Watching TV and Reading Books Advanced Beyond Expectation

Highly developed, promising, environmentally friendly – are the words to describe the two new upcoming industries – E-paper and 3D. The demand for these products has been on the high as the customer demand is constantly advancing, pushing companies to innovate, create and produce the best. In Asia, the heart of manufacturing equipment has experienced a great boom in these markets and great support from the governments, helping local companies to promote their business to the next level. In Taiwan, the e-paper industry is seeking funding from Taiwan's National Development Fund to help expand the e-book market, and prioritizing the digitalization of textbooks and library documents.

Considering the ‘financial disaster' that struck upon many industries in the last quarter of 2008, has only benefited the e-paper industry, according to Dr. Andrew Tseng, the President of SiPix, which offers custom electronic paper display (EPD) to module makers worldwide. Dr. Tseng explains as a result of consumer spending being much more cautious, publishing companies have a lot of pressure and some of the newspaper/book establishments have even gone out of business. As E-book reader provides a way to reduce the cost of delivering the right content and the right advertising, the market is seen to be really positive with a lot of potential. In June 2009, SiPix has officially launched Flex ITTM Brite Plus, used for E-book application and Flex IT Standard Plus, used for electronic tag shelf labels and electronic panel displays. The demand for both of the new launches has been boosting.

As for the 3D industry – it seems to be the new vision consumers want to have. The Vice President of Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT), Mr. Wolf Chen, says entering the 3D display field gave them a chance to establish new market segments and new target audience. Being ranked 5th in the world in terms of production scale, CPT produces G3.5 to G6 substrate displays - two main areas of which are the glasses type and the Autotype in the 3D field. The 3D industry cannot confirm that the economic turmoil has provided great opportunities for business as for the e-paper market, but according to Mr. Chen, instead the market observed a dramatic fall in overall demand and consequently in reduced order intake. Although it being a difficult period, CPT coped well in stabilizing its financial situation and now can proudly announce "Our customers expect no less than the best, and that is what we offer".

With such positive outlooks, we are in the position to experience an exciting and an invigorating future in the world of high technology.

In recent years, the contribution of Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) to Taiwan's energy photonics production value is growing bigger, the production value of STSP regarding to LED epi wafer and PV cells is totaled 1.278 billion US dollars, representing 40% of total production in Taiwan. STSP provides advantages such as spacious land, cheap rent for land, and stable water and electricity supply and thus becomes an important site for the innovation technology of Taiwan's Photonics industry

Take Motech for example, the company first founded the unique business model of dedicated solar cell manufacturing in Taiwan back in 1999 when the solar industry was still at its infant age, successfully penetrating the market originally monopolized by a few fully-integrated players. The construction of MOTECH Plant 1 in the STSP was commenced in 1999, and began its mass production in 2000. In 2005, due to operation requirement, MOTECH Plant 2 was built. Since then, Motech has been rapidly developed. Photon International has rated Motech as the global cheapest solar cell subcontractor and the most competitive one in the world in 2008. At present, Motech is Taiwan's number one solar cell manufacturer and solar system installation provider.

Aiming to become a significant green energy (namely, the "energy generation" and "energy conservation") industry manufacturing base in the Southern Taiwan region, STSP has formed a high-tech supply chain, which integrates academia, industries and R&D resources and encourages industrial upgrade. In the regard of "energy generation", tenant enterprises include Taiwan Polysilicon (silicon wafer material), MJC PROBE (solar cell ingot sawing), MOTECH (solar cell & electricity generating system), Gloria Solar, Tai-photovoltaic (solar cell modules), NANO-WIN TECH (thin-film solar cell), and Delta (power converter for regenerated energy); there are also those including EPISTAR, Formosa Epitaxy, Genesis Photonics, EPILEDs from LED industry engaged in "energy conservation". In the future, more relevant R&D institutes will be introduced to STSP to assist the enhancement of industry capacity of green energy.

Since the rising consciousness of the global energy crisis, renewable energy is gaining attention ever since. PIDA invited Professor Kosuke Kurokawa from Japam Council for Renewable Energy. Professor Kurokawa has over 30 years of experience in energy systems technology, such as PV (photovoltaic) and HVDC transmission. His research in Tokyo Institute of Technology covers all spectrums of PV systems from AC modules to large systems.

Professor Kurokawa gave his insightful observation on the topic of "Intrinsic Value of PV System and its Long-Term Vision," which addressed issues as follows :

1. PV Market & Big Tide in Japan
2. Real Value of Solar Photovoltaics
3. "PV2030+" Roadmap & "Cool Earth 50" Innovative PV Program
4. PV Integration into Power Grid : PVGIS
5. "RE-EV" : Renewable Energy driven EV
6. Large Scale Deployment of PV in Deserts : VLS-PV

Currently professor Kurokawa is having talks with PIDA to have further cooperations with both the local solar cell industry & PIDA, in order to promote the developmen of advanced solar cell technology in Taiwan.

For more information, please visit PIDA's website at http ://www.pida.org.tw