CPC helping inventors with promotions

The "Republic of Creativity" project plays a key role for the more than 800 booths at this year's Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart, as it reminds inventors that promotion and marketing are vital to successful innovation.

The project, which was established in 2004 and is supervised by the nonprofit China Productivity Center (CPC, 中國生產力中心), aims to give inventors and innovators skills in media outreach and counseling on marketing strategies.

"To put it simply, you provide the idea, we provide the marketing and promotional help," a CPC representative surnamed Liu said.

The nonprofit organization selected potential innovation projects and promoted them via television, magazines and the Internet.

Liu quoted Acer group founder Stan Shih (施振榮) as saying that there is more involved in innovation than just creativity, "it is a combination of creativity, execution and market value."

Last year, 16 examples were selected and later featured on ERA television news and the business magazine NEXT.

But the project is about more than just marketing and promoting inventions.

Since its founding in 2004, it has been trying to promote "innovation" as an important factor in determining global competitiveness in the new century.

"Just like the name suggests, we hope to make Taiwan the `Republic of Creativity' in the near future," Liu said.