2009/08/24
Announcing the 2009 Lite-On Award Winners!
The awarding ceremony of the 9th annual Lite-On Award was held at the Lite-On Technology Building today (24th). This award, which all Chinese have been looking forward to, is known as the Academy Awards of Industrial Design. This year the Lite-On Award attracted over 2,000 international young designers and professionals, hitting a record high, from Europe, Asia, and America to compete for the million dollar prize. Foreseeing the potential and prospects of the green trend in economy, Lite-On Technology continues to work in developing its green supply chain business. In addition, the company has chosen the theme “The Green Miracle: Brighter Idea for a Greener Future” for this year’s Lite-On Award. The winning designs are “reNEW Solar battery charger” (Gold Award), “A Traffic Light” and “Label with Green” (Silver Award), and “Evolution for a 90-degree” and “SOS” (Bronze Award). They completely exhibit the concept of green design, perfectly integrating technology in everyday life with environment protection and energy-saving, renewable energy, and reusable energy.
Raymond Soong, Chairman of Lite-On Group, stated, “With the rise of environmental consciousness globally, a green industry revolution is now sweeping through the world. Besides the government’s efforts in encouraging green energy industries, we have also been actively promoting green energy technology and green living in the past few years. Through the development of information and communications technology to the development of green energy technology, and through building a green industry supply chain system which reaches out to connect with the world, we hope to enhance the development of the industry as a whole and strengthen our international competitiveness.” As one of the leading suppliers of optoelectronics, Raymond Soong further indicates that by implementing green ideas in product designing, it would enhance the green competitiveness of the information industry. Lite-On anticipates to bring its role, the upperstream of the green supply chain, to full play and to nurture more leading green-collar talents in the future.
This year’s Lite-On Award uses the environmental protection concepts “Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction,” “Application of New Energy Sources,” and “Reusable and Recyclable” as the theme of the competition, hoping that the competition can guide the contestants to integrate green ideas into the design of digital devices. David Lin, the CEO of Lite-On Group, stated, “The aim of the Lite-On Award is to nurture innovative talents and to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese all over the world. We have received over 10,000 entries in the past nine years and witnessed the vigorous development of the global technology industry.” With the trend of green industrial design sweeping through the world, this year the Lite-On Award invites masters of international design Peter Zec, the Chairman of Red Dot and, the Presidents Elect and Managing Director of the world’s three main Designing Associations to be its judges. At the same time several domestic brands are also invited, creating a chance for Chinese designers to reach out and connect with the mainstream of the green trend.
The Lite-On Award also hopes to influence worldwide designers to sustain and pursue the green trend through their designs, creating wonderful technology in life and enhancing the well-being of the human race. The Gold Award winner of the 9th annual Lite-On Award “reNEW Solar battery charger” (Tracy Subisak, Donn Koh and Herlinda), is an entry from the US; the Silver Awards go to the design entries “A Traffic Light” (Cheng-Tsung Feng, Yao-Chieh Lin and Bo-Jin Wang) and “Label with Green” (Shao-Wei Huang, Chung-Kai Chiang, Chia-Yi Cho and Yu-Pei Kuo), and the Bronze Prizes “Evolution for a 90-degree” (Jie Zhang and He-Peng Wei) and “SOS” (Sheng-Zhe Feng and Yu Qi Huang).
This year’s finalists fully employed the “4R” concept (Reuse, Recycle, Reduce, and Renewable Energy) into their designs and boldly applied creative ideas into computer peripheral products, digital devices, and even public facilities. The final judges also suggest that green design should not be just a wild creative idea. The designers should probe into various aspects such as society, environment, energy and mechanics to make their works mass-producible.
Tony Chang, the CEO of Taiwan Design Center, also said, “With the development of the global economy, ‘Innovation’ has become the key point to economic growth. Seeing this, the government has adopted guidance measures to help enterprises transform, focusing on the integration of high-tech industries with cultural creative industries. As the leading supplier of technology, Lite-On Technology continues to devote resources in making the Lite-On Award happen and has been the most significant figure in nurturing young Chinese designers and enhancing international competitiveness, contributing greatly to the development of technology industries in Taiwan.”
The Lite-On Award not only provides an opportunity for young international designers to stay in sync with the world, but also plays the role of helping Chinese designers around the world to interchange and communicate with each other. This year, 45% of the total design entries were from China. From the year 2007 till now, the entries from China have grown eight times, an astonishing designing energy. There has also been a marked growth in the number of entries from Taiwan, matching that of China. The number of entries from Taiwan that made the final round also increased greatly. Meanwhile, the number of entries from abroad, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, France, Italy, and etc., also continues to grow. The Lite-On Award is devoted to making the Chinese creativity known to the world on the international stage and is the best testimony of the Chinese’s unceasing potentiality and ability in industrial design.
In addition, the winners of “The Panel of Lite-On Judges Special Award” selected by the division chiefs of the company and the first ever “Lite-On Popular Winner Award” selected by online voters of the general public were also announced today. This year, Lite-On Technology gladly invited Bayer MaterialScience to be one of the Special Award judges. From the perspective of material application, the judges evaluated how the concept of green material was being utilized in each design. Three of the designs “Safe Hump,” “Road Guard,” and “MMS” were made into mock-ups using green material under the supervision of Bayer MaterialScience. The winner of this year’s “Lite-On Popular Winner Award” is “Safe Hump.” This design transformed mechanical kinetic energy into electric energy, successfully utilizing the concept of green energy and at the same time providing solutions to traffic safety, a concept that was greatly appreciated by the judges and the general public.
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