TAIPEI, TAIWAN: COMPUTEX TAIPEI, running from June 3-7, is the largest international information technology show in Asia, according to Y. C. Chao, President & CEO of TAITRA. The participation from manufacturers is also the largest on scale among the export-oriented shows held in Taiwan.

Heading into its 28th year, the show has expanded in scale this year to include the Nangang Exhibition Hall of the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC), where global IT indicator manufacturers come from around the world to demonstrate their latest products and services.

COMPUTEX TAIPEI has been growing with the information industry in Taiwan. Working together with Taiwan brands, the show has gained its publicity on the international stage. Besides advanced technology and products, the show also includes infinite innovative design.

There are 1,725 manufacturers exhibiting in this year's COMPUTEX TAIPEI in 4,492 booths. Compared to last year, both the number of manufacturers and booth occupancy of the show have grown, by 29 percent and 53 percent, respectively. Famous exhibiting manufacturers include Acer, Asus, Microsoft, VIA, INTEL, Hon Hai, AMD, Tatung, FIC, Gigabyte, MSI, and Elitegroup. Exhibiting manufacturers are from a total of 27 countries and regions, such as the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and India, giving this show great international exposure.

On the invitation of buyers, through active approaches by the overseas bases of our council, international well-known heavy-weight buyers, including Dell, HP, and Hama, have been successfully invited to come and visit the show. Meanwhile there are buyer delegations from 12 countries and regions -- France, Japan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Mexico, Mongolia, Indonesia, Bulgaria, and Egypt, to participate in this event, which is believed to bring tremendous procurement business opportunities for our manufacturers.

The d&i awards
To further encourage innovation and lead in technological trends, COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2008 and the German International Forum Design (iF) have co-operated for the first time and held the COMPUTEX TAIPEI Design & Innovation Award (d&i award), for which a total 139 pieces of work from Hong Kong, German, Korea, and Taiwan have signed up.

These works went through three stages of screening by five world-famous professionals and evaluators, namely Christoph Böninger from Germany, James Irvine from the UK, Kris Verstockt from Belgium, and Roger Lin and Jung-Ya Hsieh from Taiwan in accordance with the highest standards and strictest requirements adopted in international contests. A total of 17 excellent and innovative design works stood out during the final stage, among which four were presented with the "Golden Award," the highest honor. All award winning products have been concurrently displayed on the 1st floor (Section I) showground at the Nangang Exhibition Hall and the 2nd floor (Section H) at Exhibition Hall 1 of the TWTC.
 
Computex goes green
Another innovative event this year is the Green IT Forum. A green wave carrying concepts of and emphasizing environmental protection, reduced emissions, reutilization, and energy-saving rose in recent years, which is not only closely concerning the life of ordinary citizens but also has great impact on enterprises. The global energy shortage has driven the promotion of green technology in the IT industry and energy saving is included as part of enterprise evaluation. As such, understanding the issue of energy saving has become new homework for contemporary IT personnel.

In light of this, the organizer of the show decided to hold the Green IT Forum this year, where pioneers in global green technology innovation from around the world and high-profile managers from international manufacturers with great purchasing power in Taiwan, such as HP, Sun Microsystems, Dell, and Asus, have been invited to speak on the available latest green products, green environmental protection policies or plans, environmentally-friendly quality demand for the underlying supply chain system, and the new difficulties/solutions for issues encountered by enterprises in their green business model/marketing and introduction of environmentally-friendly product policies. The organizers hope that all participants can transform these challenges into their competitive advantages and develop green business opportunities together.

Besides these, there are more than 50 rounds of seminars during this year's show that discuss the latest trends in technology and joint procurement trade talks with major foreign businesses, among other wonderful events. It is believed that the show will facilitate a best platform for trade and technological exchanges between suppliers and buyers.

COMPUTEX 2008 ends today.