Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) hosts the Next Wave Sky Industry Business Opportunity Forum and Taiwan’s Award Ceremony of European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2009. The event also marks the establishment of the Global Galileo Industry Alliance (GGIA), which is expected to create a market in NT$3.7 trillion in 2012.
Today (Nov. 2) Industrial Technology
Research Institute
(ITRI) hosts the Next Wave Sky
Industry Business Opportunity Forum and Taiwan’s Award Ceremony
of European
Satellite Navigation
Competition (ESNC) 2009. The event also marks the establishment
of the Global Galileo
Industry Alliance (GGIA).
Thorsten Rudolph, Chairman of ESNC, Johnsee Lee, President of ITRI, Wen-Hsin Chan, Consultant of
Department of
Industrial Technology, MOEA and Christian Stammel, CEO of Navispace AG
discuss
the huge business
opportunities of the Galileo satellite system which is expected
to create a market of NT$3.7 trillion in 2012.
Lee points out, ITRI
looks forward to integrating world resources of related industries
through GGIA in order to bring
new business opportunities, while through
participating ESNC
to induce creative ideas in the applications of
satellite communication technology.
ITRI
will also
provide
incubation and assistance
to Taiwan's
business sector so that local industries will make big contribution in providing
innovative products and
services of world satellite applications.
Lee says, Taiwan's
competitive edge lies in its strong ODM and OEM including such fields
as
semiconductor chip sets, modules, system integration, and terminal
products,
while European
companies
are specialized in critical components and
software capability such as geographic information system (GIS) map
databases,
navigational engine software, and other innovative applications.
GGIA enables Taiwan
and Europe
to complement each other and facilitate more exchange of their
resources and
R&D experiences. ITRI
expects Taiwan
business firms could maintain their
advantages and strengthen developments of innovative applications so
that Taiwan
will
become a part of supply chain of
global satellite industry.
Chan says, EC started
building Galileo satellite system in 2002,
and expects to launch the system in 2013.
The system's higher
accuracy and wider coverage enables it to provide multiple value-added
applications and create new industries and more job opportunities.
Starting from
2006, MOEA initiated cooperation and exchange with EC satellite
industries. With Taiwan's
efforts in satellite technology development, the nation sales
of satellite terminal devices account for 20.3%
of world's market share. Based on Taiwan's
superior deign and manufacturing capability,
MOEA is confident that Taiwan's business firms will develop the
critical
technologies required by Galileo and GPS navigational products, and successfully become one of the
major
suppliers of satellite navigational products in the world.
In April this year, ITRI signed the LOI with AZO, sponsor
of ESNC, to initiate cooperation between Taiwan's
business firms and their partners in the world.
In August, Navispace ordered 10,000 units of Smart
Personal Trackers
from Taiwan's
satellite navigational manufacturer Wonde Proud Technology Co., Ltd.
through
the effort of GGIA. In
October,
Septentrio2 of Belgium visited 12 Taiwan
companies, including Tai-Saw
Technology Co., Ltd., Faraday Technology Corporation, Alchip
Technologies, for
purchasing satellite navigational hardware products and working out
technical
cooperation arrangements.
ITRI's
cooperation with the EC sets
another milestone by inviting Mr. Christian Stammel to introduce the
business
opportunities in the upper, middle, and lower chains of Galileo
project, EC's
Galileo R&D experience.
Mr. Stammel's participation
will consolidate the cooperation of satellite navigational industries
between Taiwan
and the EC.
Company
Introduction
Navispace
AG: It is located in Munich,
which
provides technology marketing
and technology consultation in four major fields, including 1)
geographical
information; 2) satellite navigation; 3) telecommunications technology;
4)
leisure life. The
company endeavors to
transfer new technologies for commercialization, and provide product
launching
planning and comprehensive information exchange platform.
Septentrio: It is
located in Leuven,
Belgium.
