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WI Harper Group | October 13, 2021 | Source: WI Harper
WI Harper Group held its first virtual Annual Shareholder Conference on September 28th, highlighting the “Renewable Future” and the companies the Firm is building for an enduring and sustainable tomorrow. Our Annual Shareholders Conference is a long-standing tradition we hold dear, provoking knowledge sharing and inspiring conversations. As attendees joined from all over the world – Limited Partners, internationally renowned technologists, financial experts, and entrepreneurs – we discussed technology development trends of the future, and investment opportunities in the current economy. Our panel of technologists and innovators touched on various topics: renewable energy, mobility, new sustainable materials, healthcare, smart manufacturing, and quantum technology.
A summarized recap below:
This conference was hosted by Charles Wu, Senior Partner of WI Harper Group, and was kicked off with opening remarks by Mr. Peter Liu, Chairman of WI Harper Group. Mr. Liu reiterated our team’s commitment to create value for our portfolio companies and shareholders, while contributing to global economic cooperation and sustainable development. He ended by thanking shareholders, the speakers, and friends for their long-term support of the Firm.
Edward Liu, Partner of WI Harper Group, shared WI Harper’s overall focus on sustainability investments, regional opportunities in Japan and South East Asia, as well as leveraging continued success in the sectors of new materials, AI applications, and healthcare services.
Wilson Wu, Partner of WI Harper Group, presented WI Harper’s recent exit and returns. He emphasized the various global markets that our portfolio companies listed on, and the investment performance those companies will have for the Firm.
Keynote speakers for the conference are all renowned experts in their respective field:
- Dr. Daniel Kammen, Professor of Energy at UC Berkeley
- Stanley Rowland, CEO of Blue Climate Initiative
- Dr. Ahmad Bahai, CTO of Texas Instruments
- Dr. Jun Ni, Chief Manufacturing Officer or CATL and Founder of AIMS
- Dr. Ching-Ray Chang, Director of National Taiwan University – IBM Quantum Hub
- Dr. Nicky Lu, Chairman and Founder of Etron, eYs3D, and eEver Technology Companies
- Dr. Brock Reeve, CEO of IVIVA Medical, and Executive Director of Harvard Stem Cell Institute
In addition, select WI Harper portfolio companies shared overviews of their mission and business progress in line with our Renewable Future.
Alternative Energy
Dr. Daniel Kammen, a Professor of Energy at UC Berkeley noted the grim condition of global warming. Various global countries are actively solving environmental problems. Using innovative technology to solve environmental issues is imminent. He shared the development and future prediction of green energy to replace fossil energy, and specifically mentioned that the development of nuclear fusion technology will have a disruptive impact on global energy in the future.
Alpha Ring, an alternative energy company, shared its latest developments. The table top nuclear fusion device is the holy grail of energy, able to sustain net energy gain, produce fusion byproduct, and has 60+ patents. The company is ready to disrupt the $10 trillion energy market.
Sustainability
Stanley Rowland, CEO of Blue Climate Initiative, discussed the urgent need for climate-focused, ocean-based innovation. He illustrates The Blue Climate Initiative’s multi-year program engaging innovators, community leaders, scientists, investors and global experts through evidence-based action to combat climate change while protecting oceans. His goal is to unlock solutions on urgent challenges like renewable energy, sustainable food supplies, improved human health, flourishing biodiversity, stewardship of the ocean’s resources, and vibrant ocean economies.
Miniwiz utilizes advanced technology and unique design to convert domestic waste such as plastic, paper, fabric, metal, and other non-polluted waste into new construction and decoration materials. Miniwiz has successfully developed more than 1,200 new materials and established an enormous waste recycling database, leading the global circular economy industry. The company also shares its collaboration with Fuda Hospital, as it builds a module ward for pandemic prevention.
YesHealth, uses advanced technology to create a digital production system for vertical farms to accurately control sunlight, temperature, water, soil, nutrient solution. YesHealth produces more than 30 types of non-polluted and non-hazardous vegetables with direct sales in Europe, and intends to build an “agricultural factory.” This high-efficiency and precise energy-saving method in agricultural plantation is one of the significant directions for future sustainable development.
