Smartphones have become so ubiquitous that most users do not give them a second thought, much less pause to ponder the technology that enables them to function. For example, a key smartphone component is the light guide, which transmits light to the screen’s backlight with high uniformity and minimal loss. Most consumers, however, will never see the light guide component inside their smartphone, nor will they care about the performance of various light guides in the laboratory. In other words, it is the application of technology, not the technology itself, that matters to most people.
William Huang (黃天佑), deputy director of the Planning and Management Division at the Commercialization and Industry Service Center under the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), says the main reason engineers create new technologies is to make life better. Thus, over the years, a number of government-backed research institutions like ITRI have been set up to develop technologies designed to do just that. The next step of actually convincing manufacturers and designers to use the new technologies, however, has proven problematic. Manufacturers often show little interest in “lab technologies,” either because the application of a technology is not clear, or because research and development (R&D) engineers fail to demonstrate the full capabilities of a technology. “Quite frankly, there’s a gap between R&D engineers who spend all day in a lab and what manufacturers really need,” Huang says. “As a result, many possible applications of many technologies are overlooked or left uncultivated.”
Visitors look over introductions for designs entered in the 2012 IP to the idth Power competition, part of the Dechnology Project. (Photo Courtesy of Industrial Technology Research Institute)
Huang points to one particularly poor presentation of light guide films as an example. In addition to serving as a backlight for video screens, such films can be used in medical devices that help heal superficial wounds through the application of blue-red light. “But if you just put a sheet of glowing plastic into a carton that has a few holes punched in it—that’s something our engineers actually did to demonstrate the technology—you really can’t blame the manufacturers for their lack of interest,” Huang says.
To help more lab-sourced technologies find applications in real-world products, in 2009 the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) initiated the Dechnology Project. DoIT Director-General Lin Chiun-neng (林全能) says the word “dechnology,” a portmanteau of “design” and “technology,” was created to reflect the project’s goal of combining the ability and experience of designers with the technologies developed by research institutes to create products with high added value. Lin sums up Dechnology’s approach as a mathematical formula: “Designers plus R&D engineers times aesthetics equals value,” he says.
ITRI, the main agency behind the program, set up the Dechnology Alliance in June 2010 by putting together an online database of technologies patented by the institute and eight other semi-governmental research organizations that specialize in automotive research and testing, biotechnology, food products, footwear, information technology, metal goods, recreation technology, shipping and textiles.
For designers, the first step to becoming a member of the Dechnology Alliance is submitting an application to ITRI. After receiving approval, designers gain free access to the technology database. When designers spot a technology that could prove useful in a certain product, they are put in contact with the engineers who created it. “People say designers use the right side of their brain, where creativity and emotion are located, while engineers use the left side, the seat of rationality and logic,” Huang says. “We see the database as a platform that enables the two halves of the brain to work together.”
Lobsang Corp. worked with NOVA Design and ITRI to create the Lobsang stair lift chair, which helps people ascend stairs. (Photo Courtesy of Industrial Technology Research Institute)
So far, members of the Dechnology Alliance, of which there are now more than 1,000, have created more than 300 design prototypes. One reason the alliance has been capable of attracting designers is that individual projects are funded by the government, which means that designers do not take on additional financial risks.
Huang notes that local designers also benefit from Taiwan’s ability to turn out prototypes in a very short time, thanks to the many industrial clusters that exist on the island. “In Europe, a designer needs to order online and wait for a couple of weeks or perhaps months to obtain all the components required to put together a prototype,” he says. “But in Taiwan, you can get it done in three days if you know where to look.”
Cooperation between the alliance’s designers and engineers did not go smoothly at first, however, because of the different “languages” spoken by the two parties. “Designers didn’t understand the technical terms engineers used, and engineers thought designers didn’t have a professional understanding of technology,” Huang says. “The two halves of the brain didn’t always seem to communicate very well.”
On one occasion, for example, when designers were bending, folding and twisting light guide film, the engineers’ chief concern was about damage to the film, which could cause light to “leak.” While the engineers looked at the leaks as a problem, the designers immediately began coming up with ideas for products that could take advantage of the leaking light.
At least one of the light guide film projects has achieved success, as NDD Design Group, which has offices in Taipei and Tainan, southern Taiwan, used the material to create a product it calls the Optibend Lamp. The film is used in the lampshade, which provides high illumination but diffuses the light, thereby reducing glare and yielding a lighting source that is comfortable for the eyes.
Designer Hsieh Jung-ya used a recycled raw material developed by the Taiwan Textile Research Institute to create the Fabric Garden, which allows for soil-free gardening. (Photo Courtesy of Industrial Technology Research Institute)
Incentive to Innovate
In 2010, the Dechnology Project set up an annual competition called IP to the idth Power, which is run by the MOEA, to give designers further incentive to innovate. The competition’s name was proposed by Kuo Jieh-cheng (郭介誠), who is chairman of the Taipei-based Chinese Industrial Designers Association and a member of the committee supervising the Dechnology Project. Kuo notes that IP is an initialism for intellectual property, while ID stands for industrial design. “IP raised to the idth power equals new value-added products,” Kuo says. “The Dechnology Project provides the opportunity for [the equation] to work.” In 2012, the competition attracted 208 entries that employed 49 technologies developed by Taiwan’s research institutes.
