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Award-winning inventions fail to find a market (2014/04/20)

Taiwan regularly performs well at international invention affairs but falters when it comes to turning these awards into marketplace successes. Experts blame many factors, from disconnect between schools and industry to high tax rates on the sale of patents. They urge changes in both the public and private sectors, so Taiwan’s creative minds can be rewarded. 

Chiu Jin-yi personally holds 120 patents. He has traveled around the world attending innovation exhibitions searching for opportunities and potential partners.

Chiu Jin-yi
Patent Buyer
It’s easier to pick up these chopsticks and grab food. They are easy to clip and hang. Restaurants can hang five or 10 sets. The tips don’t touch the table, so they won’t get dirty. I spent NT$500,000 to purchase the patent from students.

While some students have been able to sell patents for cash and others have won awards at international innovation shows, few actually see big profits. Only a small number of inventions ultimately are commercialized while most disappear from sight. 

Hsieh Hsin-min
Invention Association Director
We need to find a way to break the 0.3 percent curse, which refers to how only three out of every 1,000 inventions end up making money.

Deng Hong-ji
Chaoyang University of Technology
After winning a gold medal, why can’t you sell the patent? The most important reason is that a good invention does not mean it will perform well in market. For example, let’s take a look at this "floating fish" (which can be attached to a straw). A student came to me and said every time I take a drink, the straw falls into the bottle. The student asked about designing a float that would keep the straw from sinking. I thought it was very creative, but I also said there is no market for such an invention because it is inconvenient to attach it to every drinking straw.

The 0.3 percent success rate for Taiwanese student inventions is only one-tenth of success rates seen in other advanced countries. This is due to a gap between what is being taught in schools and industrial needs. Students are failing to meet market trends.

Tsai Yan-hsin
Taipei Chengshih University
(Manufacturers) typically want few complications from invention all the way to mass production. Sometimes, when it’s time to make a sample, problems emerge, especially if the technology is advanced. There could be many people doing this technology in schools, but if the products are limited to the laboratory, mass production will be impractical. Another problem is students and teachers often make inventions that manufacturers don’t want.

Deng Hong-ji
Chaoyang University of Technology
Schools should undertake more vocational or internship programs that give students the chance to work in factories. Once there, they could experience corporate and factory operations. Upon returning to school, they can pair practical experiences with theory, which would allow them to design better products.

Taiwan wins more than 1,000 awards at international invention fairs each year, but it continues to have a poor record of success when it comes to commercializing these ideas. Even more worrisome is that Taiwanese spends close to NT$200 billion buying foreign patents each year. This means that domestic patents and inventions may all be for naught while foreign innovations can find a home here.

Chen Gui-duan
Fengchia University
(Taiwan) taxes patents when they are transferred. They face a heavy income tax of between 5 and 40 percent, which leads many Taiwanese to move their patents to low-tax areas.

Deng Hong-ji
Chaoyang University of Technology
I simply said that I have brought students to Hong Kong to sell their (patents) to those who want them. The students worked hard to develop these patents. They may spend NT$150,000 in costs, and sell the patent for NT$300,000 to NT$400,000. A student would be happy to earn NT$150,000, but then they would learn that they owe the government tax of 40 percent, or about NT$60,000, the following year. A better option is finding an overseas buyer and avoiding the tax this way. 

Many find it puzzling that Taiwan fares so well in international invention exhibitions but falters when it comes to commercializing these innovations. The ultimate answer may lie with students refocusing their efforts on inventions that are not only novel, but also fit market demand. Then, their creativity could be truly rewarded.

台灣發明「金」厲害？ 

近年來，台灣成為國際公認的發明大國，在各國際發明展像是瑞士日內瓦 德國紐倫堡和美國匹茲堡等等發明展當中，屢獲大獎。
但台灣的創新發明，能夠成功商品化 販售獲利的，比例只有千分之三，遠遠低於平均百分之三的國際水準，專利不等於獲利，那麼究竟要讓創意變黃金，台灣缺少的是什麼呢?

