Taipei, 6 March 2012
Successful premier of the first TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards
There were 74 prize winners to accept the first TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards during the TAIPEI CYCLE Show this year – and five of them received a special honor: they were the winners of a Gold Award for outstanding design achievements in this new competition.
During the 25th run of the international TAIPEI CYCLE bicycle show (in Taipei from 7 to 10 March 2012), a new award of the same name, the TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards, was presented for the first time. Some 207 entries were submitted in the competition - 74 were able to convince the judges and will be on display during the show in an exhibition of their own. During the official Awards Ceremony on 7 March 2012, five of those winners will be specially honored with the presentation of the Gold Award, an award given by the experts for exceptional achievements in innovation and design.
This new competition was hosted by the TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) and the TBEA (Taiwan Bicycle Exporters’ Association). It was organized and carried out by iF International Forum Design GmbH, by the iF Branch Office Taiwan.
“The most important point,” stated Mr. Y.C. Chao, CEO & President of TAITRA, “is that the honor of these awards does not end with the ceremony. On the contrary, it launches a whole new beginning that helps more awarded MIT products into the global market through the promotion channels of TAITRA. Executed by iF International Forum Design, the TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards is a prime communication platform for manufacturers, designers, dealers, importers/exporters and retailers. We hope this event will give the Taiwanese bicycle industry added strength and energy to make it even more competitive in the future.”
Judges – Evaluation criteria – Categories – Award winners
The TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards give manufacturers and the retail trade an effective marketing instrument with which they can position themselves on the market and stand out better from the stiff competition.
The jury, consisting of Ader Chen (Xcellent design, Taipei/Taiwan), Francois Liang (Cycling and Health Tech. Industry R&D Center CHC, Taichung/Taiwan), Hiroaki Tanaka (GEO design, Tokyo/Japan), Johann Geiger (Da-Yeh university, Chunghua/Taiwan) and Martin Kessler (Process Design, Zurich/Switzerland), evaluated the products entered according to the following evaluation criteria:
Level of innovation, quality of design, choice of materials, environmental impact, range of function, load capacity, safeness, universal design as well as brand value and branding.
The products were entered in the following categories:
1. Bicycles
2. Components
3. Clothing and equipment for cyclists
4. Accessories
The prize winners
Of a total 207 entries, the jury of experts selected 74 products as prize winners, as follows:
- 69 products received a TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards 2012
- 5 products also received a Gold Award
The five Gold-Award winners of the
TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards 2012
1.
Category: Bicycles
Product: OBO ATX | bicycle
Company: Giant Manufacturing Co., KTD, Taichung/Taiwan
Design: Giant Manufacturing Co., KTD, Taichung/Taiwan
Jury’s Opinion: “This bike looks simple only at first glance– if you take a closer look, you’ll see the wonderfully balanced proportions and the consistent attention to detail. Everything is perfectly coordinated – it’s simply great!”
2.
Category: Components
Product: SABS Frequency Brake | ABS braking system
Company: Ke Chiuan Technology Corp., Taichung City/Taiwan
Design: Ke Chiuan Technology Corp., Taichung City/Taiwan
Jury’s Opinion: “Finally a simple – and a simply revolutionary – ABS system for bicycles! It makes bike-riding easier and improves riding safety. In addition, the design of the product is simply excellent!”
3.
Category: Components
Product: Sealant compatible tire | Bicycle tires
Company: KENDA Rubber Ind. Co., LTD. Yuanlin Town/Taiwan
Design: KENDA Rubber Ind. Co., LTD. Yuanlin Town/Taiwan
Jury’s Opinion: “This bicycle tire is an outstanding technological innovation – it marks the beginning of a completely new era in biking! And it makes biking easier for cyclists by doing away with an old nuisance.”
4.
Category: Components
Product: Kool Knight Chain | Bicycle chain
Company: KMC Chain Industrial Co., Ltd., Tainan County/Taiwan
Design: Ming Hsiao Hsieh, Steven Yang
KMC Chain Industrial Co., Ltd., Tainan County/Taiwan
Jury’s Opinion: “The Kool Knight Chain is a combination of two chain technologies that make the whole greater than the sum of the two parts – this results in an outstanding product that looks great, too!”
5.
Category: Bicycles
Product: flow | E-bike
Company: Fairly Bike Mfg. Co., Ltd., New Taipei City/Taiwan
Design: Fairly Bike Mfg. Co., Ltd., New Taipei City/Taiwan
Jury’s Opinion: “The flow stands for a completely new category of electric bike. The drive mechanism is not hidden, but it still looks good. The design is very well balanced. Quite plain and simple, an e-bike that you’re sure to like.”
Judges’ statements
“I saw the exquisite craftsmanship, innovative and practical function as well as the aesthetic requirements from manufacturers in the participating entries, these satisfy my judging criteria for the product: VALUE as Variation, Aesthetics, Lifestyle, Utility, Economical. In the judging process, I also observed three trends in the cycle industry:
1. Intelligent: Bicycles fitted with computer-aided equipment to get the products more in line with the new demands made on modern riding fun.
