Date: 2019/10/22
Business Times Chen Zongqing
The "Taiwan Innotech Expo (TIE)" organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Science and Technology, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Ministry of Education, National Development Council, Ministry of National Defense, and Environmental Protection Administration concluded on September 28th. This year's TIE featured participation from 25 countries including the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Japan, as well as 166 international institutions and 369 domestic industry-academia-research units, showcasing over 1,000 technological and research achievements. In just a short 3-day exhibition, it attracted about 45,000 visitors and facilitated over 1,600 business discussions, yielding substantial results.
In addition to the existing "Future Technology," "Innovative Inventions," and "Sustainable Development" pavilions, this year's TIE introduced two new specialized areas: "Circular Economy" and "National Defense Industry." The "Circular Regeneration" section, established in the "Sustainable Development Pavilion" by the Industrial Development Bureau and the Environmental Protection Administration, showcased 16 innovative technologies developed by research and industry units such as ITRI, ELOOP, Unitech Materials, UWin Nanotech, Hongen Group, Cheng Yea Resources, and Fu Sheng Textile. Among these, ELOOP's "ECOCO Smart Recycling Machine," which combines resource recycling with incentives from partnering businesses, attracted a significant number of visitors to experience intelligent and effective recycling of bottles and cans, showcasing the innovative achievements of circular regeneration research and technology, and promoting the exchange and application of innovative research and technology.
The "National Defense Industry" thematic zone was located within the "Future Technology Pavilion," focusing on technologies related to "Aerospace and Defense," "National Shipbuilding," and "Dual-Use of Military and Civilian Technologies." Integrating emerging technologies like AI and IoT, a visually immersive "National Defense Industry War Room" was created to deepen visitors' impressions of the innovative research and development achievements in the national defense industry, offering a sense of being in a real movie scene. Additionally, ITRI's "Metal Additive Manufacturing Technology" utilized 3D printing to offer an end-to-end service for defense-related component production, rapidly advancing Taiwan's goal of self-reliance and self-manufacturing in the national defense industry.
Professional international exhibitions have always been an important marketing medium for Taiwan's industrial development, bringing together the latest products and key technologies and injecting vitality into Taiwan's economy driven by international markets. This year, research institutions and companies from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Japan, and Southeast Asia were invited to participate. Participants included Europe's largest applied science research institution Fraunhofer, the Netherlands' Energy Research Centre (ECN), Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Thailand's National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), and Japan's automaker Nissan, covering a broad range of fields such as automobiles, chemicals, energy, healthcare, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Serving as a technology bridge between Southeast Asia and advanced nations, Taiwan's Innotech Expo facilitates bilateral intellectual property and technology cooperation opportunities through an international platform for the dissemination of research and development achievements.