Taiwanese Scientist Wins Iran’s Khwarizmi Award

TEHRAN (FNA)- National Taiwan University Professor Wu Chung-chih has won the 21st Khwarizmi International Award (KIA) for Science and Technology from Iran for his study of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) and technologies, making him the first Taiwanese ever to receive the award.

Wu’s studies in the fields of OLEDs, displays and lighting technologies have drawn a lot of international attention and earned him the award in the international category along with another 10 researchers who competed with 192 scientists from 54 countries, according to Taiwan’s National Science Council (NSC) which announced the news yesterday.

Award recipients in the international category include four from Europe, two from India, and one each from Canada, Egypt, South Korea, China and Taiwan.

Each winner was presented with a certificate, a medal and prize money ranging from US$5,000 to US$7,000.

Wu was also invited to teach at Malek-e Ashtar University of technology in Isfahan, Iran this summer.

The Khwarizmi International Award, designed to recognize the efforts made by researchers, innovators and inventors in Iran and all over the world is sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.

In 2004, Wu and the Industry Technology Research Institute developed Taiwan’s first high contrast top-emitting active-matrix OLED display technology that earned him the Outstanding Innovation Award from the institute and began to get widespread attention, according to the NSC.

The technology promises to deliver excellent display performance with clear image quality even in bright light at low cost.

Several companies, including flat panel maker Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp, have so far shown interest in adopting the technology, Wu said.

Also drawing great worldwide attention is Wu’s findings unveiled in 2007 on a way to improve the contrast of images by integrating OLEDs with another hot technology, solar cells.