Industrial Technology Research Institute

Industrial Technology Research Institute
工業技術研究院

Type	Non-profit research institute
Industry	R&D
Founded	1973
Headquarters	Hsinchu Taiwan
Key people	Chih-Kung Lee (Chairman) Edwin Liu (President)
Number of employees	6000+
Website	www.itri.org/eng/

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI; Chinese: 工業技術研究院) is a technology R&D institution aiming to innovate a better future for society in Taiwan. Founded in 1973, ITRI has played a vital role in transforming Taiwan's industries from labor-intensive into innovation-driven. It focuses on the fields of Smart Living, Quality Health, and Sustainable Environment. Over the years, ITRI has incubated over 270 innovative companies, including well-known names such as UMC and TSMC. In addition to its headquarters in Taiwan, ITRI has branch offices in the U.S., Europe, and Japan in an effort to extend its R&D scope and promote opportunities for international cooperation around the world.

History

ITRI Campus

ITRI Headquarters

1973: Founding of ITRI.

1976: Transferring of IC manufacturing processes to Taiwan.

1977: Establishment of the first IC demonstration foundry in Taiwan, the foundation of the nation’s semiconductor industry.

1980: Origination of UMC, a spinoff of ITRI.

1983: Development of IBM-compatible PC leading to prosperity of the IT industry.

1985: Innovating carbon fiber bicycles with Giant.

1986: Unveiling photoresist dry film.

1987: Creation of TSMC, the world’s largest OEM IC foundry, a spinoff of ITRI.

1987: Establishment of National Measurement Laboratory (NML).

1989: Institution of Taiwan Mask Corp., a spinoff of ITRI.

1989: Creation of Mirle Automation Corp., a spinoff of ITRI.

1990: Establishment of Taiwan Notebook PC Consortium.

1990: Development of 3-inch TFT-LCD displays, a breakthrough in large size display R&D.

1991: Introduction of Taiwan’s first Fire & Explosion Laboratory.

1993: Establishment of a 8-inch wafer laboratory, an accelerated upgrading of the semiconductor industry.

1993: Commencement of the manufacturing of 8-inch silicon wafers, securing Taiwan’s place as a semiconductor manufacturing powerhouse.

1995: Development of the first common car engine and establishment of the automobile engine enterprise CEC.

1995: Becoming the world’s third-largest wire cutting machine producer.

1995: Breaking through the barrier for Taiwan’s CD-ROM industry.

1996: Establishment of Epistar Corp. to complete the supply chain for the LED industry.

1996: Launching the OpenLab Project.

1997: Innovation of first inkjet printing head in Taiwan.

1999: Establishment of an emergency response information center.

2001: Development of the first linear motor machine tool in Taiwan.

2002: Institution of Phalanx Biotech Group, a spinoff of ITRI.

2002: Discovery of Type 21 Human Collagen.

2002: Introduction of cGMP Chinese Herbal Medicinal Plant.

2004: Establishment of DelSolar Co., a joint venture of Delta Electronics, Inc. and ITRI. 2005: Establishment of ITRI Southern Region Campus.

2007: Opening of Taiwan’s first flexible display production and development laboratory. 2008: Building the first WiMAX Applications Lab in the world.

2009: Introduction of the world’s first USB 3.0 thin memory card.

2009: Setting up the first solar power lab in Taiwan.

2010: Designing the pavilion of dreams at Taipei International Flora Exposition by the integration of applied sciences and arts with a focus on humanism.

2010: Establishing Asia’s first three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) R&D Laboratory, a new milestone for Taiwan’s IC chip technology.

2011: Launch of a new venture capital by Industrial Technology Investment Corporation (ITIC) and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP).

2011: Initiating the Green Campus program and promoting a sustainable living lab for green technologies.

2011: Building Taiwan’s first LED ergonomic lighting laboratory to assist the LED industry in developing high-value products.

2012: Signing an MOU with Energy Research Center of the Netherlands to develop green energy applications.

2012: Signing an MOU with KOSBI, Korea for the promotion of bilateral SMEs economic development.

2012: Establishing the Commercialization Advisory Committee (CAC) to promote venture capitals and startups.

2013: Signing the Memorandum of Cooperation Pact with VTT, marking the first step in innovation-oriented R&D cooperation between Taiwan and Finland.

2013: Creation of ITRI TechVenture Club to foster entrepreneurship in Taiwan’s high-tech industries.

2013: Building ITRI Central Taiwan Innovation Campus to drive the industrial development in central Taiwan.

2014: Partnership of laser source companies from Taiwan and Japan through Golden Asia Fund Ventures.

2014: Granting Taiwan Mitsui Chemicals exclusive license to manufacture and sell STOBA.

2015: Launching the new Machine Tools Technology Center to forge CNC industry clusters.