Pandemics and Mobility
Dr. Ahmad Bahai, CTO of Texas Instruments shared the accelerated mega trends and the enabling technologies that are a direct response to the pandemic. Dr. Bahai touches on sustainability, connectivity, autonomy, and healthcare. In addition, he elaborates on related machine learning, battery and silicon technology, embedded sensors, high-voltage semiconductors, and the potential of these technologies.
XEV, an electric vehicle company, is taking advantage of China’s manufacturing electric vehicle supply chain to create electric vehicles that can be customized for the European market. As of today, it has reached a cooperation with the world-class energy company, ENI (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) to layout the European power exchange network and create an overall solution for a green and smart urban mobility.
Smart Manufacturing
Dr. Jun Ni, Chief Manufacturing Officer at CATL and Founder of AIMS, shared the future trend of supply chain development – smart manufacturing. The current artificial intelligence requires training based on algorithms and large amount of data. In industrial applications, there is not enough data for training, which requires the intervention of experienced engineers. This is the importance of Enabled Intelligence in smart manufacturing that Dr. Jun Ni has emphasized. He also shared AIMS’ practices in smart manufacturing and equipment predictive maintenance.
Kapito, is also using AI to solve traditional manufacturing quality detection issues. Quality detection in the manufacturing industry has always been a labor-intensive task. Kapito brings Silicon Valley AI technology back to Taiwan to solve the needs of automated quality detection and to help upgrade the manufacturing industry.
Quantum Technology
Dr. Ching-Ray Chang, Director of National Taiwan University – IBM Quantum Hub, shared the development history, status quo, application, and future prospects of quantum technology. The era of subversive and revolutionary quantum technology is approaching. Similar to computers in 1968, quantum computers of the 21st century are at an explosive stage.
FlexCompute’s advanced computer simulation technology for CFD and EM R&D can achieve calculation speed by multiple of a hundred. The company provides simulation schemes for quantum computing companies to design complex quantum circuits, reducing the duration of calculation that originally used EDA software for 27 hours to 3 minutes. Furthermore, this solution can also be used to design aircrafts, automobiles, and other products.
Advanced Manufacturing
Dr. Nicky Lu, Chairman and Founder of Etron, eYs3D, and eEver Technology companies, summarized the future growth of the semiconductor industry with four “1T,” One Trillion Dollars in global semiconductor industry investment; One Transistor using new architecture and new materials; One Trillion Devices based on Die; and One Trillion Dollars coming from compound semiconductors and other technologies. This proves the unlimited opportunities in the future of semiconductor industry.
Maxic, is a world-class analog power integrated circuit designing company, committed to providing efficient wireless charging chip design, LED driving chip design, and solutions. It has a number of core independent intellectual property rights for high voltage, high current, high power analog power management, and digital circuit design. In the field of LED drivers, Maxic is the industry’s pioneer of single-stage high power factor algorithms and constant current algorithms.
Life Sciences
Dr. Brock Reeve, CEO of IVIVA Medical, and Executive Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute shared the most leading-edge topics in the field of life sciences – the current status and future of regenerative medical technology. IVIVA Medical is dedicated to building artificial kidneys and other organs with its leading-edge technology. The Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s mission is to cure human diseases. They collaborate to accelerate research to harness the power of stem cells to: stimulate healing in patients;
create targeted treatments for patients, combining gene- and cell-based therapies with traditional medicines; and transform drug discovery by using new, stem cell-based tools.
Engine Bio, identifies errors in genetic code of complex diseases and repairs them with precise treatment programs. Engine’s technology enables researchers and drug developers to reveal the interactions of disease genes and biological networks in a faster and more economical way than traditional methods.
Post-COVID Lifestyle
Scott Hix, Founder and CEO of Avocor, presents on the changing needs of users in the post-pandemic era and how to use technology to adapt to remote collaboration. Avocor has become one of the fastest growing global collaborative display companies.
Ray Wu, CEO of Wynd discusses how the pandemic has also influenced people to raise awareness to environmental health. Wynd has created a hybrid hardware / AI approach for far better and cheaper environmental monitoring, with core technological advancement in particulate measurement and analysis. By leveraging data, Wynd can help optimize energy consumption AND air health.
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