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December 05, 2017, Taipei, Taiwan – The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) today announced the ten winners of the 26th Taiwan Excellence Gold Award.  This year, we were delighted to see the winning products transcend beyond information and communication products to the machine tools and hi-tech medical devices which serve as the economic growth foundation for any developed countries.  Furthermore, we also see that the winning products were in line with Taiwan’s government’s 5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan, aiming to boost industrial competitiveness and improve corporate earnings, while simultaneously raising wages and stimulating employment. 

The 10 winners were selected by a panel of international judges based on the criteria of R&D, Design, Quality and Marketing. They not only represent the most revolutionary, highest quality and highest value-added products made by Taiwan, but also epitomize Taiwan's unique genius in using innovation to create additional value in R&D, Design, Quality and Marketing of cutting-edge products.

Founded in 1992, Taiwan Excellence Awards was formulated by TAITRA to assist Taiwan brands to enter and expand to the global market under the guiding and sponsoring of the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) of Taiwan.

As all of the judges unanimously agreed that the winning products have advanced from quality manufacturing to embracing needs of end users over the course of the years, they have also pointed out consumer-oriented products such as monitors and bicycles may account for large part of Taiwan’s GDP. However, machine tools that assist manufactures to produce all layers of products are the cornerstone of a nation’s economic growth as it is less influenced by economic downturns and best showcases a nation’s technological capacity. 

To resonate this, Quality Judge Prof. Seijiro Oshimura, Managing Director of the Management Research Institute in Tokyo and Quality Judge, pointed out that 2 machine tools companies won the Awards this year, one for Gold Award and the other for Silver Award.  He noted these companies were able to take the best advantage of attending the selection and transforming themselves from Taiwan local brands to a global brands.  By achieving this, they have also assisted Taiwan to accelerate its technology in basic industry, which in times may form one of the key drives of Taiwan’s economic growth.  

“Taiwan Excellence Awards is a 3-win for Taiwan brands, for Taiwan and for the international community,” praised by R&D Judge Steven Y. Liang, Jr. Professorship in Mechanical Engineering for Advanced Manufacturing Systems.  He further explained that the winning brands speak for innovation and global marketing capacity.  By assisting these brands to go global, Taiwan government is able to reinforce its image of technological innovation and cutting-edge design and the global community benefits from such products massively.  

Marketing Judge Joe Pidgeon, Co-Founder, Best of Britannia, spoke high of the winning brands’ abilities to embrace the rise of social media and utilize them to get their desired messages crossed to the target audience.  Giant’s Langma Advanced SL bike, designed exclusively for women, served the best example of this.

Design Judge Antonello Marega, Taiwan Ambassador for Associazione per il Disegno Industriale, ADI, said that Taiwan’s companies have evolved from manufacturing to designing from end-users’ perspectives and solving their problems, which truly are consumers brands.  To achieve that, the ten winning products of Taiwan Excellence Gold Awards have achieved that by being ready to serve end-users 24x7 and to come out with a clear proposition of their products.

TAITRA tours the world each year through Asia, Europe and North America to promote the products of Taiwan Excellence Awards, which best showcase Taiwan’s culture of technological innovation and leading-edge design.  Through multi and integrated campaigns and tools, including events and exhibitions, as well as experience and digital marketing, Taiwan government aims to increase the acknowledgement of the winning brands, which encapsulates the Innovalue (innovation + add-value) of Taiwan products, and to boost the business opportunities for them.

2018 Taiwan Excellence Gold Awards List

2018 Taiwan Excellence Silver Awards List