2015: Formulation of the Taiwan Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) in Silicon Valley, linking Taiwan’s startups to the global chain of technology innovations.

2015: Receiving the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Witness Test Data Program Certification, ensuring ITRI’s Fuel Cell Testing Lab as Asia’s first UL-certified lab.

2015: Creation of the Smart Microsystems Technology Center and the Laser and Additive Manufacturing Technology Center to bolster IoT and 3D printing.

2016: Launch of the Golden Asia Fund II by the Industrial Technology Investment Corporation (ITIC) of ITRI and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP) to enhance bilateral cooperation between Taiwan and Japan.

2016: Inauguration of the Innovation Campus to strengthen academia-industry ties.

Innovations and Applications

• Smart Living involves efforts to integrate technologies in information and communication technologies (ICT), cloud services, big data, etc., to develop smart services, logistics, and next-generation handheld devices.
• Quality Health focuses on the development of innovative therapeutic biologics, composite medical materials and instruments along with healthcare assistance technologies.
• Sustainable Environment centers on green energy, smart transportation, biomass, advanced green manufacturing, and disaster relief technologies.

Executives

Honors

• 2018 - Edison Awards for Fluid-Driven Emergency Rescuer (FDER)
• 2017 - Clarivate Analytics Top 100 Global Innovator
• 2017 - R&D 100 Awards for CoolSo, ChemSEI-Linker, The LCD Waste Recycling System, CINmat, BESTAI, CyperEpi, Power and Thermal-Aware Electronic System Level Platform (PT-ESL), and Prognostic and Health Management Software in Semiconductors (PHM)
• 2017 - R&D 100 Special Recognition Award in Green Tech for The LCD Waste Recycling System
• 2017 - Edison Awards for Ultrafast Rechargeable Aluminum Battery (URABat)
• 2016 - R&D 100 Awards for iSmartweaR, Long-Distance Floating Multi-Screen Head-up Display (HUD) technology, Wearable Walking Assistive Exoskeleton Robot (2WA-EXO), Ultrafast Rechargeable Aluminum Battery (URABat) and SpeedPro
• 2016 - ITRI wins Grand Prize and Design Recognition Award at Taiwan OpenStack Hackathon for a wearable sensor device that measures muscle signals of violinists
• 2015 - R&D 100 Awards for Plasmon-Coupled Organic Light-Emitting Diode (PCOLED), Fluid-Driven Emergency Lighting, Higher Sensitivity Tactile-Film System for Wearable Orthosis (HSTS) and PolyE Membrane Technology
• 2015 - Frost & Sullivan Best Practices New Product Innovation Award for In-Line Compact Thermal Analyzer (ICTA)
• 2014 - Thomson Reuters 2014 Top 100 Global Innovators
• 2014 - R&D 100 Awards for In-Line Compact Thermal Analyzer (ICTA) and High Efficiency Calcium Looping Technology (HECLOT)
• 2013 - R&D 100 Awards for iAT Technology, FluxMerge, and ButyFix
• 2012 - The Wall Street Journal’s 2012 Technology Innovation Awards for SideLighter and aePLASMA
• 2012 - R&D 100 Awards for Lignoxy, TEMM, SideLighter, aePLASMA, Light&Light, and AVA-Clamp
• 2012 - Aviation Week’s A&D SIC Award for REDDEX
• 2011 - The Wall Street Journal’s 2011 Technology Innovation Awards for i2R e-Paper and Spray-IT
• 2011 - ITRI as Excellent Organization, Solar Industry Awards, UK for Solar Radome
• 2011 - R&D 100 Awards for i2R e-Paper and HyTAC
• 2011 - Silver Award, The Society for Information Display (SID) Display of the Year Awards (DYA) for ITRI Flexible Substrate for Displays
• 2010 - Overall Gold, The Wall Street Journal’s 2010 Technology Innovation Awards for FlexUPD, Runner-up for MDPS
• 2010 - R&D 100 Awards for FlexUPD, i2/3DW and REDDEX
• 2009 - R&D 100 Awards for STOBA
• 2009 - The Wall Street Journal’s 2009 Technology Innovation Awards for FleXpeaker
• 2009 - iF Design Award for Fluid Driven Lighting System
• 2009 - Red Dot Design Award for Flexio Radio
• 2008 - R&D 100 Awards for On-Chip AC LED

See <Honors> for more information.

ITRI Laureates

In order to recognize outstanding individuals for their contributions to technology advancement, industrial development, and betterment of humankind, ITRI inaugurated the honorary ITRI Laureates.

Publication

• ITRI TODAYsubscription
• ITRI Annual Report

Links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, R.O.C.

• ITRI Official Website
• ITRI Taiwan (Facebook) (YouTube) (Instagram) (Twitter)