Students of Asia University (Asia University, Taiwan) (AU) with five works participated 2017 Concours Lepine, a French international invention fair in Paris, and won 1 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals --- a full victory, indeed! This is also the best achievement of all the participating Taiwan universities in this contest. The gold medal was granted to AU student Chun-jung Lai from the degree program of Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) of AU for his work “Environment-protecting Plastic Tableware Made from Sugarcane Bagasse.”

The Secretary-in-Chief of Taiwan Participation Delegation, Prof. Yi-Tien Chiu, from the Department of Commercial Design of AU, said that Concours Lepine is a globally famous invention fair starting from 116 years ago, and is possibly the oldest invention contest in the world. In this year, 45 participants came from Taiwan with 77 works, and won totally 11 gold, 23 silver, 40 bronze medals and one special award in the contest. Most of the participants are from companies and societies. Among the five participating universities from Taiwan, AU is the only one that achieves a full victory, i.e., with all of the participating works being granted awards.

The director of the AU Center of Creative Design and Invention, Prof. Chien-Hua Chen, pointed out that, besides the gold medal-winning work mentioned above, the two silver-medal winners are: “Safe Light-emitting Rolling Bottle Cap” designed by students Yie-Tzeng Lind and Tao-Hsun Cheng, and “Multi-function Baby Walker” designed by students Wei-chen Chen, Ching-Yield Chen, Mi-Chun Yen, and Pei-Yield Sung; and the two bronze medal winners are: “Multi-function combined food processor” designed by students Yi-En Chiu and Sheng-Po Shao, and “Non-dripping Wine Feeder” designed by students Sheng-Yin Chiu and Pei-Ruei Ho. All the award-winning students come from the Department of Commercial Design at AU.

Prof. Yi- Tien Chiu, who was in charge of the participating process for the AU works, said that the gold medal-winning work “Environment-protecting Plastic Tableware Made from Sugarcane Bagasse” is a result of the joint R&D of AU and a collaborating industrial company. The design, due to its goodness for practical use and creativity for environment protection, has shortly been converted into a product for mass manufacturing and commercial sales, and is well appraised by customers. As to the silver medal-winning work “Multi-function Baby Walker,” it can be transformed into a rocking chair to become a favorite of the baby.

The other silver medal-winner, the “Safe Light-emitting Rolling Bottle Cap,” as mentioned by Prof. Chiu, can emit light in the dark for safety keeping of a walker or runner, in addition to its original use for drinking water storage. Furthermore, it can be used as well as a Fluorescent stick which is often needed in a concert or live show. These multiple ways of using the award-winning invention show its value for practical uses.

Taiwan ambassador to France, Mr. Ming-Chung Chang, has come to visit AU booth in the fair, and he gave recognition to AU’s outstanding achievements in the contest in the past years. In the meantime, he presented a greeting letter from President Tsai of our country to the delegation leader, Prof. Yi-Chuan Hsu from United University in Taiwan. In the past six years, AU has won 48 medals in this contest, in which seven are gold medals and one is an Highest-Honored Special Award granted by the Minister of the Interior Department as well as the Chief of the Police Department, of the Government of France.

According to a statistic of the awards granted by international design and invention contests to AU, AU students so far have been granted 316 medals/awards, including 93 gold, 109 silver, 80 bronze medals, 31 special awards, 1 first-prize award, and 2 international highest awards. This is really a great chievement of AU!