TIMELINE
The award selection process includes two types: ONLINE and ON-SITE competitions. Teams can participate in both with no entry limits.
ONLINE COMPETITION
- Registration is accepted in rounds: the 1st round ends on June 30, 2024; the 2nd round starts from September 4, 2024, and closes on January 31, 2025; the 3rd round starts from March 26, 2025, and closes on June 30, 2025. The 4th round starts from November 1, 2025 and closes on February 28, 2026.
- Following these deadlines, there will be a one-week grace period for participants to complete their application materials. The official deadlines will be published on the event website: ictaiwanchallenge.org. The organizer reserves the right to modify these deadlines without prior notice.
- Online registration: Interested participants can fill in the registration form online at any time and upload required documents.
- Qualification review: The organizer will conduct a qualification review and confirm the competition category in accordance with the regulations.
- Initial review: The contents of the concept paper will be reviewed. Based on the review results, candidates will be notified whether they will proceed to the secondary review. Candidates that pass the initial review must submit the “IC Innovation Acceleration Platform Resource Requirement Application Form” and “Shareholding distribution among the company’s shareholders”.
- Secondary review: The presentation and Q&A will be conducted online. The entire process (including presentation and Q&A) will be conducted in English. The total time is 20 minutes.
- Result Announcement: The organizer will schedule the review periods according to the volume of applications to be evaluated. Results will be published on the competition website and the NSTC official website two weeks after the completion of the review process.
ON-SITE COMPETITION
- Participate in designated international benchmark exhibitions like Viva Technology 2024 and CES 2025. Results will be announced after the pitch during the exhibition.
- May. 14
- Sep. 4
- Oct. 17-19
- Jan. 31, 2025
- Mar. 26
- Jun. 30
CATEGORIES & ELIGIBILITY
All participants must comply with the 2024 IC Taiwan Grand Challenge Pilot Program.
IC Taiwan Grand Challenge consists of 2 categories
IC DESIGN INNOVATIONS
Academic research or startup with proprietary IC design technology and core IP, planning and developing innovative chips.
CHIP-BASED INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS
Academic research or startup with domain knowledge in various industries and planning to combine existing chip technologies for implementation:
-
Smart Data & AI
-
Smart Medtech
-
Smart Mobility
-
Sustainability
-
Smart Manufacturing
Am I eligible to apply?
We welcome teams that are:
- Startups, legal entities, academic research institutions, and individuals that plan to collaborate with Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.
- Must be a startup set up after January 1, 2016.
- Must own or have legal access to the intellectual property rights of the product, technology, or solution.
- Teams applying for Online Competition must submit Concept Paper detailing core technology, solved situations, future issues and solutions for Taiwan, business model, and market expansion plans.
CATEGORIES & ELIGIBILITY
All participants must comply with the IC Taiwan Grand Challenge Pilot Program (2025/4/16 updated).
IC Taiwan Grand Challenge consists of 5 categories
Leverage AI chips, AI algorithms, and high-speed transmission technologies to develop advanced application solutions in the following categories or achieve groundbreaking innovations in core technologies:
AI Core Technologies
and Chips
smart mobility
SMART
manufacturing
SMART medtech
sustainability
Am I eligible to apply?
We welcome teams that are:
- Startups, juristic persons, academic research institutions, and individuals that plan to collaborate with Taiwan’s semiconductor chip design and manufacturing industry. Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Participants entering as companies must be startups that were established within 8 years from the date of registration. However, this does not apply to non-corporate entities, academic research institutions, or individuals.
- Startups, individuals, juristic persons, organizations, other institutions from China (including Hong Kong, Macau) and the companies they invest into in a third area, are not eligible for the IC Taiwan Grand Challenge.
- The invested companies in a third area mentioned in the preceding paragraph refer to the individuals, juristic persons, organizations and other institutions from China (including Hong Kong, Macau), and in one of the following situations:
- Directly or indirectly holding the shares issued by a company in a third area or the total contributing amount exceeding thirty (30) percent.
- Having the controlling power over the companies in a third area.
- The participant must own the intellectual property rights of the product, technology or solution or have obtained legal licensing access.
