Taiwan inventors shined at the just-concluded Invention and New Product Exposition (INPEX) in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, garnering more medals than any of the other 14 participating countries.
The Taiwan delegation, featuring 42 members with 56 entries in the competition, grabbed 24 gold, 25 silver and five bronze medals as well as seven special awards. The U.S. finished second with a total of 19 golds, organizers of the event announced June 19.
The strong showing in Pittsburg came after Taiwan inventors also made their mark at two of the other three major international invention trade exhibitions in recent months.
Taiwan took home 26 gold medals at the iENA trade fair in Nuremburg, Germany near the end of last year and another 28 golds at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions in Switzerland this past April.
The youngest inventor from Taiwan taking part in INPEX was 13-year-old You Chun-po, who won gold for his “multi-angle ecological observation video camera.” You, who studied in the U.S. for five years, came up with the idea because he wanted to better understand the growth process of the silkworms he was raising. The easily rotatable camera that he developed with the help of a university professor features a lens that can magnify objects between 75-150 times.
Meanwhile, Taiwan-based Auyata Enterprises Co. Ltd. won the “Asia-Pacific best product” prize at the event with its “folding stand.” The invention also garnered gold at the Geneva trade fair earlier this year. The company has applied for patents in eight countries for the folding stand, which already hit the U.S. market last year.
Auyata expects to sell 1 million of the folding stands in the U.S. this year, generating some US$70 million in revenue for the company.
Chen Tsung-tai, head of the Taiwan delegation to INPEX, stated that winning awards alone is not enough. The newly developed products must also break into the European and U.S. markets to be a success, he said.
According to Chen, award-winning inventions like Auyata’s folding chair “really help boost Taiwan’s economy.”
He noted that academia-industry cooperation in Taiwan has already matured and continues to grow, with many new competitive products being jointly developed by universities and private enterprises.
Officials said the medal winners at international invention exhibitions will have their airfare fully reimbursed by the government. In addition, the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs selects 50 winners of the National Invention and Creation Awards each year, with the recipients each receiving between NT$200,000 (US$6,213) and NT$450,000 in prize money. (SB)
(This article originally appeared in The Liberty Times June 20.)