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Established in 1993, the Taiwan Industry Image Enhancement Project (IEP) – Taiwan Excellence Awards is organized by Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and implemented by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). The 25th annual Award this year featured numerous spectacular products of which nearly 80% are related to the five major industries that the government's innovation policy is committed to promoting. This strongly indicates that IEP, as an engine for innovation, is inspiring and driving Taiwanese brands to showcase the value of their brands and product competitiveness on a global scale.

Winners of the Taiwan Excellence Awards are rigorously evaluated and selected based on the most comprehensive set of criteria in the world, including R&D, design, quality, and marketing, as well as being "made in Taiwan". Aiming to credit products for the tremendous value they provide their users through innovation, the Awards are the most distinguished of its kind in Taiwan.

A total of 518 companies and 1,188 products have joined to compete for this year's Awards, a 4% increase from last year; nearly 70% of all entries were submitted by small and medium enterprises. After four days of rigid examination by some 90 expert judges, 230 companies and 528 products were crowned with the Taiwan Excellence Award. The competition was particularly intense in the fields of ICT (including IoT and system solutions), smart machinery, and medical biotechnology. According to the judges, the products in this year's competition appear to follow the industrial trend of diversification and greater value, which is indicative of the endeavors by Taiwanese industries in providing higher value.

All the award winners this year are innovative in their own unique ways. Among them, 30 products have been nominated for the Taiwan Excellence Gold Award and Taiwan Excellence Silver Award. Acer's Predator 21 X, for example, is the first gaming laptop in the world with a curved screen. Equipped with eye tracking technology, the laptop allows gamers to directly control their in-game perspectives with their eyes through the sensory lens, bringing them immersive and exciting gaming experiences. While the high-resolution and wide-angled Horus Scope Digital Eye-Fundus Camera, manufactured by Medimaging Integrated Solution, is the best solution for mobile medicine and telemedicine. Whereas Hiwin Mikrosystem’s Diamond utilizes cutting-edge technologies, including a vacuum preloaded with an air bearing to significantly improve productivity and reliability. All these entries fully embody the effort that Taiwan's companies place in innovation for smart machine technology. Winners of the Gold and Silver awards will be selected next February by internationally renowned judges.

For 25 years, Taiwan Excellence Awards have prided itself on not merely its rigorous selection process, but also its supportive measures of promoting award-winning companies in their target markets across the globe. This year (2016), TAITRA has helped a total of 224 award-winning companies promote their brands and facilitated 394 corporate deployments in overseas markets. As many as 88.5% of the companies promoted overseas by the IEP agree that the campaigns have been positive for sales growth, as well as feedback from buyers in the target markets. This clearly demonstrates that TAITRA is considered highly capable and trustworthy among enterprises.

Companies that have been commended in the 25th Taiwan Excellence Award are authorized by the MOEA to use the Taiwan Excellence mark, which represents the force for innovation among Taiwan's industries. The Taiwan Excellence’s list for award winners has been published on the official website (http://www.taiwanexcellence.org).