What is the trend in the medical devices segment right now and what kind of devices is ITRI working on?

Most of the Taiwanese companies work on medical electronics for home use, especially instruments such as blood pressure monitors, thermometers and glucose monitors. ITRI plays a role in trying to do more in diagnostic equipment and therapeutics. For example, one of the devices is to treat sleep apnea. Also, we have some surgical procedure products or prototypes. The biomaterial team comes out with solutions for growth factors and dental implants. We also do instruments for orthopedic surgery and minimal-invasive surgery.What do you do in diagnostics?

In diagnostics, we have medical electronics. Also, there is the ultrasound system and the OCT (optical computed tomograpgy). Also, we have an vitro diagnostics team focused on the point-of-care.

Tell us about the start-ups spun-off from ITRI and companies it engages with?

With respect to the biomedical field, we have about six companies and departments. That should be three companies and three divisions in large companies. By June 2012, there will be five companies as two new ones are coming up. One of the companies will be in December.

Then we have around three departments in ICT companies. Most of the ICT companies in Taiwan are looking to invest in medical devices. So, a whole new department is formed with ITRI's employees or our core team.
We also provide service to international companies, especially because Taiwan is far from these continents. We provide industrial service to about two to three major companies in the US and Europe. For the Taiwanese industry, we provide industrial service to more than a 100 companies every year.