- The participant must provide concept paper (for initial review) and deliver a presentation (for secondary review) within the designated time. The content of the concept paper includes the core technology, situations that have been solved or verified so far, the business model to be developed, market expansion plans, etc. The participant must submit a pitch video of no longer than 3 minutes, along with other supporting materials.
- Participants who have previously won awards in the IC Taiwan Grand Challenge are not eligible for rewards in this competition. However, this restriction does not apply if the project leader is different from the one in the previous competition, especially for legal entities or academic research teams.
JUDGING CRITERIA
Jury composition: Experts from Taiwan’s industry, venture capital, government departments in relevant fields are invited to form a committee to select the winning team via initial and secondary review.
- Specific resource requirements and development plans in Taiwan
- Ability to provide broader development plans for Taiwan’s industries
- Ability to drive technological innovation potential and create social welfare
- Contribution to promoting new industrial links or promoting industrial upgrading
- Effectiveness of introducing derivative investments or creating high economic value
- Innovations in emerging application fields
- Innovations and developments in the manufacturing process, design, and application of new materials
- Ability to integrate the advantages of diversified innovation and integrated cross-domain thinking
40%LOCAL
CONNECTIVITY
40%VALUE CREATIVITY
20%TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
- Have resource needs and specific development plans in Taiwan.
- Can provide broader development space for Taiwan’s industry.
- Can drive technological innovation potential and create social welfare.
- Contribution to promoting new industrial links or promoting industrial upgrading.
- The effectiveness of introducing derivative investments or creating high economic value.
- Innovation in emerging application fields.
- Pioneering in the fields of manufacturing process, design, and application of new materials.
- Able to integrate the advantages of diversified innovation and integrated cross-domain thinking.
Awards
Experts from Taiwan’s industry, venture capital, and relevant government departments form a committee to select the winning team.
- A landing prize of USD 30,000 will be awarded to ever winning team. Award recipients are required to have at least one team member participate in industry matchmaking events for a minimum of one month in Taiwan prior to signing the investment agreement. However, an alternative arrangement may be negotiated to allow flexibility. The matchmaking process will be tailored to the specific needs of the award recipients and the prize will be disbursed upon the completion of their obligations in Taiwan.
- Industry chain linkage and chip development guidance through the IC Innovation Acceleration Platform: Based on the award recipients' resource needs for development in Taiwan, funding will be provided upon approval by the NSTC. This support may include access to EDA tools, silicon intellectual property licensing services, IC design services, and wafer shuttle services, as required for chip development.
A review committee composed of senior technical experts from Taiwan's semiconductor industry and venture capital professionals will evaluate the resource requirements proposed by the award recipients. Based on these needs, industry experts will be arranged to provide professional mentorship and consultation to the award recipients.
Awardees will qualify for access to TTA facilities, including locations in Taipei and Kaohsiung (https://www.taiwanarena.tech/), as well as related business development support. A dedicated mentorship manager will serve as a liaison between the winning teams and advisors/mentors, assisting in connecting the awardees with the necessary resources.
A LANDING PRIZE OF USD 30,000
& INDUSTRY CHAIN LINKAGE
& INDUSTRY CHAIN LINKAGE
INDUSTRY EXPERT REVIEW AND
MENTORSHIP
MENTORSHIP
LANDING RESOURCES
An initial funding of USD 30,000 will be provided for teams coming to Taiwan. Based on actual needs, teams will be offered in chip development during the project execution period, including access to EDA tools, silicon intellectual property licensing services, IC professional design services, and shuttle services for multi-project wafer (MPW) runs, with a total cap of USD 3 million. This will primarily be conducted through a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) model for equity exchange. If the SAFE is not applicable under the regulations of the respective country, alternative equity exchange methods will be negotiated.
A review committee will be formed by senior technical experts from Taiwan's semiconductor industry and venture capitalists. The committee will review the resource requirements proposed by startups on the platform. Based on the identified needs, mentors will be arranged to provide professional guidance and consultation to the selected startups.
Provide the winning team with the access for office space rental at Taiwan International Start-up Base - Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) and TTA South (https://www.taiwanarena.tech/) and related business development. The coaching manager serves as a bridge between selected teams and consultants/industry mentors, helping entrepreneurs connect with the necessary resources.