The Thomson Reuters Taiwan Innovation Award was presented to NTHU in Taipei recently to recognize her outstanding record of innovative research. Prof. Shangir Felix Gown, Vice President of Research and Development, represented NTHU to accept this Award and stated that NTHU has been very successful with her strategy to assist faculty and researchers to win patents and create intellectual property (IP) in recent years. Such university-assisted patents, furthermore, are highly valued by domestic and international industries alike. He thanked the Thomson Reuters Corporation for presenting NTHU with this award recognizing her outstanding accomplishments and excellent innovations in the development of applied technology.

The Thomson Reuters Taiwan Innovation Award was presented for the first time this year by the Thomson Reuters Corporation, which evaluates the standards of candidates' patent quantity, patent approval rate, degree of globalization, and innovative influence.

Significantly, the number of patent applications submitted by NTHU increased dramatically in recent years; 25 in 2009 and 250 in 2011, an increase of ten times within 3 years. Moreover, the number of certified patents was 49 in 2009 and 108 in 2011, an increase of 220%, of which 68% (73/108) were certified internationally. In addition, from January to October, 2012, NTHU has won 84 certified patents in the United States.

Furthermore, according to the Thomson Reuters DII database, the citation percentage of NTHU's patents has reached 49% (370 times/ 753 cases) in last ten years. Calculating based on the 630 full-time faculty members, the average achieved by each faculty member is 1.2 certified patents. This further clearly indicates the university's outstanding capability in innovative research.

In addition to NTHU's influential patents, her contribution in academia-industry cooperation have also been exceptional. Prof. Gwo stated that the university has successfully developed 119 companies, of which 61 were established by faculty members and students, and eight of these are now listed or over-the-counter companies, which is 15% of the total listed or over-the-counter companies developed by domestic institutions. In 2007, the number of licensed IP rights was 25 with a value of NTD$10,231,000; in 2011, these numbers had increased to 88 with the value of NTD$39,012,000, an increase of 281%. Consequently, NTHU has won the National Science Council Excellent Technology Transfer Center Award for the last five consecutive years.