PUBLICATIONS & REPORTS

Contents Introduction

This is a case study of “National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy (IAPS)”, which is one of the representative startup accelerators in Taiwan. IAPS was established under NCTU in 2013, and has been devoted to facilitate the growth of high-tech startups. The main business of IAPS has been the implementation of various startup-supporting programs entrusted by government agencies until now. IAPS has accumulated a lot of experience and know-how and constructed well-developed networks with partners such as mentors, specialists, investors, large companies and overseas actors, which can be seen as their core competitive advantage at present. In 2020/21, IAPS established their own investment fund (TX Venture Fund) and also started their original startup-supporting program (Scale-up Premium Program) in cooperation with these mentors. These practices express their will to strengthen selfmanagement from now on. In other words, IAPS is trying to change their business model as an executive body of government projects to a hybrid model with the feature of a mentororiented and commercial accelerator. The main purpose of this paper is to shed light on the evolution of the strategy of a startup accelerator through drawing the “strategic story” of IAPS.