Taiwan Won 6 Awards at the 2013 R&D Awards.

Three MOEA-backed (Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs) science and technology institutions of Taiwan won 6 awards at the 2013 USA-based R&D 100 Awards after their prestigious success of bringing home 7 awards at the 2012 R&D 100 Awards.  The 2013 R&D 100 Award winners of Taiwan are the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) with 3 winning inventions, the Institute for Information Industry with 2 inventions, and the Metal Industries Research and Development Centre with 1 invention.  With three award-winning inventions, “iAir Touch”, “ButyFix”, and “FluxMerge” at the 2013 R&D Awards, the ITRI has continued strong run by earning a total of 16 awards at the R&D 100 Awards for six straight years. 

In addition, this year’s awards demonstrates and highlights the power of collaboration because NASA, Toyota, and other well-known industrial and R&D institutions were among those participating in the competition and 42 of the 100 winners are the outcome of interdisciplinary cooperation and developed by teams of two or more cooperating organizations. 

The 2013 R&D 100 winning inventions from ITRI are:

iAT Technology

The award-winning Air Touch is the first ever technology to do air touch.  Different from the Google Glass that uses voice control for navigation, iAT provides a virtual input device that serves as a virtual keyboard or a virtual touch screen to appear in the air for pressing or touching so as to interact with the virtual image.  With the unprecedented wearable input device, iAT has the potential to help boost the new segment of market due to its convenience and usefulness. 

FluxMerge

The ITRI’s magnetic-optimized motor technology is able to reduce weight and size of motors and is particularly suitable to pancake motors.  It can also decrease electrical power consumption of stair lift.  This technology is put at the forefront of green technology. 

ButyFix

Buty Fix is a bioehcmical technology developed to produce bio-butanol which is a good fuel and surpasses ethanol with its compatibility with current gasoline engines.  The ITRI uses proprietary processes to regulate certain genes and redirects carbon dioxide generated during fermentation to the desired pathway where the carbon dioxide can be re-utilized and reaches 94% of carbon conversion.  This technology can drastically reduce carbon emissions and reduce damage to the environment.  

According to the ITRI, the three inventions are developed as scientific applications to life for bringing more convenience in life and satisfying elder people’s needs, and energy and source development and optimization. They are the results of not only inventive development but also desire to satisfy human’s life and ecology.  (July 2013)
/CCS