2. Interactive: Intelligent control systems allow for more usage scenarios and also promote the industry’s active participation in the use of interactive technology and software development.
3. In-style: In addition to the pursuit of more professional functions, it also satisfies the personal requirements in terms of style through the use of the latest technologies and materials.”
Ader Chen – Xcellent design, Taipei/Taiwan
“What I found very interesting was the concentration of entries from Asia, and particularly from Taiwan. The efforts of the bicycle industry in Taiwan to place a stronger focus on their own research and development have been successful. The majority of the entries display very high quality in terms of production technologies, use of materials and technical detail as well as careful attention to marketing, identity presence and last but certainly not least, formal-aesthetic quality that sometimes surprised me in its consistency down to the last detail. These products also have a lot to offer with respect to innovation. Technological innovation is often paired with functionality and suitability for day-to-day use. The one sector where I did expect somewhat more was in electrical micro mobility. The modern electrical power source offers a wide variety of new product and concept options. Overall, I believe that this competition reflects a positive future for the bicycle industry and it was most certainly a successful kick-off for the award in Taipei.”
Johann Geiger – Da-Yeh University, Chunghua/Taiwan
“At the time first time of this event, the all top award winners submitted very innovative, new product proposals from a functional and a safe-riding point of view. All of them were very well thought-out in terms of practical use and good details. The level of total quality balance was very high. Based on these points, I had a very good impression during the judging session. And almost all the winners are Taiwanese companies. This proves that Taiwan has a high level of technological quality compared to the rest of the world. Since I am Japanese, I am happy that so many e-bikes were entered in this first competition and felt very impressed. Some of the e-bikes displayed very highly integrated design, a big trend in current bicycle design. Next time, however, I would like to see more clothing for cyclists and I hope that there will be more Japanese entries in the next competition.”
Hiroaki Tanaka – GEO design, Tokyo/Japan
“The TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards 2012 were an impressive display of what a significant role Taiwanese companies now play in the international bicycle industry. The 207 entries submitted exhibit a high level of dedication and a great deal of know-how. However, it will be necessary to reduce the gap between excellent and non-existent design solutions in the future, something that requires a basic understanding of functional design. The TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards make an important contribution towards ensuring that this potential will continue to be used in the future.”
Martin Kessler – Process Design, Zurich/Switzerland
“I saw quite a number of very well integrated design solutions. Information and communication technologies are now also being integrated to an ever-increasing extent. For the entries submitted, a special focus was placed on loving attention to detail and the use of aesthetic appeal. I would also like to especially mention the fact that the manufacturers and designers placed a great deal of importance on a high level of product quality – this was something that was a very pleasant surprise for me at the first TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards.”
Francois Liang – Cycling and Health Tech. Industry
R&D Center CHC, Taichung/Taiwan
>> All the prize winners will be featured on the TAIPEI CYCLE website (www.taipeicycle.com.tw), on the TBEA website (www.bbea.org) and in the iF online exhibition on the iF website (www.ifdesign.de).
Biographies of the jurors for the TAIPEI CYCLE d&i awards 2012
Ader Chen is the Design Director at Xcellent design and products, the agency he established in Taipei in Taiwan in 2001. He gained experience in this field with the Palo Alto Design Group in San Francisco and at Flextronics International and then completed his postgraduate studies at Shih Chien University in Taipei/Taiwan. To support local companies, he developed the “Product VALUE Identity” system in 2004. Today, he is also an assistant lecturer at Shih Chien University and is keenly interested in everything that has to do with bicycles.
Francois Liang is the General Manager of the Cycling and Health Tech. Industry R&D Center (CHC) in Taichung, Taiwan. The graduate in Naval Architecture Engineering also earned a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering in 2003. Liang has worked in different capacities in various fields of engineering in the aero and auto industry since 1984. He has been employed at CHC since 1997 – responsible first and foremost for the development of bicycle products. Liang has been involved in the bicycle industry for the past 15 years.
Hiroaki Tanaka graduated from Tama Art University’s Product Design department in 1985 and established GEO design in 1990. He has been engaged in the planning and design of products for major companies not only in Japan but also for Korea and Taiwan; his concept planning has contributed to many companies’ good sales for over 20 years. He has won numerous design awards.
Johann Geiger studied industrial design at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Munich and graduated in 1983. In the same year, Geiger joined the target-DESIGN Studio, where he eventually became the chief designer – up until 2004. Since then, he has been teaching transportation and industrial design in Taiwan. He also works as a designer and consultant internationally in a freelance capacity. Geiger has already been on the jury in a number of different bicycle competitions.
Martin Kessler founded PROCESS, a branding and design agency, in 1995. The agency now has offices in Switzerland, Taiwan and China. As a project leader, Kessler developed a new brand identity for BMC, a Swiss bicycle manufacturer. Kessler was also the head of the Corporate Design department at Swissair. In 2002, he was one of the 60 single finishers in the Gigathlon – one of the world’s toughest endurance competitions. He has already taken part in this demanding event, which is held in Switzerland, eight times. In addition, he has also participated in many different biking competitions around the world.
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