a different angle compared to Jaclyn’s. I’m inheriting both of their work now.

Audrey Tang: Jaclyn, I think was very helpful when she knew that I was also going to carry on Feng Yen’s work. She said, "Don’t just focus on the CSR part because, CSR, there’s a limited quantity. If you focus too much on the message there, then it actually harms the sector because the sector would not grow. But if you come up with new narrative, then people will talk to you from the business development perspective.

Audrey Tang: "Because they want to also move upward in the value chain by collaborating with these new social enterprises. Just don’t play this we’re HRT-ish business card and instead saying, ’We’re going to lift your value proposition and things towards something that’s meaningful and that is meaningful to a lot more people and lot of more government.’" I think she’s also being very helpful.

Vivian Wang: That’s an impressive scope of dual responsibilities, but it does overlap. Agreed, the role of CSR is also mainstreaming and needs to finally break out of its box. In fact, the primary role of any 21st century organization ought to rest upon a code of ethics and core values.

Vivian Wang: My colleagues and I are aiming to build a new funding mechanism based on this kind of philosophy. The CAGIX (California Global Innovation Exchange) platform helps cleantech startups and social enterprises gain access and attention to investors, strategic partners and alternative forms of capital that might otherwise see the opportunities as irrelevant.

Vivian Wang: CAGIX was developed in 2016 and has helped raise over USD $60 million for cleantech startups through a vetted process along with incubation. The founder later that the APAC region sees greater value in it because the Asian capital markets are less mature. The Fintech folks in Singapore and Hong Kong see it as an on-boarding platform to get companies investor ready for a listings onto the Singapore Catalyst and HK GEMS exchange. I think it can have even more robust value if you find the right individuals and organizations involved.

Audrey Tang: That’s right.

Vivian Wang: Finding ways to achieve middle-market financing is attractive since it gives the startups enough runway capital to focus on their operational needs to grow. Without it they’re left with only traditional debt instruments, donations and grants. This enables the blending of public and private capital to work together by collapsing the timeline and process that would normally take a lot more time.

Audrey Tang: That’s exactly right, yeah.

Vivian Wang: Lately, I’ve also seen second generation Asian-American startups in North America appear to be having difficulty navigating their way through the process when they explore new markets into Asia. For startups with advanced software technologies like EDGE computing for distributed datacenter computing, few investors in Asia are willing to take the lead due to lack of stringest heavy data B2B expertise. An efficient software platform might be able to solve the problem by widening the aperture a bit by exposing it to a wider group of strategic customers and funding sources as the region evolves.

Audrey Tang: That’s right.

Vivian Wang: The Chinese investors have the appetite to fund these the deals, but they’re an exception. The North American venture community is also starting to grow wary. CFIUS rules are getting more stringent than ever. The impending US-China trade war is creating uncertainty in the early-stage financing and creating new roadblocks to worry about.

Audrey Tang: Literally a red flag.

Vivian Wang: In a recent conversation with an economist at the Asian Development Bank, which is headquartered in Manilla. This is the Japanese development bank that has been there since the 1970s. His group is trying to make economic developmental funds more widely available by adopting "venture capital" characteristics as opposed to traditional debt financing throughout Southeast Asia.

Vivian Wang: In a world where foodtech is predominately defined by online delivery, the Singapore-based boutique investment and consulting company called ID Capital that is helping startups build sustainable food solutions. The founder, Isabelle Decitre, came from the wines and spirits business at LVMH. She was the CMO of Henessey and now plans to focus on the Future of Food in the APAC region.

Vivian Wang: While Singapore has the capital, few other countries in Asia have access to it advanced regional agricultural science in Southeast Asia. Taiwan has an enormous amount of creativity, research, and entrepreneurship in the food category that should be opened wider.

Romona Guan: 150 companies to be more exact.

Vivian Wang: ...150 applications, from 19 countries. Taiwan had a team. Their company offers a TCM solution, Traditional Chinese Medicine to raising and feeding livestock.

