Taiwan’s innovations shine on global stage, wins 16 Edison Awards in 2026

　The Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan (MOEA) held a press conference on May 12, 2026, announcing that Taiwan secured 16 awards at the 2026 Edison Awards, widely regarded as the “Oscars of Innovation”, which recognizes innovations that genuinely possess potential to change the world and achieve successful commercialization.  Taiwan’s 16-award sweep at the 2026 Edison Awards reflects Taiwan’s growing role as a vital global partner and player in innovation.  

　According to the Department of Industrial Technology under MOEA, Taiwan shared honors at the Edison Awards alongside global renowned enterprises, such as, Dell, Medtronic, Dow Chemical Company, which demonstrates that Taiwan has solidified a pivotal position in the global innovation technology landscape.  Mr. Frank Bonafilia, the executive director of the Edison Awards, particularly highlighted that Taiwan has successfully transformed into an innovator capable of delivering “highly practical products and services ready for global adoption”.  

　At the 2026 Edison Awards, Taiwan’s winning technologies focused heavily on advanced medical devices, environmental sustainability and digital transformation.  Research institutes under the MOEA (including ITRI, Metal Industries Research and Development Centre, and Taiwan Textile Research Institute) have collectively bagged 3 golds, 6 silvers, and 3 bronzes, with such award-winning technologies already being adopted for industrial applications through collaborations with major companies, such as, Mizuno and Sangtech Lab Inc..  Meanwhile, Taiwan-based companies, Ableprint and Leotech also took home honors, in recognition of their outstanding R&D capabilities.  

　In the sectors of health and medical and of human centric care, ITRI’s Biomedical Technology and Device Research Laboratories and Material and Chemical Research Laboratories worked with Taiwan Textile Research Institute and brought together the major Taiwanese companies, including Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corp., Ossaware Biotech Co., Ltd, Taiwan Paiho, and Renax Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd. to develop and present the gold-winning technology, “LigamiX™: Hybrid Regenerative Ligament Technology”.  To address the longstanding problem of artificial ligaments that easily deteriorates and ruptures over time, this technology produces a key medical device with three times the strength of commercially available products after implantation and also promotes tissue regeneration.  With respect to the growing demand for social care, Metal Industries Research & Development Centre’s technology, “Magic ABC”, an AI-assisted interactive therapy software may alleviate the shortage of speech-language therapists and enable 80% of cases of language delay to show significant improvements. 

　In the sectors of environmental sustainability and green manufacturing, ITRI’s Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories developed the gold winner, “Sustainable Pavement Material Recycling”, which is able to recycle and reprocess reclaimed asphalt pavement and thus reduce the annual aggregates of sand and gravel extraction by 4.85 million metric tons in Taiwan.  Besides, Taiwan Textile Research Institute’s “A Slice of Running Shoe”, a technology licensed to Mizuno, can shorten and streamline the manufacturing process to six minutes and adopts a mono-material design to address the longstanding challenge of recycling high-performance athletic footwear.  In addition, Metal Industries Research & Development Centre presents the “ThermoMind™ – Smart Energy-efficiency Combustion System” that provides a solution helping the thermal processing industry reduce carbon emissions.  

　In the sectors of digital transformation and smart manufacturing, the gold award-winning technology, “Prognosis Monitoring System (PMS)”, developed by ITRI’s Mechanical and Mechatronics Systems Research Laboratories, precisely addresses the risk of unexpected equipment shutdown in high-precision industries, such as, semiconductor manufacturing.  This system has once helped prevent loss of about TWD150 million in a single case.  Meanwhile, Metal Industries Research & Development Centre’s “AI-Driven Fastener Forming Quality Monitoring” is able to reduce defect rates of screw manufacturing to virtually zero.  Furthermore, in advanced packaging process, AblePrint Technology Co., Ltd. sustains and enhances chip reliability with high-performance vacuum technology, while the Institute for Information Industry has created new business opportunities for immersive interaction through its “AI Edge Computing × XR Immersive Interactive System”.  (Released 2026.05.12)   
/CCS