Young Taiwanese scientists lead the way

This year, seven Taiwanese high school students took home prizes from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held in San Jose, California. In total, an impressive 87.5 percent of Taiwan’s entries won prizes, the highest percentage of any participating country.

Intel ISEF is the world’s largest science fair competition with over 50 countries participating this year. This May, over 1,700 pre-college students competed in 17 categories. The first prize in chemistry went to Jacqueline Hung and Lin Chi-chieh from the Taipei Municipal First Girls’ Senior High School for their experiments with iron selenide and its electrical superconductive properties at minus 273 degrees Celsius without suffering any energy loss.

Also in May, a group of young Taiwanese students competed in Malaysia at the 2010 International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition (ITEX). Organized by the Malaysian Invention and Design Society, the exhibition concluded with Taiwan again outperforming other countries. With the theme of “Green Innovation,” the ITEX had 680 entries from eight countries on display at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. Taiwan’s 88 participants were made up of university and high school students, as well as individual inventors. Out of the 47 entries, Taiwan took home 18 gold, 22 sliver, 4 bronze and three special awards.

The results of both international competitions are very encouraging for Taiwan as it seeks to be an innovation leader as well as a hi-tech manufacturing center.