Taiwan last week topped the medal table at a global invention competition, finishing with a total of 45, Taiwan’s Chinese Innovation and Invention Society said yesterday.
At the annual International Salon of Inventions and New Technologies on Monday last week, Taiwan won 31 gold medals, 11 silver and three bronze, with inventions ranging from sports applications to healthcare devices, the society said.
While Taiwan bagged fewer medals than last year’s 50, its gold medal count increased to 31, compared with last year’s 29, and the nation finished at the top of the table with 45 medals, it said.
Photo: CNA
One of Taiwan’s inventions that won gold was a healthcare device that Matthew Ma (馬惠明), vice superintendent of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Yunlin branch helped to develop, the society said.
Without contact, the detection device monitors a person’s heart rate and breathing via a camera, with sensors transmitting data to an artificial intelligence center that analyzes their condition, it said.
Another notable entry to the virtual contest in Crimea, Ukraine, was a sports training device invented by a university team that was led by retired Taiwanese basketball player Hsu Chih-chao (許智超), who was once the nation’s top midrange shooter in the Super Basketball League.
The device can be used for a range of sports, serving as a warm-up machine for competing athletes or a training device for weightlifters, for example, said Hsu, who now teaches at Hungkuo Delin University of Technology.
The contest typically draws contestants from across the globe and lasts several days, with the submissions displayed at exhibition centers, but, due to COVID-19, this year’s event was held virtually on one day in Sevastopol, the society said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National