TAIPEI, Taiwan — On the opening day of the UN climate change summit COP21 in Paris, Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates announced a multi-billion dollar clean energy initiative to save the world from global warming. The largest high-tech applied research institution in Taiwan, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) shares the same determination to boost low-carbon innovation.
After winning recognition in the 2013 R&D 100 Awards, ITRI startup Cellulosity Co. has been accepted by Google’s Solve for X (SFX) initiative as a “Moonshot” for its ButyFixTM solution. This breakthrough technology, which features the production of biomass butanol in a virtually carbon-free process, has once again made ITRI an innovation pioneer.
Cellulosity Founder and Chairman Alex Tong has been invited to deliver a speech entitled “The New Generation Biofuel that Pushed the Boundaries — ButyFix” as an SFX Pioneer on November 16 at the first SFX workshop in Asia-Pacific, which was held in Beijing.
Over 100 of Asia-Pacific’s best and brightest in the high-tech industry assembled to share their Moonshot-related creative thinking. Besides Cellulosity and Google’s driverless car and Internet balloon project, four other technologies from mainland China and Hong Kong had been selected for discussion. The group discussions on the seven moonshots were particularly engaging and Alex Tong also shared his company’s research successes.
Having seen his company’s Moonshot proposal selected, Alex Tong stated that his firm is proud to represent ITRI while proving that “our innovation value corresponds to future world trends and is quite groundbreaking.” This honor also encourages other startups, he said, adding that given Taiwan’s limited resources and market size, domestic companies must look to the international market to find ample space for growth.
SFX was born out of Google with the mission of creating a global ecosystem of breakthrough Moonshot projects that can offer solutions to global problems facing humanity. Projects that have been selected for visibility under the initiative must dovetail with Moonshot ethos: solving huge problems, providing radical solutions, and offering breakthrough technology.
Cellulosity’s selection as a Moonshot demonstrates Taiwan’s R&D prowess and its potential to create solutions for huge problems facing the world. Serving as the window and bridge for the Moonshot proposals from Taiwan, ITRI hopes that this will help propel Taiwan’s innovation-oriented achievements onto the international stage.
Photo Caption: Alex Tong, Cellulosity Founder and Chairperson, delivers a speech at the first SFX workshop of Asia-Pacific in Beijing(source:ITRI)
