ITRI Receives Two Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards, Honored Third Year in a Row for Breakthrough Green Technologies

HSINCHU, TAIWAN--(Marketwire - Nov 8, 2011) - ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), Taiwan's largest and one of the world's leading high-tech research and development institutions announced today that two of its breakthrough technologies have won the 2011 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award. ITRI's Spray-IT™, the first eco-friendly, thermal spray coating for use on glass and building material to lower energy costs, and i2R e-Paper™, the first electronic paper technology to provide a re-writable, re-usable and environmentally friendly print medium, received first-place prizes in the Environment and Materials and Basic Science and Technology categories over more than 600 first-class competitors worldwide.

Spray-IT™, securing first place in the 2011 Wall Street Journal TIA Environment category, is a heat-reflecting technology for windows and other building surfaces that lets in light without straining air conditioning. Spray-IT™ is the first clear liquid insulation spray coating that can be applied to glass windows and building tiles at one-tenth the cost of existing techniques, prompting greater adoption and reducing energy consumption. ITRI's Spray-IT™ uses a tin-dioxide material that can be easily sprayed onto building surfaces and is less costly than typical silver-based films, which are expensive to produce and cannot be applied without specialized equipment in a highly controlled environment. Spray-IT™ can be easily applied anywhere, to existing or new structures, without harmful effects to the environment.

"Managing energy consumption is critical for individuals and businesses, especially in warm and cool climates where a lack of proper thermal insulation causes increased energy consumption," said Dr. Tzer-Shen Lin, division director of ITRI's Electronic Materials & Devices Research Group. "ITRI's Spray-IT™ thermal insulation coating is inexpensive to produce, easy to apply and environmentally friendly."

ITRI's i2R e-Paper™ is the first electronic paper technology to provide a re-writable, re-usable and environmentally friendly recyclable print medium -- an "electronic paper" -- to reduce traditional paper consumption. ITRI recently announced i2R e-Paper™ in the United States and received a 2011 R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine for this technology. i2R e-Paper™ has won first place in the Wall Street Journal TIA Materials and Basic Science and Technology category.

i2R e-Paper™, whether note card or banner roll size, does not consume electricity to maintain an image. To print and change content, users simply need a thermal printer. Heat generated from the thermal head uses minimal power consumption and interacts with the environmentally friendly e-Paper to capture an image. Re-using the i2R e-Paper™ is as easy as putting it back into the thermal printer device. The old image is removed and replaced with a new one - no ink, no toner and no paper are consumed. i2R e-Paper™ delivers a 300 dpi high-resolution image that remains crisp until users decide to re-use the e-paper. It is both eco-friendly and re-writable up to several hundred times.

"To be recognized for the third year in a row by an organization as prestigious and well-respected as The Wall Street Journal is a great honor," said Dr. John Chen, general director of ITRI's Display Technology Center. "I am very proud of our team's ability to deliver breakthrough technologies consistently and receive continued recognition for ITRI's innovations, year after year."

ITRI has applied for more than 14 patents for Spray-IT™, and has applied for 17 patents for i2R e-Paper, eight of which have been granted. ITRI is in the process of licensing both technologies in Taiwan. Interested companies can contact ITRI at (408) 428-9988 or 0800@itri.org.tw for more information.

Now in its 11^th year, the 2011 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards received 605 applications from companies, organizations and individuals in 31 countries. A team of Journal editors and reporters reviewed the entries and forwarded 155 to an independent panel of judges from venture-capital firms, universities and other organizations and companies. From that pool, the judges chose a total of 35 winners and runners-up in 16 categories. Judges were instructed to consider the technology's application, commercialization and market potential in addition to its innovation. The award winners were pre-announced on Oct.17 and will be honored at a ceremony and dinner on Nov. 8 in Redwood City, Calif. The event will be held in conjunction with the Dow Jones VentureWire FASTech conference.

About ITRI (www.itri.org.tw/eng)
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is a nonprofit R&D organization engaging in applied research and technical services. Founded in 1973, ITRI has played a vital role in transforming Taiwan's economy from a labor-intensive industry to a high-tech industry. Numerous well-known, high-tech companies in Taiwan, such as leaders in the semiconductor industry TSMC and UMC, can trace their origins to ITRI.

Innovative Research
ITRI is a multidisciplinary research center, with six core laboratories, three focus centers, five linkage centers, several leading labs and various business development units. The six fields ITRI focuses on include Information and Communication; Electronics and Optoelectronics; Material, Chemical and Nanotechnologies; Biomedical Technologies and Device; Advanced Manufacturing and Systems; and Green Energy and Environment. ITRI has aggressively researched and developed countless next-generation technologies, including WIMAX wireless broadband, solar cells, RFID, light electric vehicles, flexible displays, 3-D ICs and telecare technologies. In addition, ITRI's Flexible Electronics Pilot Lab and Nanotechnology Lab provide international-level research platforms where R&D can be conducted jointly with partners. ITRI has also seen significant growth in intellectual property business and new ventures in recent years and is devoted to creating a model that would make Taiwan manufacturing even more competitive in the international arena.

Fostering Entrepreneurship and CEO Leadership
ITRI employs 5,728 personnel, including 1,163 who hold Ph.D.s and 3,152 with master's degrees, resulting in an average of five patents produced every day. By disseminating both technology and talent, ITRI has led the technology industry into the 21st century and has cultivated 70 CEOs in the local high-tech industry. In addition to its headquarters in Taiwan, ITRI has branch offices in the California Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Berlin and Moscow.

ITRI, headquartered in Taiwan, has offices in the United States, Japan, Russia and Germany in an effort to extend its R&D scope and promote opportunities for international cooperation. In the United States, it has long-term collaborative arrangements with MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University. Globally, it has 23 international cooperations with major companies such as IBM, HP, Microsoft, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Kodak, Lucent and Motorola.

To date, ITRI holds more than 14,571 patents and has assisted in the creation of more than 163 start-ups and spin-offs. In 2010, the institute received five prestigious international awards: The Overall Gold Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award for its FlexUPD technology, runner-up in the Semiconductor category for its MDPS (Micro-Deformable Piezoresistive Sensor Technology) and three R&D 100 Awards for FlexUPD, i2/3DW and Reddex. In 2009, the institute also received four prestigious international awards: The Wall Street Journal's 2009 Technology Innovation Award for its FleXpeaker technology, an R&D 100 Award for the High Safety STOBA Lithium Battery Material Technology, the iF Design Award from the International Forum Design in Germany for ITRA's Fluid Driven Lighting System, and the Red Dot Design Award by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany, for its Flexio Radio Technology.