Taiwanese research organizations honored at 2011 R&D 100 Awards

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI工業技術研究院), honored for the fourth time in a row, is recognized for two of its environmentally friendly inventions, the i2R e-paper (可重覆書寫電子紙) and the HyTAC LCD optical film (新型偏光板保護膜), while the Institute for Information Industry (III, 資訊工業策進會) is honored for its development of the “cloud-based intelligent energy management technology” (雲端智慧綠能管理系統). This is the first time III has been given the recognition. Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTR, 紡織產業綜合研究所), also a first time honoree, is commended for its “all-foldable fabric ultracapacitor.”

Editors of R&D Magazine and a panel of judges select top high technology innovations of the year for the awards, referred to as “the Oscars of Invention” by The Chicago Tribune newspaper. The companies and organizations honored this year include such research giants as the 3M Company, Carl Zeiss MicroImaging LLC, Dell Inc., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, NASA Langley Research Center, all from the U.S., and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

According to ITRI, its rewritable i2R e-paper, with its 300 dpi resolution, memory capacity, and power-saving functions, can “thermally” print images on cholesterol LCDs (膽固醇液晶面板), while its HyTAC optical protection film for LCD TV polarizers has better hardness, hygroscopic resistance and dimensional stability than commercial TAC. Furthermore, the production equipment is inexpensive and environmentally friendly, using no solvents, with 50 percent less cost.

On the other hand, the III's “In-Snergy Technology”keeps users posted on power consumption in their homes in real time through smart gadgets and can even remind them to turn off unused appliances.

The R&D 100 Award is a highly coveted R&D and technology award in international research and development circles. Each year, one hundred items of commercial technology that represent a major innovation are selected from thousands of new technologies developed around the world, according to the R&D magazine.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email