The EU – Taiwan Matchmaking Event itself will take place on-site in Berlin, Germany, on 10-12 June 2024, with a delegation of about 80 companies and trade organisations from Taiwan.

The event will be jointly organised by the European Commission through the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP), in collaboration with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), European Enterprise Network (EEN).

The EU – Taiwan Matchmaking Event will bring together cluster organisations and SMEs from the European Union (EU), non-EU countries participating in the Single Market Programme/COSME Strand, and Taiwan. It will provide participants with an excellent chance to promote Cluster to Cluster (C2C), Cluster to Business (C2B), and Business to Business (B2B) collaborations. The event will be held on-site at the Taiwan Expo in Europe, in Berlin, Germany.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives for the participants include:

• Strengthening EU-Taiwan cluster cooperation for the benefit of their members, including through a seminar, a cluster matchmaking event, and visits;
• Identifying potential areas of common interest for cooperation and synergies in terms of the sectoral, value chain, and market focus of their SMEs and other companies;
• Through clusters, improving EU-Taiwan industry and academia-industry collaboration in research, development, and innovation. For its members, the clusters will identify possible areas of RDI collaboration (academia, research organizations, industries...).

AGENDA AND ACTIVITIES

The EU – Taiwan Matchmaking Event will include the following activities:

• Inspirational Webinar – a pre-event Webinar where all attendees received more information about the overall concept of the EU-Taiwan MME and why to attend. (18 April 2024)
• Technical Webinar – a session helping future participants of the matchmaking event to make the most of their profiling in B2Match and explain the procedures to optimise the booking of meetings. (date tbc)
• Site visits (12 June 2024)
• Seminar on knowledge exchange to foster EU-Taiwan cooperation. (10 June 2024)
• Pitching and Matchmaking meetings between cluster organisations and SMEs from EU (and non-EU countries participating in SMP/COSME Strand) countries and Taiwan. (10-11 June 2024)
• Debriefing session to collect feedback and testimonials from cluster participants (11 June 2024)
• Participation at the Taiwan Expo 2024 with a delegation of over 80 companies and trade organisations from Taiwan. All preselected Taiwanese SMEs and organisations are listed in the Annex I to this Call.  (10-12 June 2024)

📕Download the Draft Agenda

FOCUS AREAS

• ICT/Semiconductors and Digital industries,
• AI/IoT/Advanced Manufacturing
• Smart Mobility
• Green/Circular Economy/Renewable energy/Sustainability
• Smart Healthcare
• Smart city/Connectivity/5G

Call for Expression of Interest

This Calls for Expression of Interest is targeting cluster organisations and business network organisations who wish to participate in the EU-Taiwan Matchmaking Event.

Expressions of interest to participate in this event must be submitted electronically by 16 May (Thursday) 2024, 23:59 Brussels time – second cut-off date.

📕Call for Expression of Interest - Clusters deadline second cut-off date 16 May 2024 – is now closed. Please refer to the late application process.

This call is targeting only cluster organisations and business network organisations. А separate registration for SMEs will be available soon on ECCP and EEN websites. Stay tuned!

Late applications could be accepted for participation, if eligibility criteria are fulfilled and that costs are borne by the participants. Late applications are accepted until 4 June 2024, 23:59 Brussels time at the latest.

First cut-off

Applicants will receive a notification whether their application is selected, put on the reserve list or rejected within two weeks after the first cut-off date. Applications on the reserve list may be edited and resubmitted until the second cut-off date – the last submitted application will be considered in the evaluation.

Second cut-off (only available if necessary)

Applicants will receive a notification whether their application is selected or rejected within one week after the second cut-off date.

Applicants that are not selected may participate at their own cost if they fulfil the eligibility criteria of this call.

Applications on the reserve list of the first cut-off will be evaluated together with the applications received by the second cut-off date.

Inspirational Webinar: Forge Connections: Discovering EU-Taiwan Matchmaking Event

An inspirational Webinar, themed Forge Connections: Discovering EU-Taiwan Matchmaking Event was held on 18.04.2024. The presentation from the webinar is available here.

Looking back at past missions to Taiwan

The 2023 Edition of EU-Taiwan Matchmaking Event was organised in close collaboration with the Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI), the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the Bureau of Foreign Trade and Ministry of Economic Affairs. The event aimed to inspire new partnerships, stimulate knowledge transfer of best practice, and encourage forward-thinking collaborations.

The main European Delegation was composed of some 11 clusters along with SMEs covering 13 countries from the EU plus countries participating in the COSME programme (i.e. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Spain). Over 40 representatives from Taiwanese clusters, SMEs and government authorities also joined the event. During the matchmaking sessions over 100 C2C/B2B meetings took place.