Its
operations include R&D, manufacture, marketing and sales of
satellite
navigation products. It
focuses on high end GNSS (Global
Navigation Satellite System, which means Galileo Satellite System)
products. It
offers a wide range of products including
OEM printed circuit
boards to complete systems; single channel to multiple channels; single
GPS to
GPS/GLONSS/Galileo. The company is an important founding member of the
Galileo
project and supplier of key satellite navigation products.
The Creative Idea of Taiwan Takes 2nd Place In European Satellite Navigation Competition 2009
The award ceremony
of
European
Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2009 takes place today (Nov.
2) at Far Eastern Plaza Hotel.
Thorsten Rudolph, Chairman of ESNC, Johnsee Lee, President of ITRI, and
Wen-Hsin Chan, Consultant of DOIT, MOEA present awards to Taiwan winners.
Taiwan's participants of ESNC 2009 also garnered the 2nd
place
of the
regional
competition and the
championship of special topic award.
ESNC started in EC
in 2004.
Originally,
participants of the competition were limited to European Community
countries.
Taiwan became the only
participating
country in Asia
last year.
The number of
entries submitted by Taiwan's
participants last year was the highest among all participating regions.
In 2009, there are 18 regions
participating ESNC, and there are total 289 entries.
Participants from
Taiwan
submitted 48 entries, accounting for 17% of all.
Taiwan's participating
entry - Shadow
Guide - A guiding solution for a group of
people
to enjoy their trip leisurely
and consciously - took the 2nd place of the ESNC
2009. It is a
navigational device which can be encased into a package the size of a
wrist
watch. In addition to single direction display function, it enables
multiple
users in a group to communicate with one another. Traditional GSM
navigation
requires the users to pay for service.
However, Shadow Guide will make
use of satellites of Galileo project
free of charge, and its monitoring capability will be extended from
several
meters to several kilometers. In the final competition of ESNC 2009,
the
product took the second place when it was compared with entries from 18
other
competing areas. The judges of ESNC 2009, who are from the 18
competing regions, were impressed
with the idea's innovative features, and its making the best
use of satellite positioning technology.
The idea also has a high
potential of commercialization. The creative concept of
this solution came from ITRI
South,
the southern branch of ITRI.
Information and
Communications Research Laboratories (ICRL) of ITRI got the
citation for design
excellence at the ESNC 2009 in
Taiwan
area. ICRL entered its "TravMate - Stay connected
with locals and new friends on trip".
The product was awarded "special topic winner" among 66
competing teams
from over the world. The special topic was sponsored
by NAVTEQ,
the leading Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data company in the
world.
TravMate
integrates satellite positioning and pedestrian navigation technology.
It enables a
foreign tourist to access local socializing networks so that the
tourist can
interact with local friends and overcome cultural and language barriers
and
access local services such as dining, accommodation, transportation and
recreation, etc. NAVTEQ gave the idea the highest mark because it matches the
theme of LBS (location-based service) and has a high potential of commercialization.
Starting from this
year, ITRI
established a value-added mechanism
designed to help participating teams of ESNC. ITRI will offer
participating teams to
take advantage of ITRI's
“value
creation education session”. Each session will
last 4 to 6 months.
ITRI’s experts will
offer consultation and education in five aspects, including creative
thinking,
market insight, R&D management, intellectual property value
addition, and
business development. These five capabilities are required to start a
promising
venture. During the
education process, ITRI
will help the participating teams
generate “Three P's” - rapid prototyping (RP), intellectual
property (IP), and
business plan (BP). After this
process, ITRI's
assistance will link the
participating teams to its incubation center, venture capital
providers, and
big business partners so that the innovative product concept can be
turned into
a start-up business.
One of the outstanding products selected
through the incubation process is "AREA 911", which offers rescue
functions in case emergency occurs. The
fire-resistant product provides telecommunication, global positioning,
life-sustaining, life-exploring, and floating functions. It can be
embedded
into homes, commercial buildings, and ships. ITRI will
continue to provide evaluations
and suggestions to companies which took part in ESNC 2009.
ITRI
will also provide
start-up consultation and venture capital to companies with promising
satellite
terminal products.