Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) shows how much positive change it can introduce to the world. The non-profit government-backed organisation is pivotal in turning the island into the world’s premier semiconductor manufacturer. This time around, it has produced two life-changing ICT-enabled products.
The first product is a biomedical one. The BioMS-Ti is a 3D-printed bone implant that facilitates tissue integration. Already, the product is state-of-the-art as it uses additive manufacturing. Specifically, the implant has a porous design and can be combined with osteogenic materials to accelerate bone regeneration and tissue fusion in people who have suffered fractures or ligament damage, ITRI said.
The product builds the body from the inside and should be a great relief for people with fractures. Plus, the BioMS-Ti is also highly customisable. Thus, it can be produced in just about every shape and size as needed. That can mean bone screws and interbody cages for spine fusions disclosed Lin Chii-wann General Director of ITRI’s Biomedical Technology and Device Research Laboratories.
Another life-changing product that ITRI came out with uses Artificial Intelligence. The Portable Edge AI-DR is, in essence, an AI-assisted system used to detect diabetic retinopathy (DR), a condition that can lead to blindness if left untreated. It can scan a patient’s eyes, identify four types of lesions associated with diabetic retinopathy and classify them into five severity levels based on AI modelling, ITRI said.
The device is ideal for use in remote areas as it can be utilised outside of hospitals by non-ophthalmologist physicians and still provide early and accurate diagnoses of DR, a common diabetes complication, according to an overview on the institution’s website. That means people who don’t have a background in medicine can help patients who have eye problems with the AI-enabled device. That speaks volumes about the kind of technology AI is capable of.
Both the ICT-enabled products that ITRI has come out with are catching the world’s attention and both were recently recognised in one of America’s leading invention awards this year 2022 – an event that ITRI has been consistently winning for six consecutive years.
Established in 1973, ITRI is a central figure in the transformation of Taiwan from a labour-intensive economy into an innovation-driven one. As a testament to this, its incubator initiatives made possible the biggest names in semiconductor brands in the island nation. Thus, it saw Taiwan rise from a fledgling economy into the world’s top supplier of semiconductors.
Today, once again, ITRI is showing how much it can help in the country’s digital transformation. Smart living, in fact, is one of its biggest goals today, along with sustainable living. Taiwan, as a result, has become synonymous with digital technology. For instance, the country is set to be the launching pad for digital healthcare devices in the region. That means its people will enjoy better health more than ever. That should be a great bonus in light of the pandemic.
It’s therefore understandable why the country is fast becoming a central hub for ICT technology. In its new Southbound Policy, for instance, ICT products are top of the list as Taiwan’s export products to other parts of Asia. They are second only to the island’s undisputed top product which is semiconductors as reported on OpenGov Asia.
