President Lai honors Presidential Innovation Award winners

2026/04/30

President Lai Ching-te presented the 2026 Presidential Innovation Award to five recipients April 28 in Taipei City in recognition of their promotion of national development with ingenuity.
 
Lai expressed sincere appreciation and respect for the winners’ achievements, adding that the award not only recognizes innovation and breakthroughs, but also underscores Taiwan’s broad perspective and daring spirit that make it a model of creativity.
 
Taiwan’s innovation prowess is best reflected by the integrated circuits that it produces, the president said while honoring winner Realtek Semiconductor Corp. As the seventh largest IC design house in the world, Realtek plays a key role in Taiwan’s global semiconductor leadership, he added.
 
Lai also noted that One-Forty, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to assisting migrant workers in Taiwan, has helped over 100,000 foreign individuals through ensuring more friendly campuses and workplaces.
 
The president saluted director Hsiao Chu-chen for documenting Taiwan’s social changes and humanity through films such as “A Chip Odyssey,” which chronicles the 50-year history of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, and “The Red Leaf Legend” that reflects on the 1968 national junior baseball team’s success and subsequent effect on the local development of professional baseball.
 
According to the Presidential Office, the other two winners are Wang Jung-der, chair professor emeritus of National Cheng Kung University’s Department of Public Health and a prominent figure in advancing occupational medicine and labor health; and Shawn Wu, founder of Datayoo Application Co. Ltd. who helped develop an AI soil monitoring system and introduce Taiwan’s smart agriculture to 32 countries around the world.
 
Launched in 2014 by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Presidential Innovation Award aims to encourage all segments of society to tackle challenges with innovative responses. The seventh edition of the biennial award attracted 270 submissions this year.


Source:  Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)