Circular Taiwanese companies earn kudos at 2026 Edison Awards
Fort Myers - Sixteen Taiwanese institutions and companies won at the recent 2026 Edison Awards. Called the "the Oscars of Innovation,” the awards recognized circular economic business models, including recyclable shoes, furnaces that recover heat, and lower-carbon, solvent-free, and waterless medical device manufacturing.
(CONNECT) The recent 2026 Edison Awards recognized Taiwan’s progress in cultivating circular economic business models. Sixteen Taiwanese companies earned gold, silver, and bronze awards. Highlighting how public institutions and policies are vital to incentivizing circular businesses, many of the honorees were affiliated with or launched with the help of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre, and the Taiwan Textile Research Institute.
Gold winner Prognosis Monitoring System has saved companies 5 million dollars by preventing equipment breakdowns that waste time, said a Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs press release issued on May 12. Machine tool makers, energy firms, and petrochemical companies use the technology. Also earning gold, Sustainable Pavement Material Recycling, while reusing asphalt to generate approximately 50 dollars of value per ton, aims to cut quarrying by approximately 4.85 million tons and curb carbon emissions by 270,000 tons annually.
The Metal Industries Research & Development Centre has won silver with itsThermoMind Smart Energy-efficiency Combustion System. The system prevents heat loss and reduced carbon emissions by more than 110,000 tons to date
The Taiwan Textile Research Institute won silver with "A Slice of Running Shoe", which streamlines shoe manufacturing to create ultra-lightweight and fully recyclable footwear.The institute secured another silver with the CellNet Leukocyte Reduction Filter, co-developed with Sangtech Lab. The filter removes white blood cells from blood products through fluid technology that allows for lower-carbon, solvent-free, and waterless medical device manufacturing.
Known as the "Oscars of Innovation,” the awards took place on April 15 and 16 in Fort Myers, Florida, in the United States. Other winners included American computer giant Dell, Irish health tech firm Medtronic, and American chemical giant Dow. ce/jd
