Soochow Co-site’s Startup Team Earns 1 Million Award in 2nd Phase of U-start Plan

The startup team from Soochow University’s Co-site, Pickup Hope (registered as Shixi Co., Ltd.), won the highest award at the 2025 U-start Plan for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, receiving NT$1 million in the second stage of the program.

In the awards ceremony on November 21^st at the NTUH International Convention Center, . the winning team, headed by SU Vice President Shih-Ho Wang to the stage, received the award from Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education Kuo-Wei Liu.

The U-start program is highly competitive and has traditionally been dominated by national universities and institutions with strong engineering and design resources. Despite lacking design and engineering schools, Soochow University distinguished itself by leveraging its strengths in the humanities and management, demonstrating strong practical innovation capacity.

Led by Chia-Yu Lin from the Department of Business Administration, the startup team operates as a social enterprise, integrating app-based intelligent route planning, customer management systems, and data optimization to improve waste collection efficiency and recycling processes while creating a work environment centered on efficiency, dignity, and sustainability.

This also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly No Poverty and Reduced Inequalities, and underscores Soochow University’s commitment to innovation, entrepreneurship education, and social responsibility.

The team received extensive mentorship from a distinguished group of alumni and professors, including Chief Mentor Lu-Yen Wang (Class of 1977, Business Administration; recipient of the 2nd Distinguished Alumni Award), Professor Jung-An Shang of the Department of Business Administration, Mentor Yi-Ting Lin (Class of 2000, Accounting), and CEO Mei-Ling Cheng (Class of 2018, EMBA).

After wide-ranging field research and revisions, the team also received an honorable mention at the 5th Taiwan Yunus Innovation Award competition.

This award is not only the best affirmation of the efforts of the team, but also shows SU’s long-term cultivation in innovation, entrepreneurship education and social responsibility. Soochow Co-site will continue to accompany students, create more innovative programs, and inject positive energy of change into the campus and society.