Tony Yu-Xiu Lin, Thai-Yen Ling PhD.
Graduate Institute of Pharmacology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taiwan

Each year, the Taiwan-based “Future Technology Awards” showcase and honour pioneering technologies with the potential to transform industries, societies and lives. According to the official information for the 2025 edition, the event is part of the Future Tech Pavilion 2025 held at the Taiwan Innotech Expo, a platform for presenting breakthroughs from lab to market [1].

What kind of technologies win? The criteria emphasize innovation, value creation, and integration with Taiwan’s industrial strengths — in other words, solutions that are not only scientifically novel but also societally impactful and scalable within Taiwan’s ecosystem.

For aspiring entrants or observers of the 2025 awards, the key message is clear: technology must go beyond novelty; it must resonate with application, impact, and strategic relevance. And that is exactly the starting point when we look at advanced biomedical platforms such as extracellular vesicle (EV)-based therapies.

Technological Themes Shaping the 2025 Awards

The 2025 Taiwan Future Technology Awards celebrate a diverse range of innovations that embody Taiwan’s core research strengths and industrial momentum. Among the 83 award-winning technologies this year, several key themes stand out:

• Artificial Intelligence and Automation: from AI-powered healthcare monitoring systems and autonomous robotics to large-language-model applications in electronic health records and fraud detection.
• Green and Sustainable Energy: including next-generation hydrogen production, carbon-capture materials, and energy-efficient semiconductor technologies for a net-zero future.
• Advanced Semiconductors and Photonics: new 3D-integration platforms, quantum-dot devices, and ultrafast memory architectures that reinforce Taiwan’s leadership in the global tech landscape.
• Biomedical and Precision Health Innovations: spanning AI-driven diagnostics, smart surgical systems, and cutting-edge therapeutic platforms such as cell- and extracellular vesicle-based precision therapies.

Spotlight: Targeted Extracellular Vesicles for Liver Repair

Acute liver failure is a life-threatening condition with few effective treatments. Scientists in Taiwan have recently developed a smart strategy to deliver healing molecules precisely to damaged liver cells — using tiny natural messengers called extracellular vesicles (EVs).

EVs are nano-sized bubbles secreted by cells that carry proteins and genetic material to help other cells communicate. They can serve as natural delivery vehicles, yet a major challenge remains: conventional EVs tend to diffuse throughout the body, making it difficult to reach the right target.

A research team in Taiwan overcame this hurdle through an elegant chemical approach known as click chemistry. They attached a small antibody fragment onto the EV surface, enabling it to recognize and “dock” onto liver cells. These engineered vesicles, termed CAR-sEVs (Chimeric Antigen Receptor small Extracellular Vesicles), home precisely to liver tissue [2].

When tested in mice with severe liver injury, CAR-sEVs accumulated efficiently at the damaged site, reduced inflammation, and promoted tissue regeneration. Compared with unmodified EVs, these targeted vesicles demonstrated stronger localization and superior therapeutic outcomes — all without using live cells, thereby minimizing safety risks.

This innovation represents more than a single therapy. Because the targeting ligand can be modified to recognize different tissues, the same platform could one day deliver treatment to the heart, brain, or even tumors. It is a flexible, modular system that embodies the spirit of precision medicine.

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From Targeting to Transformation

For Taiwan, this breakthrough exemplifies how biotechnology, chemistry, and medicine can converge to create next-generation, cell-free therapies. The development of targeted EVs not only pushes the frontiers of precision medicine but also echoes the vision of the 2025 Taiwan Future Technology Awards to transform scientific excellence into practical innovations that improve human health and quality of life.

In essence, targeting turns EVs from mere biological messengers into guided therapeutic couriers. It captures the core of what future technology stands for: innovation with purpose, precision, and real-world impact.

References:

1. Future Tech Pavilion 2025 – Taiwan Innotech Expo.” FutureTech, Taiwan Innotech Corp.
2. Lu, Y. T., Chen, T. Y., Lin, H. H., Chen, Y. W., Lin, Y. X., Le, D. C., … & Ling, T. Y. (2025). Small extracellular vesicles engineered using click chemistry to express chimeric antigen receptors show enhanced efficacy in acute liver failure. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 14(2), e70044.