The Industrial Technology Research Institute held ITRI Innovation Day in Tainan on Sept. 15, 2026, gathering research organizations and startups to present 25 innovations grouped into four areas: Global Innovation, Empowering Sustainability, Intelligent Future, and AI-Powered Unmanned Vehicles.
ITRI President Pei-Zen Chang said technology development will depend increasingly on combining software, hardware and AI, and that innovation can no longer rest on a single technology. He said that drawing on expertise across disciplines and strengthening ties between research organizations and industry can create greater value, and that the event links technology, talent and industry needs in southern Taiwan.
Frank Bonafilia, chief executive of the Edison Awards, delivered a keynote address titled "What It Takes to Win: Unleashing the Edison Spirit to Build the Future Together." He described the awards' work in recognizing innovations and compared how the United States and Taiwan go about commercializing innovation and financing startups, according to the institute. The Global Innovation area featured technologies that have won Edison Awards, among them Sustainable Pavement Material Recycling, which the institute said allows full reuse of reclaimed pavement materials, and a Prognosis Monitoring System with a prediction accuracy above 90 percent for rotating machinery. The AI-Driven Smart Water Leak Detection System uses acoustic analysis to find and locate leaks and contributes to annual water savings of about 21.87 million cubic meters, the institute said. Other exhibits included LigamiX Hybrid Regenerative Ligament Technology, which turns textile materials into medical applications, and NaPoGlass, which puts waste glass to use. The Metal Industries Research and Development Centre presented MagicABC, an AI-assisted language therapy tool that the institute said improved language abilities in 81 percent of cases.
Under Empowering Sustainability, exhibits covered energy efficiency, smart manufacturing, agriculture and aquaculture. The 3D Aluminum-Microchannel Thermosyphon Heat Sink addresses cooling for high-power AI chips, AI-Driven Precision Aquaculture Technology pairs long-life dissolved oxygen sensing with AI-enabled automatic feeding, and the Liquid-Borne Particle Counter for Wet Process Baths monitors particle abnormalities during manufacturing in real time. Fruit Intelligent Grading Technology can reduce labor costs by 30 to 50 percent, the institute said. In Intelligent Future, the institute presented robotics for industrial inspection, hazardous environments and healthcare. The Intelligent Bionic Quadruped Robot works in complex and high-risk environments, the Formosa INSPECTOR Smart Inspection Robot performs autonomous inspection across multiple floors, and the Livestock Guardian Robot combines color imaging, night-vision thermal imaging and AI recognition for autonomous patrols, monitoring images, sounds and locations in real time. UniCare Medbot is intended to reduce the cleaning and disinfection burden on healthcare professionals, while MIRDC's SafeCare AI Collaborative Care Robot assists with patient repositioning and bedside care.
The AI-Powered Unmanned Vehicles showcase covered autonomous flight, endurance and sensing. The Low-Carbon Smart Fishing Fleet System triples fish-search efficiency, and ITRI ResilSwarm maintains stable data transmission over distances exceeding nine kilometers. The Long Endurance Fuel Cell Drone carries a five-kilogram payload and can remain airborne for three hours, while Drone Total Solutions With High-Payload and Long-Duration supports payloads of up to 50 kilograms. The Edge AI Multi-Sensor Payload Module for Drones is designed for all-weather target detection and tracking, and the Inertial Sensor Fusion Autonomous Navigation Solution for GNSS-Denied Environments enables navigation when Global Navigation Satellite System signals are disrupted or unavailable.
The event also offered on-site technology consultations and business matchmaking so that companies could engage directly with ITRI research teams. ITRI said it drew on three major industry associations in southern Taiwan to better match research results with industry needs.