Attended by over 400 leading government officials, foreign diplomats, business leaders as well as local and international media representatives, the tenth annual 2002 Celebration of Excellence ceremony was held today at the Taipei International Convention Center.

The event, hosted by Mr. Yi-Fu Lin, Minister of Economic Affairs and Dr. Jia-Dong Shea, Chairman of CETRA, was established in 1993 to honor and promote innovative products designed and built by Taiwanese companies. The China External Trade Development Council (CETRA) manages the program and enlists the expertise of an international panel of judges to select 20 Gold and Silver National Award of Excellence winners from a total of over 300 Symbol of Excellence winners.

Taiwan's President Chen Shui-Bien presented the Gold medal awards to the top four winners and congratulated them on their success.

Commenting on Unitech Electronics' gold-winning PT930-1D WinCE Rugged Mobile Computing Device - a handheld computer built for demanding field applications, Henning Horn, managing director of the Design Center in Stuttgart, Germany said, "this is an excellent example of the type of clear and professional design we have been seeing from Taiwanese companies this year. Taiwan's technical capabilities are not in question, so it is good to see that quality, appearance and ease of use have become a central feature of product design."

While by far the majority of this year's winners were IT and related products, the judges' focus has shifted from an emphasis on technology implementation and innovation toward marketability, brand development and successful consumer targeting.

"Whereas Taiwanese companies have typically been strong at improving the technical specifications and functionality of existing products, they are now maturing in terms of designing new and innovative products that meet consumer market niches. Taiwanese companies are overcoming cultural differences to build products that suit the whole spectrum of lifestyles and regional needs", said Cheng-Neng Kuan, Dean of the College of Design at Shih-Chien University.

Matthew Asinari, Executive Vice-President and Worldwide Managing Director at Young & Rubicam, was enthusiastic about the emergence of branded products. "Although I see opportunities for further integration of planning, design and marketing within the product development process, Taiwanese companies are certainly succeeding in creating value through innovation. Especially in the post-WTO environment, Taiwan needs to differentiate its products from the competition's - things I've seen here such as (silver award winner) AboCom Systems' X-Pilot Tablet PC are doing just that."

Among the international judges, Kenji Mizuguchi, International Chairman of Marketing Communications Executives International (MCEI) was also complimentary regarding Taiwan's efforts in building brand awareness. "Europe spent 200 years, the United States, 100, and even Japan took 50 years to accomplish what innovative Taiwanese companies appear to be doing in a much shorter timeframe."

Apart from technology, design and brand management, Seijiro Oshimura, of the ISO Certification Council of Japan, stressed the continuing impact of product quality on the image of "Made in Taiwan" products in international markets. "The integration of IT, concurrent engineering practices, and quality management systems is just as important as the cost factor for modern Taiwanese companies and we are seeing significant advances in this area."

Rounding out the 2002 Gold National Award of Excellence winners were Power Quotient Int'l with their FPT-DXX Travel Flash memory reader, Trend Micro's GateLock X200 broadband Internet security appliance, and Premier Image Technology's DC-3460 3.3 mega pixel digital camera.

Products were judged on five criteria: quality system, product design, R&D/innovation, market position and brand awareness. The concept of "Innovalue", a term coined by CETRA to represent Taiwan's genius in using innovation to create value in cutting-edge products, was also a taken into consideration. Award winners are included in international advertising and promotional activities sponsored by CETRA designed to heighten the image and awareness of Taiwan-made products on the global stage. The international judges will hold a seminar at the same venue on May 3 to provide insights and practical suggestions on how Taiwanese companies can raise their global competitiveness.