Audrey Tang: I was just reading the portfolio on that.

Vivian Wang: To cultivate more interaction on going forward. These are the types of opportunities that we can be participants as well. The macroeconomic trends are there. Perhaps we can huddle more on identifying interested parties as resources?

Audrey Tang: Of course. I’m here every Wednesday, from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

Vivian Wang: Great. That’s encouraging. CAGIX has a distributed energy power plant as a service company from Germany by way of California. They have a role to play in developing waste to energy power for industrialized and developing countries. They enable one to use agricultural waste as feedstock for conversion into power and serve as a complementry energy source to solar and wind energy.

Audrey Tang: Sure. They may not need Taipower, because if it’s clean energy, we already relaxed the bill now. One can produce within the community even as a co-op or as whatever arrangement you want to make it, and the Tai Power is contracted for renting the lines, essentially. That’s one of the possible to run it without bureaucracy.

Vivian Wang: That is great to hear. Last I heard Tokyo Electric is using about a dozen units to supplement their nuclear plants through a 20-year power purchase plan. Indonesia, Puerto Rico and the Philippines have a different needs and scenarios.

Audrey Tang: That’s right.

Vivian Wang: One founder had a vision for it in developing countries, like sub-Saharan Africa. The other founder’s vision was for industrialized nations looking for cleaner solutions that they could generate on their own, like a factory or farm. Taiwan could be a perfect candidate to test and showcase.

Vivian Wang: The founder, Julien Uhlig, came up with the idea through travels in Africa when he noticed that there were people living with more cell phones than there was power in their own homes.

Audrey Tang: Kinmen, also. I was just in Kinmen yesterday.

Romona Guan: How was it?

Audrey Tang: They produce tons of 酒糟, the natural byproduct of making the Kinmen Kaoliang wine. They’re only now using maybe 20 percent of the waste. If we can get some electricity out of it, it would be very nice. [laughs]

Romona Guan: That would be cool.

Vivian Wang: That would be very cool.

Audrey Tang: At the moment, they’re only recycling some part of it. There’s some bakery-related outputs, but there’s only so much bread you can produce for the small island, [laughs] so they’re also actively partnering with the Kinmen University on finding new creative uses of spent grains.

Audrey Tang: Electricity may be an interesting idea.

Vivian Wang: I think so. The main idea is to get each region to find uses their surplus waste.

Audrey Tang: That’s right.

Vivian Wang: They research different types of waste from all over the world to benchmark the output. The Kinmen story itself is symbolic and wonderful.

Romona Guan: You’ve never been there, right?

Vivian Wang: 我從來沒有去過金門。Only seen it portrayed on TV or in film.

Audrey Tang: Their main power generation at the moment is just burning oil, fuel, gas and stuff. It’s subsidized, but it creates externalities. They want to brand themselves as a pollution-free island. Some technology along that lines, is very helpful in not just reusing in the circular economy kind of way, but also improve their brand as a pollution-free place.

Vivian Wang: They already have the legendary brand of wine that we associate with the territory.

Audrey Tang: That’s right, Kinmen Kaoliang is literally a premier AgTech product. [laughs]

Vivian Wang: That’s a good story.

Audrey Tang: Do I get to keep this?

Vivian Wang: You get to keep it. Yes, please.

Audrey Tang: Do you have an electronic version?

Vivian Wang: I do...

Audrey Tang: Are they public?

Vivian Wang: Feel free to take these. These two are not public. This one is public. This one I like also because this is some interviews from the New Zealand and Australian VC perspective on AgTech.

Audrey Tang: Just send me that part that could be published, and we’ll publish it along with the transcript.

Vivian Wang: OK, cool.

Audrey Tang: Thank you.

Romona Guan: Yes!

Vivian Wang: Excellent. Thank you, Audrey.

Audrey Tang: Let’s keep in touch.

Vivian Wang: Thank you and for your service.