"We expect the project to create an economic value equal to over ten times the original investment amount," he said.
Promoting the project is not easy, given that the different manufacturers have different manufacturing procedures and skills, which makes it difficult to integrate technology, especially as many of the older masters are headstrong and refuse to change old traditions in the family business, Chang said.
Fortunately, the second generation of manufacturers is willing to change, especially after seeing the threat posed by China, which is now the largest saxophone exporter in the world with a market share of 50 percent, he said.
Another significant result of the project is an experimental home-made saxophone, which applied ITRI technology to improve the sound quality, and was redesigned to cater to Asian physical features -- particularly the size of hands, length of fingers and proportions.
Yen Ching-shyan (顏慶賢), a Taiwanese saxophonist who has started a saxophone course at National Taiwan University of Arts and is a leader of the project, said the quality of the preliminary finished product is approaching that of Selmer, a French brand that produces the world's top-graded professional musical instruments.
The new model of saxophone is forecast to enter mass production within the next two years, Yen said.
"Now all we need is a great marketing strategy to enable the world to listen to the sound of Taiwan," Yen said.
To demonstrate the results of this fruitful project, the saxophone manufacturers are planning to showcase their products sometime later this month.
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