At a ceremony held today to inaugurate Taiwan's innovative rapid prototyping and resource matching center, Premier Mao Chi-kuo reiterated the government's determination to build the island country into an international innovation and entrepreneurship base.
The center provides prototyping services to innovators around the world, offering 17 emerging technologies and 76 trial production lines primarily in wearable devices, the Internet of things, cutting-edge manufacturing, advanced medical devices and advanced materials.
"We hope to utilize Taiwan's advantages and creativity in the field of rapid prototyping to create a new industrial chain that boasts higher added value and relies on its own ingenuity. The new center brings Taiwan one step closer to becoming a place where more young people can turn their ideas into businesses," said Mao.
Taiwan must foster an innovation- and entrepreneur-friendly environment to put itself on the global innovation economy map, noted the premier. He added that the process of prototyping is key in transforming abstract concepts into visible, tangible high-tech products.
Taiwan is one of the best countries in the world for turning creativity into productivity, indicated Mao, as many of its companies use advanced technologies for manufacturing information and communications technology (ICT) products.
"To put our prototyping advantages into play, not only should we find systems integrators who have good managerial ability and can make prototypes, but there should be ICT companies that are able and willing to manufacture such creative products."
As such, the government, which owns the most complete information, should take the initiative to help build a matching platform between creative talents and suitable manufacturers as well as a rapid prototyping environment, and the private sector can take it from there, Mao said.
Using quick prototyping to make innovative products requires systems integration, Mao said. During the processes of linking, incorporating and managing systems, it is essential to avoid the pitfalls of cut-throat price competition and low-margin production that are often seen in traditional OEM (original equipment manufacturing) and ODM (original design manufacturing) models. Premier Mao invites all sectors to consider the OBM (original brand manufacturing) approach by granting preemptive rights, developing good products, and then applying quick prototyping advantages.
Premier Mao gave special thanks to the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Industrial Technology Research Institute and local businesses for planning and establishing the center.
"The operative word for the center is 'rapid,' so I hope the center can rapidly make successful matches and generate the kind of explosive growth people want to see when developing the industry."