Industrial Technology Research Institute

The Edison Awards, known as the Oscars for Innovation, have announced this year's winners. With the support of the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), ITRI stood out from nearly 400 nominees in the competition and collected two awards—a gold for its ITRI’s AI-Based High-Density Shuttle Rack Service System and a silver for its microbial dye technology MetabColor. Other Edison Awards 2021 winners include Abbott, Corning, Dow, GoPro, Merck, and many more global innovators.

Frank Bonafilia, Executive Director of Edison Awards, indicated that since 1987 the Edison Awards have recognized and honored some of the most innovative new products and services as well as business leaders from around the world. “The awards symbolize the persistence and excellence personified by Thomas Edison. We are looking for game-changing new products and services. And ITRI has delivered again with MetabColor as well as the AI-Based High-Density Shuttle Rack Delivery System. Congratulations on your success. Keep innovating and we hope to see you in Fort Myers next year,” he said.

DoIT Director General Chyou-Huey Chiou stated that it is not easy that ITRI’s AI-Based High-Density Shuttle Rack Service System wins a gold medal in the Innovative Services—AI Applications category. The automated vertical warehousing system is developed for space-starved cities and the rack can be 14 stories high, saving at least twice as much space storage. Moreover, ITRI has been working with Yahoo!Taiwan, HCT Logistics and iAmech to apply this system to Yahoo!Taiwan’s first AI automated logistics center in Taiwan that features the highest storage capacity here. The silver winner MetabColor, he said, uses modified microbes and the fermentation, separation, and purification processes to create natural dyes that are more environmentally friendly than chemical dyes. ITRI has been cooperating with leaders in textile manufacturing and specialty chemicals Eclat Textile and Jintex Chemical on the preliminary verification of the technology.

ITRI President Edwin Liu pointed out that the Edison Awards focus on the “real-world applications” of the innovative R&D results. “Winning two awards is a big applause for our R&D teams and meanwhile demonstrates that our market-oriented research and the 2030 Technology Strategy & Roadmap align with the global trends,” said Dr. Liu.

Dr. Liu further explained that the AI-Based High-Density Shuttle Rack Service System optimizes logistics efficiency to meet the increasing needs for e-commerce and respond to the rise of “stay-at-home economy” in the post-pandemic era. The automated vertical warehousing system incorporates the Oder-Based AI Dynamic Decision approach and the “goods-to-person” method to allow the number of stock items to be 2.5 times and save 60% of shipping time, helping increase the logistics performance during peak season by ten times. The technology has been transferred to industry and applied to a large-scale international logistics center.

MetabColor, he said, features microbial carbon source utilization and modifies microbial strains to produce natural dyes. This technology eliminates health hazard and hones in on the global trend of zero net carbon emissions. The dye production process is non-toxic, has higher efficiency and reduces wastewater. The eco-friendly process has been introduced to major domestic textile factories to help them enter the global green supply chain.

The Edison Awards is the world’s most revered innovation award dedicated to recognizing and honoring the best in innovation and innovators since 1987. For more information about the Edison Awards and a full list of the 2021 winners, please visit www.edisonawards.com.