Science & Technology

From New Ideas to Real Profits

• Byline:OSCAR CHUNG
• Publication Date:02/01/2011

Taiwanese attendees and award winners at the 2010 iENA International Trade Fair in Nuremberg, Germany (Photo by Central News Agency)

Taiwanese inventors are working with the government to develop their creations into commercially viable products.

Hydroponics, or growing plants in a solution of water and nutrients, is anything but a new concept, with the earliest known publication on the subject dating back to the 17th century. The casual observer, therefore, could be forgiven for wondering why Taiwanese inventor Iou Lian-tian’s latest creation has been turning the heads of so many vegetable growers in Taiwan and mainland China. The answer is simple: bubbles.

Iou’s previous inventions were closely related to his day job, that of operating a medium-sized factory in suburban Taipei that produces bathroom fixtures such as bathtubs, faucets and showerheads. Patented in Taiwan in 1994, his first invention was a faucet that allows water to cascade down several tiers of horizontal plates before falling to the user’s hands.

It was about three years ago that Iou decided to focus his creative energies on hydroponics. In fact, branching out into that field was not a huge leap for the inventor, as his bathroom fixtures are designed to create ultra-tiny bubbles, which are thought to have health benefits for the skin. Iou’s hydroponics innovation was employing the same technique to create such bubbles in plant growth solution in order to enable plant roots to absorb oxygen more easily. “The invention helps cut the growing time of vegetables by 20 percent,” Iou says. According to the entrepreneur-inventor, vegetable growers in both Taiwan and mainland China have shown strong interest in using his new invention.

Although he holds more than 30 patents for his inventions, Iou began entering domestic and international contests for inventors only after the recent global recession began affecting his business about two years ago. “Before the recession, I focused on my company and just didn’t have much time to prepare for competitions,” he explains. In 2010, with business still a bit slow, Iou had time to enter an invention in the Moscow International Salon of Industrial Property “Archimedes” show. His design—a moveable foot and leg spa—promptly claimed a silver medal at that show.

Iou’s story is not that unusual. Along with competition results, another indicator of Taiwan’s inventive ability is the high number of patent applications that receive approval in the United States each year. In 2008, 7,779 patents were awarded to Taiwanese inventors, ranking only behind approvals granted to inventors from the United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea.

Taiwanese inventor Yen Man-sheng’s shoulder bag includes an alarm and break-away strap to guard against purse snatchers. The bag won a gold medal at an expo in the United States in 2007. (Photo Courtesy of Yen Man-sheng)

Grabbing Golds

Doing well in a competition, however, is a bit more eye-catching than simply being assigned a seven-digit patent number, and local inventors have had little problem impressing judges with their ingenuity at contests held around the world. At the Moscow fair Iou entered, for example, Taiwan grabbed a total of 21 medals, including nine gold ones. The most recent international event in which Taiwanese inventors claimed a large share of the spotlight was the Seoul International Invention Fair in early December 2010. At that competition, 651 items from 36 countries vied for honors, with 103 of the entries from Taiwan—more than any other country. Taiwanese inventors won a total of 97 medals at the Seoul show, including 33 gold ones.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) encourages inventors to enter contests by offering subsidies to award winners at large-scale, prestigious events. In 2010, the events eligible for subsidies included the ones in Moscow and Seoul as well as those in Geneva, Switzerland; Paris; Kuala Lumpur; Nuremberg, Germany; and Pittsburgh in the United States. Those who win medals at the European contests, for example, are entitled to receive subsidies of up to NT$40,000 (US$1,300).

“We encourage Taiwanese inventors to attend international events,” says Wu Chi-yao, a director of the Taiwan International Invention Award Winners’ Association. “Winning awards adds value to your product in the future.”

Wu, who has won several medals at invention shows, including a gold medal at the “Archimedes” show in Moscow in 2010, travels to schools around Taiwan to lecture on the importance of patents, the preparation required for attending international contests and on methods for commercializing patented items. Wu’s association also organizes three-day camps twice each year in which high school teachers are instructed in those subjects so that they can pass the knowledge on to their students.

