President Chen expressed his gratitude to Dr. Vedres for his assistance in enabling Taiwan's National United University and the Taiwan Invention Products Promotion Association to win the right to hold the World Cup of Computer Implemented Inventions in Taiwan in late September this year. Taiwan was competing against 10 other member nations in its bid to hold the competition. The president said he expects that the competition will be a huge success.
The president said the history of IFIA dates back 42 years and the organization presently has 84 members. National United University and the Taiwan Invention Products Promotion Association are members of the organization. The outstanding leadership of Dr. Vedres in recent years has enabled IFIA to become the world's main mouthpiece for inventors throughout the world, he said.
The president said that we today live in the era of the knowledge-based economy. He said the most important features of the knowledge-based economy are speed, innovation, value and entrepreneurial spirit. The president said that the 23 million people of Taiwan are quite aggressive in the areas of innovation and R&D. As a result, Taiwan holds an important position in the world of inventors. For instance, the latest issue of The Economist magazine featured a report on world innovation rankings that were released in May. Among all of IFIA's members, Taiwan ranked sixth, moving up two places from last year. President Chen said that the results of the rankings delighted the people of Taiwan. He cautioned, however, that people here should not rest on their laurels, saying that Taiwan needs to continue to work hard to create new achievements.
The president also said that Taiwan possesses enormous potential in innovation ability. Nonetheless, the nation presently faces a number of issues and challenges. He said he hopes Dr. Vedres will not hesitate to provide suggestions to assist Taiwan to make even greater breakthroughs in innovation and invention, helping Taiwan to create a name for itself in the world of invention.