Taiwan launches global call on health tech with trade partners

The Go Healthy with Taiwan campaign also aims to attract health and sports proposals.

Taiwan kicked off its 2025 "Go Healthy with Taiwan" global call for proposals on 3 June which aims to attract global health and sports tech pitches to partner with Taiwanese manufacturers and a chance at a $30,000 prize.

Industry groups representing bicycles, sporting goods, and medical equipment are backing the campaign. 

The campaign, led by the Bureau of Foreign Trade and organised by the Taiwan Trade Centre (TAITRA), was launched at the Taiwan Museum's South Gate Park in Taipei.

Up to three winning proposals will each receive a $30,000 prize and the chance to collaborate with Taiwanese enterprises. Finalists will be invited to Taiwan for the competition and related events, with travel and accommodation covered.

The event launch was welcomed with speeches by Joe Chou, Executive Vice President of TAITRA, and Susan Hu, Deputy Director General of the Taiwan International Trade Administration. The event also featured Taiwanese baseball player Lin An-Kuo and highlighted the country's push to strengthen its position in smart healthcare and wellness technologies.

Leading up to the event launch was a media tour, which also spotlighted Taiwanese companies and institutions active in smart healthcare, including Acer Medical, BenQ Medical Technology, Onyx Healthcare, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and the Taipei Wellness Clinic and Resort. 

These organisations demonstrated Taiwan’s capabilities in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostics, medical imaging, smart hospital systems, and wellness tourism.

Medical tourism sees increased demand
The global medical tourism sector is projected to reach a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.08% from 2025 to 2030, according to Grand View Research. 

Partly driving this growth, Kai Wang, manager of the Front Office & Leisure Development Department at Hotel Royal Beitou, said the company aims to attract both Taiwanese and international clients to its medical and relaxing health amenities. 

The hotel provides indoor and outdoor wellness activities, including fitness classes and rock climbing. It also features Moon Hot Springs with gender-separated hot springs and essential oil hydrotherapy pools.

Sanitas Health Group, through the Taipei Wellness Clinic and Resort, offers comprehensive health services, including MRI, CT scans, and endoscopy, with a 24-hour call centre, said James Chen, account supervisor at Sanitas Health Group. 

The hotel serves 26 guests daily, with a 20% return rate for health check-ups, according to Mark Chen, Deputy General Manager, Sanitas Health Group.

"That is because we have a limitation on the MRI and CT's capacity. So, usually a whole-body health check will take roughly 60 to 70 minutes per person," M. Chen said. "Roughly 10,000 a year,"

Better tech means better equipment
With Taiwan's medical device exports hitting over $5bn in 2023, Alex SC Lin, COO of BenQ Dialysis Technology, sees this market expanding rapidly towards China, Southeast Asia (ASEAN Region), the Middle East (KSA and UAE), and Latin America.

"BenQ is the only company in Taiwan's medical industry that integrates optomechanics, electronics, medical materials, imaging, and software expertise to leverage its hospital clinical feedback for product innovation, in its ultrasound products and IQOR products," Lin added.

In retrospect, BenQ started from a joint venture and product distribution in the haemodialysis industry. 

For the past 10 years, it has been developing its own products in dialysers, dialysate concentrate and powder, hollow fibre and plastic components, central dialysis fluid delivery system equipment, and disinfection products to offer complete system solutions.

On the other hand, Allen Lien, Chairman and CEO of Acer Medical, Inc., said the company now stands on four pillars, all focused on AI. 

"The first is predictive AI, the second is generative AI, the third is AIoT, and the fourth is using AI for new drug development — including an mRNA vaccine for cancer immunotherapy," Lien said.

Acer’s technology has already been deployed in 470 healthcare facilities in Taiwan, including 80% of the country’s academic medical centres. 

But the impact reaches beyond borders. "We've deployed our AI to diplomatic allies like Belize, Laos, and the Marshall Islands," Lien noted. "Polynesian countries, for example, have a very high prevalence of diabetes but few ophthalmologists,"

Similarly, John Chuang, Founder and CEO of Onyx Healthcare, Inc., sees growth potential in Southeast Asia, where health ministries are supporting smart hospital initiatives. 

Whilst hardware is its main offering, the company frequently collaborates with software vendors and system integrators to ensure compatibility and ease of deployment.

"Our design process starts with the medical use case," said Chuang. "We're not adapting consumer PCs for hospitals — we build for medical applications from the beginning,"

Smart equipment needs smart hospitals
Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH), one of Taiwan’s largest veterans' hospitals in the market, is advancing its smart hospital initiatives by integrating AI, expanding international collaborations, and focusing on both hospital-based and home-based care, according to Wui-Chiang Lee, Vice Superintendent at TVGH.

For example, their sleep disorder programme tackles undiagnosed sleep apnoea through a combined AI model and wearable SPO₂ sensors. "We are able to identify only five questions to differentiate insomnia and sleep apnoea," Albert Yang, deputy director of the Medical AI Development Centre at TVGH, said. These include BMI, age, and symptoms like coughing or snoring.

"With the new AI assistant, it took about just one minute – it actually saves 6.5 minutes per case," added Shu-Chen Kuo, Nursing Supervisor at TVGH, describing how AI is reducing staff workload.

The campaign is timed ahead of Medical Taiwan, an international trade exhibition which took place from 5 to 7 June at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre.