Yu-Wen Hsieh was born into a loving family in Taipei, Taiwan and always showed great interest in the nature and biology of animals and plants. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the department of Life Sciences of National Taiwan University (NTU), majored in regenerative biology. After these studies, he discovered his next step in Germany, where he started a diverse career.

After military service and one year working at NTU as a research scientist, Yu-Wen has approached and got the chance to join in the Max Planck Society, one of the top research institutions in Germany and EU, in the branch of Max Planck Institute of Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden, Germany, to study for a PhD degree in developmental biology, stem cell biology, and biophysics.

The experience of 4-year PhD training plus a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship in MPI-CBG advanced his knowledge further in biology, which led him to decide moving into the pharma/bio-tech consultant industry and take up residence in Berlin, working as a strategy and managing consultant in various innovative therapeutic fields. It was also the moment Yu-Wen started to think how he can transfer biological expertise into the fuel to benefit Taiwan, his homeland.

With these personal motivations, interests, scientific training, and thinking about his own land, Yu-Wen discovered what he can do for Taiwan and make Taiwan and Taiwanese culture more noticed by the general public in Europe. In 2019, Yu-Wen and two Taiwanese professional specialty tea tasters founded Deerland Tea. He plays both the roles of co-founder and the Chief Scientific Officer. It is not only an online tea shop, but also focused on taking Taiwanese tea culture to EU as well as to the world. While doing this, they found that there is no common language for tea tasting, describing, measuring , characterizing, evaluating, and researching Taiwanese tea. This makes it even harder for them to define and promote the so-called "Specialty Taiwanese Tea."

In 2021, Yu-Wen and a group of experts living in Taiwan and EU, established the non-profit organization, Taiwanese Specialty Tea Society in Europe. The association focuses on bringing the Taiwanese tea language to the world by 1) translating Taiwanese tea related books, researches, talk by the experts, terms, etc. into English; 2) establishing  Wikipedia pages for Taiwanese tea by collaboration with Taiwan Wikipedia team; 3) holding exhibitions in Hamburg and Sachsen in Germany to promote Taiwanese tea culture; 4) linking the tea experts in Germany and EU to Taiwanese tea makers by tours, webinars, and international commercial tea exhibitions; 5) bridging the academia to industry by collaborating with the universities and high schools in Taiwan as well as the  Taiwan Tea Society, various tea shops, tea providers, and tea farmers. By doing these things, Yu-Wen believes not only Taiwanese tea, but also Taiwan itself, can be better seen by the public and the world.

Also in 2021, Yu-Wen with Deerland Tea was nominated by "Taipeh Vertretung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" for the "1st Global Young Entrepreneur Stars Selection" holed by "Overseas Community Affairs Council, Taiwan" (OCAC) and was named the "Global Young Entrepreneur Star of 2021".  The OCAC appreciated the work the team, Deerland Tea, and Taiwanese Specialty Tea Society in Europe have done and plan to do. This has motivated Yu-Wen and the team to work harder on what they started.

With this background and career, Yu-Wen joined the Eastern Germany Branch of taiwanesischen Handelsvereinigungen und -verbänden in Deutschland (德東台商會) in 2021 and was elected as vice-president of the association in 2022. Moreover, Yu-Wen joined the 29th taiwanesischen Handelsvereinigungen und -verbänden in Deutschland (GTCC, 德國台灣商會聯合會) as Secretary General. These associations promote and make connections between overseas Taiwanese enterprises and participate in various world-wide third-party non-profit events.  Yu-Wen and the team of the Eastern Germany Branch of GTCC is currently working on establishing medical-related communication routes between Germany and Taiwan, organizing the humanitarian aid for the people suffer from conflicts between countries, and promoting industry-academia collaborations between Taiwanese technical schools and German industries.

Yu-Wen is always passionate about the sustainable development of the academia-industry chain for Taiwanese in the EU. How to attract people to come for education, start a business or career, connect with senior Taiwanese for experience transfer in the EU, are the main unmet needs in this sustainable chain.

Yu-Wen was the chair of the Dresden Taiwanese Association from 2015-2020. He organized various meet-ups, career talks, and knowledge transfer events. Within those years, he saw numerous students coming, finishing their study, looking for jobs, facing frustration, and finding success. He also now has connections to the Taiwanese who have succeeded in their career, founded their companies in the EU, or are willing to share their experiences with the young generation. Yu-Wen wishes to connect all these dots and create a cyclical environment for the fresh explorers, the strong fighters, and the wisdom holders, to the existing and evolving tools and societies here in Europe.

"What Taiwan looks for and always needs is to be seen. It can't happen without people doing and keep doing it. And this, is why I'm here." Said Yu-Wen.

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