擁有一百二十項專利，自己也熱衷創意發明，營造商邱金益這幾年巡迴世界大小的發明展，搜尋有市場潛力的作品，洽談專利權或是合作開發。

[[邱金益 專利收購商]]
筷子的功用就是拿的時候很方便，這樣夾很方便，還有掛起來也很方便，以後這樣掛起來公筷，一個桌子可以掛五個、十個，它翹起來不會碰到桌面，所以它不會髒。這花了五十萬跟學生購買專利。

有些學生因為發明而得到專利金，但是台灣學生雖然在國際發明展屢屢得獎，之後因此賺大錢的卻沒有幾位。除了少部分發明能順利商品化販售，多數的得獎作品似乎就此消失。 

[[謝新民 世界發明智慧財產聯盟總會會長]]
如何打破「千分之三」的「魔咒」，千分之三意思就是說，如果一千件只有三件是真的賺大錢的。

[[鄧鴻吉 朝陽科大設計學院教授]]
得到金牌為什麼它會賣不出去?最主要就是，有好的創意，但不代表它是很有市場性的好東西。像這個叫做「漂浮魚」，當初學生在設計的時候，就是因為每次在喝飲料，喝的時候吸管都會沉下去，學生就跟我講說，老師 我可不可以設計一個漂浮，像一個魚一樣 放在吸管上面，當我要喝水的時候，自動就會浮出來 
我覺得創意十足，但我也間接告訴學生沒有市場面，為什麼 ，因為不能每個吸管，都會附上一個這樣的，漂浮魚的模型在上面，間接變成一個麻煩。

台灣學生的創新發明，只有千分之三商品化成功，僅僅是國外的十分之一，原因出在學校教學與產業需求，出現落差，學生發明無法掌握市場趨勢。

[[蔡彥欣 台北城市科大電機系助理教授]]
(廠商)通常是希望說產品，從發明之後到量產，它不要太複雜，有時候要真正去開模，或者是說整個技術來講，它如果越複雜的技術，越容易有些一小問題
學校做這一塊的人可能很多，但是產品都侷限在實驗室裡面，可能師生的東西還沒有辦法量產，或者是說師生做的東西不是廠商要的。

[[鄧鴻吉 朝陽科大設計學院教授]]
學校應該多走所謂建教合作，讓這些學生們能在還沒有進入社會之前，先到工廠去做實習，從別的公司、工廠裡面實習到經驗之後，再回學校來讀書的話，實務經驗跟理論的經驗有了，才能設計更好的產品出來。

台灣在國際各大發明展，每年贏得超過千面的獎牌，作品的夭折率卻居高不下，還有一點也讓人疑惑，台灣既是發明展的常勝軍，但為何台灣每年還要花將近兩千億台幣去購買外國的專利，台灣本土的專利發明 到底都到哪裡去了?

[陳貴端 逢甲大學會計學系教授]]
(在台灣)出售專利的所得，就要馬上課稅，這個邊際稅率，我們現在課所得稅率是5％到40％，這樣的話當然稅就比較重，就要繳很多稅，也因為這樣因素，所以現在很多台灣人，可能把專利權設立一個中心就外移，移到低稅率地區。

[[鄧鴻吉 朝陽科大設計學院教授]]
我真的是很大剌剌地講，我都帶學生到香港去賣(專利)，賣給有需求的人，因為他們(學生)也很辛苦，一個專利 (發明成本)花到十五萬，賣個三十萬，學生一定很高興，我賺十五萬，但是(學生)萬萬沒有想到，賺的十五萬要扣40％，六萬元可能明年要繳給政府，與其如此，國外人士有人要買就拿去國外賣，也不用被扣稅。

台灣屢屢在國際發明大賽創下佳績，舉世欽佩的軟實力，如何進階到商品化，而不再只有千分之三的獲利機會，在年輕學生發揮設計能量的同時，大人們應該多加思考，如何讓這些發明之光，裡外雙贏，「創意變黃金」。

本文引用自： 民視新聞網 http://englishnews.ftv.com.tw/
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