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The creators converge on trade center

Inventor Lin Yang-huei demonstrates his battery-free lighting device based on a bicycle wheel at the National Invention Exhibition, a four-day show that kicked off yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center. Admission is free and the show is open to the public. Over 300 creations that will compete for 60 cash awards ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$120,000. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

Unique gadgetry designed to make people's lives easier and more interesting dominated the array of products at the 30th annual National Invention Exhibition (全國發明展) in Taipei yesterday.

The four-day exhibition kicked off yesterday at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall, displaying over 300 creations that will compete for 60 cash awards ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$120,000.

Gadgets range from items as simple as multi-purpose hair bands and dog-collar-mounted containers for collecting canine feces to full-body wooden steam baths.

Moreover, creative and pragmatic items such as pop-up art -- featuring prominent Taiwanese architecture -- and environmentally friendly bio-degradable tableware were also on display.

"This product took me eight years to develop and cost around NT$400 million to complete," said Bill Chen (陳春輝), vice president of Dr. E Resource Technology Enterprise Co, who recently began mass production of his rice/bran bowls and trays.

The invention coincides with a recent government push to outlaw Styrofoam lunchboxes and bowls that are helping to fill the nation's waste dumps to capacity.

The products will fully decompose in water in 24 hours or will turn into organic fertilizer within three months after being buried.

The 43-year-old CEO-turned-inventor said this may be his last shot as an inventor since the costs in terms of time and money are too great and the governmental support is near non-existent.

"You are on your own," he said.

Chen also created the touch-activated lamp, but spent the profits to develop bio-degradable tableware.

An idea popped up

But for Yu Lung-hui (游龍輝), 57, the price of becoming an inventor can be minimal. Starting out as a comic-book illustrator, Yu was trained as an architect.

For the last four years he has been creating 3D pop-ups made from paper of famous buildings and locations, including Beijing's Forbidden City and the Taipei World Trade Center. His three-dimensional masterpieces can be folded into greeting cards or art-class tools for students.

During the exhibition yesterday, Yu displayed his pop-up representation of Taipei's Presidential Office.

Yu said he is in talks with Chinese businessmen to create a pop-up Great Wall and Tienanmen Square for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games.

A panel of 42 judges from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Taipei City Government will select this year's winners.

"We're looking for work that is creative and novel -- and the potential to commercialize their products is important," said Tsay Der-min (蔡得民), a mechanical engineering professor at National Sun Yat-sen University and a judge at the event.

It is hoped that the show will help to inspire other would-be inventors, he said.
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