Six Taiwan-government Funded R&D Items Win R&D 100 Awards

Six technology R&D projects funded by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) won the 2013 R&D 100 Awards, given by the R&D Magazine of the United States to recognize the world's 100 most technologically significant products, according to MOEA.

Three of the six projects were introduced by the Industry Technology Research Institute (ITRI), two by the Institute for Information Industry (III) and one by the Metal Industries Research & Development Center (MIRDC).

The ITRI developed a head-mounted display called iAT for doing air-touch virtual command input, a bio-butanol production technology called ButyFix, and a magnetism improvement technology called FluxMerge for electric machines.

The iAT can be a virtual keyboard or virtual touch screen, which enables a new command input approach for computers and can be integrated into wearable computers.

ButyFix is a biochemical technology that produces bio-butanol as vehicular fuel from lignin-rich biomass and cellulose, effectively raising the carbon-energy conversation to 94% from 67% achieved with conventional fermenting approach to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emission.

FluxMerge is developed to reduce magnetic flux leakage within magnetic circuit path of machines, achieved by adjusting magnetic reluctance distribution across pole faces opposite air gap where magnetic field performs useful work.

III's CraneAbide crane-subscribing maritime container terminal management system has boosted the Taipei Harbor's terminal operation efficiency by 50%. The management system taps the “Container Terminal Operation System” from Evergreen International Co., the “On-Board Unit of Intra-Vehicle Communication” from Advantech Co., and the “e-Paper of Zigbee Badge Card ” from Eink Co., building the Taipei Harbor into “Wireless Sensor Highly Efficient Container Operation Smart Park”.

Its BestLINK is a regional area WLAN solution based on advanced version of the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi technology, aiming to provide mobile internet access in remote rural areas, which overcomes the limits of sub-100M transmission distance and poor penetration environment, unlike conventional Wi-Fi technology.

Also, the product delivers such superior characteristics as long distance transmission capability and wide bandwidth, enabling it to provide and extend internet access to transmit instant images in vehicles moving up to120km/hr.

The awarded product MIRDC developed is a Lilliputian motor measuring 12mm in diameter and 2.5mm thick, for information-communications technology products. While it is the slimmest coin-type DC brushless motor in Asia, only a quarter the size of conventional coin-type motors, it generates 1.875 times more power. Tapping an innovative axial flux permanent magnet design, the center integrates all devices and drive circuits onto the motor's printed circuit board.

R&D 100 Awards is known as the “Oscars of Invention”. This year, over 1,000 innovative products were submitted, with prominent winners including NASA, Toyota, Oxford Instruments, Xerox, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and National Energy Technology Laboratory. ITRI was a sixth-time winner to bring the number to 16.

Last year, MOEA-funded R&D projects won seven R&D 100 Awards. The ministry's senior officials say that the funded projects last year submitted 2,451 patent applications at home and overseas, with overseas applications accounting for 60% and 1,740 patents granted, of which 62% were overseas patents.

Last year, 754 of these patents were transferred to 964 manufacturers, which generated additional revenue of NT$88.4 billion (US$2.9 billion) and created at least 9,381 jobs with total investment of NT$38.6 billion (US$1.2 billion) in production of these patented products.

ITRI has transferred 13 of its 16 awarded products, including the AC light emitting diode (ACLED) and self-terminated oligomers with hyper-branched architecture (STOBA) for lithium-ion batteries. The ACLED has led to a number of patent cross licensings between Taiwan and Japan's LED makers, generating revenue of around NT$1 billion (US$33 million) a year while the STOBA technology, which prevents lithium-ion batteries from catching fire and exploding, has inspired licensed manufacturers to invested an estimated NT$50 billion (US$1.6 billion) in five years.