ITRI Earns 2015 Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award

HSINCHU, TAIWAN--(Marketwired - Mar 11, 2015) - ITRI's technology has chalked up more global accolades! After receiving a 2014 R&D 100 Award in November of last year, ITRI's In-Line Compact Thermal Analyzer (ICTA) has now been singled out by the global growth partnership consulting company Frost & Sullivan for its Best Practices New Product Innovation Award for 2015. Frost & Sullivan recognized the unique technology and the impact that it can have on clients after analyzing its strengths through the in-depth analysis of Frost & Sullivan's patented 360-Degree Research Methodology. The innovative technology and competitive advantage of the product in the marketplace highlights the innovation-oriented R&D prowess of Taiwan. Other award recipients this year include top global companies that have achieved excellence, such as AT&T, Intel Corporation, and Honeywell Sensing & Control.

"ITRI rightly identified the need for a high-performing and high-precision in-line thermal testing device. While most of the in-line thermal analyzer test equipment used for LED manufacturing available in the market are complex, time-consuming, and allow for testing only in the laboratory at the product design stage or post-production, ICTA allows for detecting defects in real time during the production process," said Dr. Rajender Thusu, Frost & Sullivan industry principal. "Leveraging its innovative excellence in designing the ICTA technology in-line testing device that guarantees improved production performance, an extended lifespan, and faster analysis has been fundamental to ITRI's creation of a milestone in the in-line thermal analyzer product profile in the optoelectronics market. The distinct capability of the technology to enable high-precision thermal structure analysis during the production process is highly commendable."

Frost & Sullivan each year identifies what it deems to be innovative products, technologies, companies, and individuals from throughout the world, hoping to promote innovation in the global economy and to provide a positive force and encouragement to the award recipients. Japan's Hitachi Appliances and Britain's Bourn Hall International, which developed the IVF fertility treatment, have received these prestigious awards in the past. Frost & Sullivan's industrial analysis team turns to its 360-Degree Research Methodology using existing products on the market as a benchmark and then relying on in-depth interviews and secondary data to carry out a thorough assessment of the nominees. Consequently, the award recipients not only have distinguished themselves amid market challenges and trends, but also are examples of successfully judging markets, technology, economics, finance, customers, demographics and products.

Dr. Ming-Jer Kao, ITRI's deputy general director of Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, commented that this is the first time ITRI has earned the Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award, which represents the innovative and market-driven focus of ITRI's optoelectronics technology research. ITRI, he said, not only is the industry's best partner in innovation, but also helps to further generate commercial value. In the field of optoelectronics, ITRI engages in state-of-the-art R&D in flexible electronics, advanced lighting, semiconductors and human-machine interface, integrating innovative technologies and systems from various disciplines to create roll-to-roll production technology, next-generation OLED technology, handheld 3D scanners, smart glasses, and groundbreaking electronics components and systems. The award-winning ICTA is able to enhance efficiency, lower defect rates, and rapidly identify defective LEDs on the production line that exhibit less-than-ideal thermal resistance, constituting an extremely important tool in the production of LEDs, now numbering over 100 billion annually.

Thermal performance has always been the primary factor impacting the life and light quality of LEDs. The In-Line Compact Thermal Analyzer that ITRI has developed can, within three minutes, measure the complete thermal structure of an LED device. This technology has also been successfully integrated into automatic LED sorting machines, creating the world's first automatic thermal analyzer, which offers a measurement speed of 12,000 LEDs per hour, or a rate of just 0.3 second per component. This is 2,000 times faster than the traditional method in a lab in which only six components could be measured per hour.

ITRI and MPI Corp. have engaged in technology cooperation that has yielded the world's first transient thermal structure and in-line thermal resistance analyzer. This equipment was put into mass production at the end of last year, providing real-time monitoring and screening of defective products on production lines. The optimization of the production process can significantly lower LED lighting defect rates and improves the product quality, which will be to the benefit of consumers when purchasing LED products.

About ITRI
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is one of the world's leading technology R&D institutions aiming to innovate a better future for society. Founded in 1973, ITRI has played a vital role in transforming Taiwan's industries from labor-intensive into technology-oriented. Over the years, ITRI has cultivated more than 140 CEOs and incubated over 260 innovative companies, including well-known names such as UMC and TSMC.

ITRI focuses on the fields of Smart Living, Quality Health, and Sustainable Environment. In addition to its headquarters in Taiwan, ITRI has branch offices in Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Berlin, Moscow and Eindhoven in an effort to extend its R&D scope and promote opportunities for international cooperation around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.itri.org/eng.