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TAIWAN Business.EU l institutions l agencies

MEDICAL TAIWAN 2019 Exhibition From 27.6. to 30.6.2019 the Technology Centre of the CAS prepared a business delegation to the MEDICAL Taiwan international exhibition in Taipei. The delegation, which was organised as part of services provided by the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), gave several Czech companies from within the medical field an opportunity to present themselves on the joint stand situated in a prominent position by the main entrance to the TWTC (Taipei World Trade Center) hall. tatives of two leading Taiwanese hospitals and a business meeting – ‘B2B matchmaking event in MEDICAL Taiwan’. Companies had the possibility to book up to 8 half hour long bilateral meetings with partners based on their registration form profiles. The event enjoyed great media coverage by TAITRA and film clips and subsequent interviews with the participants were shown on the big screen by the main entrance where they could be viewed from the vestibule of the Exhibition Centre, which further increased the promotion of both the exhibition and the individual participating companies. In the evening TAITRA arranged a meeting between representatives of the Enterprise Europe Network from various countries and TAITRA management, attended by the President of TAITRA and its medical sector managers. This was followed by an official dinner for all the participants in the European delegation, including the client companies and attended by Taiwan’s Minister of Health.

The TWTC was built in 1986 by the most important Taiwanese business organisation – TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) as a modern centre combining exhibition, conference and office spaces with the aim of supporting international trade. The architecture of the multi-storey exhibition building situated in the city centre and the exhibition facilities give visitors a feeling of occasion, just like many other centres in neighbouring Asian countries, and all this only confirms the emphasis put on the development of international business relationships by Southeast Asian countries. The MEDICAL Taiwan exhibition is the largest event focused on the medical sector in Taiwan and products and technology from literally every part of this sector can be found there. Last year the exhibition welcomed 50,000 visitors from Taiwan and other countries such as Hong Kong, Vietnam, the USA, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. Two other special 2019

exhibitions with related topics took place concurrently at the same venue: the MEDICARE and the SenCARE (elderly care) exhibitions. The international Enterprise Europe Network prepared a busy three day schedule for companies participating in the ‘European Delegation’ at the MEDICAL Taiwan exhibition and it was up to individual participants to utilise these opportunities to their best effect. However, of all the European Delegation only the Technology Centre of the CAS was able to offer their client companies a presentation on the joint stand which was made possible thanks to the substantial help given by the TECO (the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office Prague, a Taiwanese governmental organisation) which has been co-operating with the Technology Centre of the CAS for a long time. For example, the first day of the programme included a meeting with the represen-

A wide range of healthcare IT technologies was one of the main trends at the exhibition; from equipment for diagnostics and surgical tools for operating theatres to the utilisation of mobile applications in elderly home care. A large number of products were designed to ensure quality care for an aging population as a similar demographic will soon apply in Taiwan too and the market is preparing for this in advance. Another extremely interesting item were new surgical procedures using implants made from new materials. The Czech Republic has a very good reputation in Taiwan and there is usually great interest in co-operation with Czech companies. This is supported by the statistics of business co-operation between the Czech Republic and Taiwan. Over the last five years the bilateral trade increased by almost 20% to the current CZK 31.2 billion (2018), however, a significant deficit still remains on the Czech side. This is mainly due to Taiwan’s investment in the electrotechnology sector and the associated import of these components to the