Nov 3 2010
ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), Taiwan's largest and one of the world's leading high-tech research and development institutions, will accept the Overall Gold 2010 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award Wednesday evening in San Francisco for FlexUPD, the first technology to enable the mass commercialization of paper-thin, low-cost flexible flat displays for electronic products, besting nearly 600 entries, including Nokia, Microsoft and Ford.
ITRI also received a runner-up award in the semiconductor category for its MDPS (Micro-Deformable Piezoresitive Senor) technology.
FlexUPD is the simplest and most inexpensive technology to allow for the mass manufacture of paper-like, flexible flat panel displays thinner than any displays currently on the market.
ITRI's FlexUPD topped the consumer electronics category to earn the overall award. This is the second consecutive year the organization has won the category, receiving the 2009 award for FleXpeaker, a paper-thin flexible speaker technology.
"To be recognized by an organization as prestigious and well-respected as The Wall Street Journal is a tremendous honor," said Dr. John Chen, general director of ITRI's Display Technology Center. "I am very proud of our team for developing this innovative breakthrough technology and am pleased they earned such high recognition."
ITRI's FlexUPD ushers in a new generation of flexible electronics. It is the simplest and most inexpensive technology to allow for the mass manufacture of paper-like, flexible flat panel displays thinner than any displays currently on the market. This flexibility allows for two-sided surface visibility for display or non-display products -- rollable mobile phone screens, e-books, e-maps and medical sensors that can be worn or wrapped around the body, etc. -- to be light, malleable and unbreakable.
FlexUPD is available for transfer to companies worldwide. The technology is easily adaptable by panel and display manufacturers and is technologically compatible with mainstream LCD production lines operating now and in the future, and is even compatible with old generations of LCD makers -- manufacturers must only add the de-bonding equipment to incorporate the FlexUPD.
ITRI's MDPS technology received a runner-up award in the semiconductors category. The technology includes 180 sensing points distributed in an area with a length approximately equal to 200 cm. The sensing points can detect the position and force of touch and provide a sensing index quickly -- similar to the screen-printing technology used for newspapers. It is lightweight, flexible, and has irregular-shaped and drop-resistant features, and the advantages of low power consumption and continuous process.
The MDPS technology can be used for producing pressure sensors of different sw3 shapes and sizes as required, and the sensors can be applied to uneven surfaces or attached onto objects completely. The sensors come with a simple structure and a very small sensing error ( < 2.5 percent) -- much better than the sensing error of 3-7 percent of other sensors. ITRI has transferred the technology to Taiwan's Universal Cement Corporation for manufacture and production, and has jointly developed innovative applications with several Taiwanese manufacturers. MDPS will be integrated with applications including mobile phone pressure controls, healthcare beds, warning devices, sensing floor mats, car mats and game operating interface to achieve a living environment with "touch-control everywhere."
In its 10th year, the 2010 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards received nearly 600 entries spanning 17 categories, 275 of which were sent to a team of judges from research institutions, venture-capital firms, and experts and scholars from other reputed companies. Judges were instructed to consider the technology's application, commercialization and market potential in addition to its innovation. The award winners were pre-announced on September 26 and will be honored at a ceremony and dinner on Nov. 3 in San Francisco. The event will be held in conjunction with the Dow Jones VentureWire FASTech conference and will feature a keynote address by Judy Estrin, CEO of Jlabs.
Source: http://www.itri.org.tw/eng/