Most Taiwanese inventors who participate in international contests do so as representatives of small and mid-sized enterprises or schools. In the latter category, teachers take part because their schools know that winning awards can boost student recruitment, while students do so because bringing home an award can improve their chances of entering a quality university. Businesses, on the other hand, compete because they know winning awards will make their products more marketable.

A recessed window design by Taiwanese inventor Ray Wang, who says that it usually takes a lot of energy and money to give birth to a new invention. (Photo Courtesy of Ray Wang)

In Taiwan, cash prizes often accompany awards for inventors. The National Invention and Creation Award, the most prestigious award of its kind in Taiwan, is granted to local inventors by the IPO. A National Invention and Creation Award gold medal is accompanied by NT$450,000 (US$14,500) in prize money.

Most international award shows do not offer prize money, but the honors won at prestigious events abroad are no less significant for local inventors. Ray Wang, a designer and manufacturer of windows often used in luxury homes, won a gold medal at the invention contest at the iENA International Trade Fair held in Nuremberg, Germany in 2009. “Winning the award has certainly helped sales,” Wang says. “When they’re selecting windows for high-end housing projects, construction companies in Taiwan usually go with Japanese name brands. They rarely gave me a chance before because I lacked name recognition. But now I’m attracting their attention by winning awards.”

Exhausting Process

For Wang, however, the process of inventing something new can be quite exhausting. “I usually sleep only four or five hours during the time I concentrate on an invention,” he says. “The urge to work on it just wakes me up early in the morning. And from time to time, I’ll suddenly sit up in the middle of a nap when a new idea occurs to me.”

Along with his energy, Wang knows from experience that his financial resources are likely to be taxed during the time it takes to perfect an invention. The window designer once spent five long years inventing a new type of window. He had to tap funds from his business, Sun-Yu Plane Window, so often then that the company nearly went broke, he says.

Unlike many inventors, Wang has been able to survive and keep working on his inventions partly because he can rely on the income generated by Sun-Yu Plane Window. Many others in the field have no such fallback. “Many inventors are really stubborn about chasing their dreams. They continue to put time and money into pursuing their vision until their single-mindedness causes their family to break up,” says Wu Kou-chen, director-general of the Taiwan International Invention Award Winners’ Association.

Eight-year-old inventor Yeh Chi-chang won a silver medal at the 2010 Nuremberg show for a bathing suit that can be easily inflated by its wearer in an emergency. (Photo by Central News Agency)

Even after an inventor is awarded a patent by the IPO, there is still a long way to go before a finished product shows up on retailers’ shelves. The odds are not in the inventor’s favor as less than 1 percent of all items that receive patents in Taiwan are successfully commercialized, according to Lin Der-sheng, a section chief in the Knowledge Services Division at the MOEA’s Industrial Development Bureau (IDB).

Evan Wu is a researcher at the Technology Transfer Center under the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a government-sponsored organization in Hsinchu, northern Taiwan. As a result, she is intimately familiar with the arduous process of developing a novel idea into a marketable product. For the development of a typical item, taking an invention from the idea to patent stage consumes about 20 percent of all resources expended, whereas the remaining 80 percent is spent on the process of moving from patent to commercialization, she says.

One of the biggest obstacles in the commercialization phase is finding ways to reduce production costs. “Your invention can boast a great design and high build-quality, but it still won’t be popular on the market if it costs too much to produce,” the MOEA’s Lin says.

Another hurdle inventors face in the commercialization process is finding a way to make contact with an appropriate manufacturer. In 2003, the MOEA addressed this problem by creating an online platform, known as the Taiwan Technology Marketplace, where patent holders could post their inventions for perusal by patent seekers interested in developing new products.

