Distinguished contribution awards will be presented this year to honor participants constantly devoted to innovative design and product development in the past decade

During the upcoming COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2017, held between May 30 to June 3, one of the major highlights will be the COMPUTEX d&i Awards. 

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the competition has continued to incubate outstanding innovative designed products in the past decade. 
Entries will be reviewed in nine categories: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, IoT, AR/VR Devices + Content, Gaming Devices and Content of Games, Cloud Communication and Storage, Systems + Mobile Communication, (Computer) Hardware + Components, Audio/Video, and Peripherals + Accessories. 

Six judges from different countries will select 77 winners from 255 products of 8 countries, including 5 gold award winners. Winners will be announced in a pre-show press conference on May 29, with an award ceremony on May 30 to honor the winners of gold awards, innovation award and distinguished contribution awards. 

All award-winning products will be showcased at COMPUTEX 2017, and then travel on a display tour to major ICT shows around the world to demonstrate the innovative power of the global high-tech sector.

TAITRA president and CEO, Walter Yeh, said: “In response to changes in the high-tech industry, COMPUTEX d&i Awards is adding three new categories: AI, IoT and AR/VR this year. And judging from the entries we have received so far, these topics have proven to be key players among emerging technologies. 

"COMPUTEX hopes to make the d&i Awards a world-leading platform of product design where cross-industry integration of new applications can be achieved to keep fueling innovation in the global technology ecosystem and to speed up momentum for emerging technologies’ application in various industries."

COMPUTEX d&i Awards continue to stimulate industrial innovation around the world, and this year the winners will be decided by a professional panel of six judges from Taiwan, Finland, Denmark and Belgium. 

Most judges believe that the competition is the epitome of the entire technology industry, and especially when startups are all seeking new markets with new technologies. The event is where index and opportunities to future technologies can be found. 

Kris Verstockt, founder and executive director of CRE8 DESIGN and one of the judges this year, said: “I am glad to see all these entries from different companies focusing on new trends like IoT and AI. They are aggressively seeking to apply disruptive technologies in their own portfolios and the results have been very impressive!”

Another judge, Nova Design VP, Roger Lin, said the d&i Awards are playing a key role in the industry by helping companies understand how innovation and design can help improve product competitiveness. 

During the process of the competition, participants will incorporate the awards’ values into management strategies, and then change their corporate cultures. The competition’s influence on the industry is even bigger when it continues to define innovation and recognize products/solutions with great design.

In celebration of the awards’ 10th anniversary, distinguished contribution awards will be presented this year to honor participants constantly devoted to innovative design and product development in the past decade.

Verstockt, who’s returning to the judge’s panel for the fourth time, said the most significant transition in ten years— which is also the biggest advantage of the awards— is the constant evolution of participating products. It might be less obvious in the past, but now 99 percent of the entries have great potential and are ready for the market, he added.

In addition to being displayed at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center during COMPUTEX 2017, this year’s winning products may also be selected to join a display tours to major ICT shows around the world, so the winners can demonstrate their designing caliber and leverage the international influence of COMPUTEX. 

Through these efforts, COMPUTEX hopes to encourage leading players to help incubate more fellow innovators for the global technology ecosystem, and work together to stand out in the high-tech industry.