The Future Tech exposition next month is to showcase 88 cutting-edge technologies, including 11 inventions, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said yesterday, forecasting that the four-day show would attract up to 100,000 visitors.
Scheduled to take place from Dec. 5 to Dec. 8 at the Taipei World Trade Center, the third annual exhibition is to present technologies developed by academics that show a spirit of “disruptive innovation,” Chen told a news conference in Taipei.
The 88 technologies — selected out of more than 500 applications — relate to artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things, electronics and optoelectronics, smart machinery and new materials, biotechnology and new medicine, medical materials, smart disaster prevention, semiconductor applications, sports training and space technology, he said.
Photo: CNA
A team named iTech has developed the first commercialized radio frequency front-end module for wireless positioning under the leadership of National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering professor Mao Shau-gang (毛紹綱), who secured a US$5 million order for the module at the Viva Technology show in Paris in May.
Using the module, the team’s three products — iShield, iPosition and iFollow — can detect uncrewed aerial vehicles, identify the position of moving objects and track driverless machines, Mao said.
The team has reached out to companies involved in robotics, healthcare and automobiles in Taiwan, the US and Europe, and plans to start a firm next year, he said.
National Chiao Tung University electrical and computer engineering professor Chiou Jin-chern (邱俊誠) led another team in a nine-year effort to develop contact lenses with sensing circuits that can measure eye moisture, temperature and drug efficacy.
Featuring gold-made circuits, the lenses are made of hydrogels and embedded with a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chip measuring 1.2mm2, he said.
While Google had failed in its attempt to produce similar contact lenses for monitoring blood sugar levels, the team has succeeded in producing smart contacts, which are to undergo clinical testing soon, he added.
Taipei Computer Association chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) was upbeat about the outlook for small and medium-sized AI products, especially those used in healthcare, saying academic achievements do not have to be kept in an ivory tower.
Future Tech helps to shape an atmosphere that encourages students to get involved in technological innovations, so the nation’s advancement is not merely driven by top-down policy, Tung added.
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