'The 2008 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Science and Technology' by the Executive Yuan. The DRBL & Clonezilla R&D Team of National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) under National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) received The 2008 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Science and Technology for its achievements and contributions. The innovative R&D capabilities and contributions of NARL received national awards three times consecutively! 'The 2008 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Science and Technology' was awarded on the 11th of March. The R&D team led by Steven Shiau of NCHC was awarded for 'High-performance Computing Platform DRBL and Clonezilla Software Technical Developments and Promotional Applications.' It is NARL's third national award; NARL's achievements are simply remarkable!
Quality R&D Environment + Professional R&D Team= Great Innovative Power
For 3 consecutive years since 2006, NARL has been acknowledged by the Executive Yuan for its eco-grid technology, space technology, and high-performance computing platform software technology R&D. This special honor is also in recognition for NARL's years of dedicated efforts in creating outstanding R&D environments and promoting teamwork. A good R&D environment is essential in enhancing R&D capabilities. The team's drive to move forward and its multidimensional creativity have created an innovative energy that brings long-term benefits in environmental ecological-based observations, disaster prevention/relief, and information education. It is an accumulation of social influence in Taiwan and worldwide.
Innovative Technology that Enhances Environmental Living
The team of NCHC under NARL was awarded this year (2008) for its innovative research results: 'High-performance Computing Platform DRBL and Clonezilla Software Technical Developments and Promotional Applications.' DRBL and Clonezilla are two pioneering techniques released as free software. They are the best examples of international intellectual property sharing. In addition, the speedy, convenient, cost-effective design and user-friendly multilingual versions (Chinese, English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian) have attracted over 700,000 downloads. Free Software's copying, modifying, and redistributing features are not only useful for high-performance computing technical fields, enterprises, elementary/junior high schools, they also contribute positively to information education worldwide and narrow the digital divide.
In 2007, the Image Processing System (IPS) Team of NARL was favored by the judges for its 'Self-Developed High Mobility Satellite High Resolution Image Processing System & Domestic/foreign Terminal Station Setup.' The remote sensing satellite image processing system self-developed in Taiwan is world-standard. More remarkably, Formosat-2 that applies such large image processing system is also the only remote sensing satellite in the world capable of photographing Arctic/Antarctica. It is substantial in Taiwan's disaster prevention, disaster investigation, land utilization, and national security measures. The South Asia Tsunami and Wenchuan Earthquake in China are two examples of how NARL represents Taiwan in pROVisioning the first satellite images taken from Satellite-2. Meanwhile, it also contributes positively in integrating disaster prevention/relief technology, Taiwan experience outputs, and Taiwan's collaboration with other nations in disaster relief, disaster investigation, and post-disaster constructions.
In 2006, The 2008 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Science and Technology was awarded to NCHC under NARL for the Eco-grid developed and grid computations innovatively applied in long-term ecological observations. Through data management and computation model analysis, important transnational ecologies are observed, compared, and analyzed. It plays an influential role in sustainable ecological observations and livelihood and an important role in promoting Taiwan's leading status in Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) and Coral Reef Ecological Observation Network (CREON).
Transnational and Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Sharing of 'Taiwan's Experience' Worldwide
The Executive Yuan's Award for Outstanding Contributions in Science and Technology is not only a national honor; the world-class research results of past awardees show that they have contributed to and influenced the world. Under transnational and interdisciplinary collaboration, the Taiwan experience is shared with the world. The positive image of technology-based Taiwan has also been successfully promoted. NARL engages in R&D platform integrations to facilitate infrastructure, core technology, talent, experience, and knowledge sharing and serves as the most powerful backup for academic research and industrial development. The collection of research results is expected to form a large database that ensures Taiwan's global competitiveness.