The government’s next big step toward helping inventors came in June 2009, when it announced a policy targeting four emerging economic sectors for further development, namely those of patent commercialization, electric vehicles, green architecture and cloud computing. In December 2009, Premier Wu Den-yih asked the MOEA to oversee the program for patent industrialization, and the resulting Program for the Promotion of Invention Patent Industrialization was approved by the Executive Yuan in September 2010.

Dental floss gadgets by inventor Izumi Chen. Individual inventors often need professional guidance when trying to commercialize their patents. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

“This new program is especially significant for individual inventors, who often have problems trying to sell their inventions on the open market,” says Lin Han-wen, a project manager at ITRI’s Technology Transfer Center. The six-year program was launched in 2010 with a budget of NT$11.8 billion (US$368.8 million).

Under the program, the government actively seeks out talented inventors and works to commercialize their designs. So when the IPO, for example, is notified of winners from prestigious international invention contests, as well as larger contests in Taiwan, it passes those names to the Technology Transfer Center. In turn, a 12-person team at the center contacts award winners to discuss ways the government can help. The center also brings in private companies to advise inventors on intellectual property issues, the potential commercial value of the invention, the commercialization process and ways to reduce production costs, among other topics.

The advisors also work with the inventor to draw up an operational plan analyzing the various approaches that can be taken with manufacturers who put the design into production. One option is to authorize manufacturers to use patents and collect royalties based on total sales. Alternatively, the inventor can sell the patent once and for all and receive a one-time payment. Another approach patent holders might choose is starting a business that sells the invention with a low-interest loan from a local bank. “But we’re careful about offering that option,” the MOEA’s Lin Der-sheng says. “What if the business ends up a failure and the inventor finds himself deep in debt?”

Back in 2009, Izumi Chen counted himself as one of the many Taiwanese inventors who struggled to find dealers and sales outlets for his invention. Chen encountered such difficulties despite winning a silver medal at the 2009 National Invention and Creation Award for a dental floss gadget. Since then, Chen has been selling a few hundred of the items online each month. He says he nearly gave up on his creation until he was contacted by Evan Wu, who is on the 12-member team from ITRI, as well as by a consulting firm. “Individuals have their limits, but a team of professionals can help you see opportunities,” Chen says of the encouragement and advice he has gained from ITRI staffers. He is currently using the center’s help to map out a sales approach for his invention. In the meantime, he plans to follow the advice of friends and drive around with photos of the gadget on his car.

Three years ago, Iou adapted the bubble technology for hydroponic systems for growing vegetables. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Although many of them are truly in need of outside assistance, individual inventors can also be difficult to work with. Ellen Chiang is manager of UniVenture Management Consulting Co. and serves as an advisor to window designer Ray Wang. Chiang notes that it can be quite challenging to talk to inventors, since they are known to overestimate the sales potential of their inventions and sometimes insist on applying for patents in almost all of the world’s major markets. Chiang advises against going that route, however, because filing patent applications can be costly, and inventors also need to pay annual renewal fees to ensure that their patent remains in effect in countries around the world. “We usually ask the inventor to calm down and try to create revenues from their patented invention in Taiwan first before exploring abroad,” she says.

Chiang says it is easy to communicate with Ray Wang when advising him on the market potential of his patented items, as well as assisting him with financing, as the business operator has already successfully applied for more than 20 patents. Wang believes the next step for his new window products lies in marketing, and he is considering a television advertisement campaign.

All inventors are dream chasers, and Iou Lian-tian is no different, as he plans to continue developing his bubbling hydroponic system. His goals are bigger than just refining and selling a product, however, as he is also trying to change how plants are grown. He plans to enter the hydroponic system in the Moscow contest this year. Any publicity he receives, he believes, will help pave the way for the development of high-efficiency hydroponic farming systems. “I have confidence in winning a medal,” he says, “and I bet this product will start becoming popular in Taiwan within three years.”

Write to Oscar Chung at oscar@mail.gio.gov.tw