Industrial Development Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs

The Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA (IDB) actively promotes metal industrial upgrades and high values, and assists domestic businesses in integrating design and manufacture momentum for the construction of an excellent development environment. In view of this, the IDB organizes the “Innovative Metal Application Competition” to encourage businesses and students to combine metal materials and technological aesthetics, and to incorporate innovative materials and design into product developments for the expansion of metal applications and its industrial scale.

The thirteen-year veteran “Light Metal Innovative Application Competition,” organized by the IDB and co-organized by the Metal Industries Research & Development Center, was renamed “Innovative Metal Application Competition” last year (2017) in response to industrial needs and market changes. The realm of materials used in the competition was changed from aluminum, magnesium, and titanium to include all metals to draw more talents to engage in innovative metal applications.

As of today, 20 award-winning entries have been commercialized with an output value of more than NT$1 billion. In addition, the IDB has also assisted excellent entries by helping them to participate in international competitions. At present, 10 entries have received awards in Red Dot Design Award (Germany), Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, G-Mark Award (Japan), Seoul International Invention Fair (Korea), and other international honors.

The 2018 Innovative Metal Application Competition is divided into two categories—“non-students” and “students”, and three themes—“material replacement and creative living” “material optimization and performance improvement” for students, and “technological breakthroughs and value creation” for non-students. Registration deadline for the competition is June 8 for the student category and September 25 for the non-student category. Participating teams are expected to carry out product design and development using all kinds of innovative metal materials to create high-value and distinctive new products.