2008-03-23
ITRI won iF Design Award
"In order to gain additional values, Taiwans industries must differentiate themselves from the rest of other industries", said ITRI president Dr. Johnsee Lee. This differentiation can be created by the design of the appearance of products and by new functionalities and characteristics as well. However, there's a certain limitation on value adding possibilities by merely changing the appearance of a product. If new technologies and materials can be deployed, designers may have more freedom and the value of technology can be exploited.
Therefore, since last year, renowned designer Rong-Ya Shieh was invited by ITRI to lead the DUCK image design team. Based in Chung Hsing Compound, this allows researchers and professional industrial designers to have a closer cooperation, not only promoting the development of new concepts and new applications but also new patent inventions. Till now, we have released more than 20 niche products, such as "ultra thin stereo systems", a "light electric vehicle", LED lightings, ELECTEN, "roll-able air weight" etc., which has attracted much international attention and received enormous industrial interest.
Johnsee Lee emphasizes that the cooperation of ITRI and the design company Duckimage is a whole new stimulant to ITRI itself. And the partnership is exactly the implementation of the idea of "Open Innovation Platforms". Through the integration of external and creation resources and internal technology development, new ideas can be realized and developed into innovative, high value-added products.
It's the "roll-able air weight" which won the award for the category medicine/health+care in the German IF Design Award this year. The chief design officer Rong-Ya Shieh indicated that this design fantasy came from the medical care staff who is responsible for home care services for infants. Since they have to carry caring equipments on duty, a light and easy-to-carry weight is preferable for them. This "air weight" adopts electricity driven air pumps which can be inflated and deflated according to users' needs. Weight can then be measured directly based on high sensitive pressure sensors. By just turning on the inflating switch, the weight is about to work right away. It can also be pressed and twisted by deflating the air bag so that it can be stored and carried easily. For the medical care staff in western countries, this fold-able "air weight" simply meets their needs for a light weight effectively.
"Donut air weight" has won the award for the category leisure/lifestyle. The design is pretty much the same as fold-able air weight. The main difference lies in the fact that "donut air weight" is composed of many circular air bags and looks like a Donut, namely. The easy-foldable design makes this weight as easy to be stored as clothes. Duckimage also observed that many foreign pediatric medical staff had to deal with additional stress of handling bulky and cumbersome weighing equipment. Using a combination of ITRIs pressure measuring technology and creative technological product design, a revolutionary weighing scale was developed, which is light weight, portable and aesthetic, bringing the ordinary weighing scale closer to suit the needs of our modern lifestyle.
Among the award winning products, the "paper weighing scale" received the recognition from advanced studies. Its design concept arises from elements of interior design and decoration, presented in a minimalist style. Using the theory of soft electrons and pressure detection, together with thin and soft flexible material, ITRI teams are able to create light-weight, thin and malleable characteristics in all parts of the product, from internal electronic components to the display, adding a stylish and chic feeling to the product. Another notable characteristic is its ability to record users' body weight information, a good aid in weight management and maintaining one's health.
Known as the Oscar Award in design, the German iF Design Award had always been highly respected and recognised among industrial designers. From product application to exterior aesthetics, its focus is to ensure user-friendliness. Should the show cased product win any award, it is often viewed as securing an important foothold in the consumer market.
ITRI is in constant pursuit of creative applications, bearing always in mind the needs of users. To combine technologies with modern and personalized designs has become one of the core corporate philosophies. ITRI is evolving to be a leader and entrepreneur in the filed of life style products.