Dechnology designers are attracted to the competition because it gives them a valuable opportunity to have their work seen by manufacturers. Award-winning creations also receive grants that enable designers to develop their ideas further, which can lead to greater opportunities for commercial production.
In addition to new designs, IP to the idth Power showcases the results of Dechnology’s Commercialization Workshops. Each team participating in the workshops must include business experts, designers, engineers and product development specialists, all of whom work together to come up with a commercially viable product employing the team’s chosen technology. Teams have eight weeks to analyze markets, develop a production process and perform a financial evaluation. “Having a better understanding of all the factors a manufacturer needs to consider helps designers and engineers come up with concepts that have a much better chance of commercialization,” Huang says.
Since 2010, dozens of Dechnology creations have won major international design awards. Fabric Garden, which won a prestigious gold iF Product Design Award in 2011, for example, was the result of a joint effort between the Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) and designer Hsieh Jung-ya (謝榮雅), a member of the Dechnology Alliance. TTRI was responsible for contributing a technology that uses recycled PET plastic to make a raw material that can be compressed, molded and stretched into almost any shape. Hsieh used the material to create a module that allows for soil-free gardening. Fabric Garden first appeared in public on the outer wall of the Pavilion of Dreams at the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition.
A prototype mask made with light guide film heals superficial wounds through the application of blue-red light. (Photo Courtesy of Industrial Technology Research Institute)
Another IP to the idth Power award winner is a stick that provides active guidance for blind people. The stick is named A Gentle Tug and was designed by industrial design students from Tunghai University in Taichung City, central Taiwan. A Gentle Tug combines collision avoidance and blind-spot detection technologies created by the Automotive Research and Testing Center with a smartphone audio application. The application works with the smartphone’s positioning system to provide audio cues that guide users to their destination, while the stick’s electronic systems gently “tug” at the user’s hand to direct them away from obstacles in their path. A Gentle Tug’s innovative features earned a 2013 iF product design award.
Not all of the Dechnology Project’s efforts to bring designers and researchers together have led to commercially viable products, however. Huang notes that designers mostly consider consumer preferences and market trends, while manufacturers are concerned with other factors such as production costs and sales channels. To improve the likelihood of commercialization, over the past year the project began inviting manufacturers to get involved in the product development stage.
One such effort resulted in the Caddy Robot, which automatically follows a transmitter carried by golfers and stops whenever they do. New Taipei City-based NOVA Design came up with the product concept, ITRI contributed positioning and wireless tracking technologies and Macauto Industrial Co. Ltd., a Tainan-based maker of automotive sunshades and electric lawn mowers, provided manufacturing input. Macauto founder and board chairman Lin Yong-qing (林永清) notes that in addition to the reliable tracking and positioning system provided by ITRI, NOVA’s attractive design was a factor in Macauto’s decision to commercialize the product. “It looks nice and solid and can be easily folded to fit into the trunk of a car,” he says. “It’s a really smart design that’s way out of my league.” The Caddy Robot is expected to enter production by the end of this year. While there might not be a huge domestic market for the caddy, Lin is confident that the product will be popular in overseas markets where the cost of hiring human caddies is high.
Most of the members of the Dechnology Alliance are design companies, independent designers and university design students, although some manufacturers have joined to gain access to design expertise and new technologies. One of those companies is Taichung-based Lobsang Corp., which makes products for Taiwan’s elderly. Lobsang began importing stair lift chairs, which are motorized devices that help people ascend stairs, in 2005. In 2011, the company decided to design and manufacture its own stair lift chair, which would give Lobsang the ability to sell the product at a lower retail price and make deliveries in a timelier fashion.
Macauto Industrial Co. Ltd. worked with ITRI and NOVA Design to create the Caddy Robot, which is scheduled to enter production by the end of this year. (Photo Courtesy of Industrial Technology Research Institute)
Beautiful Inside and Out
The company’s initial in-house design found a poor reception in the market, however, so Lobsang decided to work on a new one with the Dechnology Project. In that process, the company communicated intensively with designers from NOVA Design and engineers from ITRI’s Mechanical and Systems Research Laboratories. By late 2012, Lobsang began marketing a new stair lift chair under its own brand name. Lobsang Wang (汪世旭), founder and general manager of the company, notes that in addition to having a more attractive appearance, the new chairs are equipped with several ITRI technologies, including a device that responds to voice commands and a slim electric motor that makes the design more compact. “The technology and design have made the chair beautiful inside and out,” Wang says when comparing the Dechnology design to the company’s earlier product.
Lobsang’s work with Dechnology shows the value of creating products by bringing engineers, manufacturers and designers together. That kind of communication was less necessary in the past, when Taiwan was mostly a center of original equipment manufacturing, but it is becoming more and more important given the growth of original design manufacturing and the development of branded products. By providing a platform for such communication, the Dechnology Project is turning out clever, commercially viable products that are once again drawing attention to Taiwan’s design, engineering and manufacturing skills.
Write to Jim Hwang at cyhuang03@mofa.gov.tw