ITRI announces Taiwanese challenge in the ESNC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 14, 2008 -- Taiwan's premier R&D organization - The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) announced Taiwan will take part in the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), which awards EU's best ideas for innovative satellite navigation applications. This program is aimed to encourage the innovation of satellite navigation applications for Galileo.

Taiwan is honored to be the only Asian country taking part in the ESNC 2008, which was expanded to non-European Union countries. "ITRI has being invited to take part in the contest because of its successful experiences of bringing in the high-tech expertise and industrial innovation, as well as, Taiwan's abundant industrial resources, outstanding high-tech environment," ESNC Chairman, Thorsten Rudolph said in the ESNC kick-off news conference.

The ITRI President Johnsee Lee said more than 30 years ITRI had accumulated expertise to turn laboratory success into industrial realization, especially in semiconductor, telecommunication technologies, electronics and terminal devices that has been a crucial contribution to Taiwan's economic success. In fact, Taiwan is the home of GNSS's related products manufacturers.

Apart from the General Topic, the contest also offers "Special Topic Prizes" and "Regional Theme Prizes". The applications may range from medical services to wireless communication to transportation navigation systems. The ITRI has invited industrial experts as advisors, such as Japan's AIST President Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, India's Infosys Technologies Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy, Thailand's NSTDA President Sakarindr Bhumiratana, the U.S.A.'s SRI Chairman Dr. Curt Carlson, and iD SoftCapital Group Chairman Stan Shih. Meanwhile, Google Greater China President Kai-Fu Lee and other experts in innovations are invited to be this year's panel of judges.

MOEA Vice Minister Yen-Hsiang Shih said he was glad to see Taiwan's participation in the competition. "This is a rare opportunity for Taiwan's research and development engineers to be more closely linked to the international community, which is important for Taiwan's technology industry," he said.

~~~Special Topic Prizes –Having Fun with Galileo~~~

First-place winner of Taiwan's special topic - "Having Fun with Galileo" will not only win a prize of Euro 20,000 but also receive access to ITRI's Incubation Center to engage in R&D. The winner will also receive start-up assistance and advisory services.

~~~Regional Theme Prizes~~~
The Regional Awards are aimed to encourage innovations or ideas throughout the world. The winner will win a prize of Euro 10,000. Five addition Honorable Mention winners will win a prize of Euro 1,000 each.

Competitors shall submit their works into official Idea Database (to be opened on May 1, 2008 and closed on July 31, 2008) through official ESNC 2008 Taiwan Region Website (http://galileo.itri.org.tw)


For more information, please visit the websites below:
http://www.allproducts.com/ee/itri

ESNC     Galileo Satellite Project     Having Fun with Galileo     ITRI