Taiwanese inventors earned 17 medals, including six golds, at the International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions and New Products (iENA 2019), which concluded on Sunday in Germany.
The delegation, composed of students from schools across the nation, won six gold, seven silver and four bronze medals.
Among the top winners were Shen Po-wei (沈伯尉) of Ming-Der Senior High School in Taichung and Chan Min-chao (詹敏照) of National Chin-Yi University of Technology, who together invented a dredging tool that helps clear drainage pipes.
Several companies have shown an interest in the technical aspects of the device, delegation head Shen Yu-hao (沈毓豪) said.
The Taiwan Prominent Inventor League, which led the delegation, said that the nation submitted only 20 entries at this year’s event — a far cry from the four dozen inventions showcased in each of the past two years.
With the Ministry of Education cutting subsidies for universities participating in international events this year, many schools have lost interest in competing overseas because of the costs of sending students abroad, Shen said.
The 71st annual iENA, held in Nuremberg from Thursday to Sunday, featured about 800 global inventions and is considered one of the world’s leading invention trade shows.
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