Officials said Taiwan’s armed forces units have been successful in developing new applications and environmentally friendly products, which will be on display at the Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart event later this month.
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is to have a strong presence at the show, known as Taipei INST, with its own exhibition areas for a total of 66 products and 104 patents available for marketing and licensing arrangements.
Colonel Yu Yu-tang (游玉堂), head of the Technology Planning Division of the ministry’s Department of Resources Planning, said the armed forces are to showcase products it has developed under the categories of “Green Energy and Environment,” “Smart Living” and “Medicine and Healthcare.”
“It is a big collaboration effort. Five major government ministries worked together to organize the show, including the MND, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Council of Agriculture,” Yu said at a press conference yesterday.
Already attracting commercial interest is the “Environmentally Friendly Furnace Pot,” developed by the MND’s Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, which helps to reduce ash and air pollution.
Yu said it is common for Taiwanese to burn “ghost money” at home and at temples during major festival days, but the practice has led to pollution and health hazards.
“The institute derived this new application from research on the complete burning of rocket fuels. It applies the principle of swirling winds in a tornado to a more complete burning of ghost money. The complete burning results in less toxic gas, ash and air pollution, which is good for the health of everyone concerned,” Yu said.
He said several companies have expressed interest in commercializing the innovation, and the MND stands to gain revenues from licensing agreements.
The MND is also promoting a new type of field emission lamp that uses less power and generates higher luminescence and more uniform light distribution, along with a new wireless security system for households, which combines sensors, biometric identification and remote control so home owners would not need to carry keys anymore.
Yu also highlighted other specialized technology products, including a handheld thermal imager, an all-weather electro-optical device for vehicles that uses thermal radiation to provide a visual image when driving at night, and is also useful for traveling in rainy, smoky or hazy conditions.
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