According to the 2006 White Paper on SMEs in Taiwan, SMEs played asignificant role in the entire national economic structure in numbers of enter-prises, the amount of sales, and the number of employees.

"Although Taiwan's SMEs are facing challenges with environmentalchanges such as the pressure from the emerging economy of China and theglobal economic network," said Sun-quae Lai, Director General of theSMEA," they have shown features of flexibility over these years."

The award winners have all been top players in their own fields, such as theIT industry, metal, machinery and electrical industries, or civil and chemicalindustries.They can serve as an example among SMEs with exceptional cre-

STAFF REPORTER

The Award for International Trade in 2006 and the 10th Rising Star AwardCeremony were staged at Taipei International Convention Center on August30. The awards were set up by the Small and Medium Enterpr iseAdministration (SMEA) give enterprises a grasp at name recognition andallow them to fire at the target of high value markets around the world.

The honor of the Rising Star Award

In Taiwan, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for the bulkof the industry and their work is the economic base of Taiwan.Therefore, thetrophy of the Rising Star Award is pyramid-shaped and hanging inside is agold sphere. It is meant to graphically represent the Taiwan industry and tosymbolize an imaginary bright future for those uprising companies.

The winners of the Rising Star Award are Sheh-fung Screws Co. Ltd.,Shuz-tung Machinery Industrial Co. Ltd., Bottle-Top Development Co.,Simula Technology Inc., CVC Technologies, Inc., Yue-Seng Industrial Co.Ltd.,Vivotek Inc., Radiant Innovation Inc., Caremed Supply, Inc.

The nine selected companies are have tanken a leading role in their indus-tries and have the ability to innovate high-quality products. For example,Sheh-fung Screws Co. Ltd, organized in 1973, is a leader in screw manufactur-ing. Its chromium-free surface treatment and high corrosion resistance surfaceare designed to penetrate treated timber have help it stand out among othersmall rivals.

The Premier was in attendance at the awards. He addressed that he reallyappreciates the winning enterprises that have dedicated so much to our socie-ty and hopes the awarded enterprises will strengthen their advantages by con-tinuously seeking innovation and changes.

The SMEs Illuminate Taiwan'sEconomy

Winners of the Rising Star Award received trophies from Minister Steve Chen of the MOEA.

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Corporation, Au Optronics Corp., Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corporation,Taiwan Semiconductor Manufactur ing Company Limited, AdvancedSemiconductor Engineering, Inc., Formosa Chemicals & Fiber Corp., HighTech Computer Corporation, China Steel Corporation, Siliconware PrecisionIndustries Co. Ltd., Powertech Technology Inc.

The Top Two State-Run Enterprises in 2006 are CPC Corporation,Taiwan, and Taiwan Power Company

The Top Ten Exporters/Importers in Terms of Export Growth in 2006 are Asus Technology Incorporation, ATP Electronics Taiwan Inc., Dashen

Invest Corporation,Taiwan Nitto Optical Co. Ltd., Powerchip SemiconductorCorp., Promos Technologies Inc.,Wei Chih Steel Industrial Co. Ltd., SumikaTechnology Co. Ltd., Cheng Kuo Metal Co. Ltd., Chipmos Technologies Inc.

The Excellent Exporters/Importers in Terms of Export Growth Dealingwith Designated Focal Markets are specified into areas of concentration likeJapan, South Korea,Vietnam,Thailand, India, Russia, South Africa, and Brazil.The award recipients are Au Optronics Corp., Powerchip SemiconductorCorp., NXP Semiconductors Taiwan Ltd., Macronix International Co. Ltd.,Formosa Petrochemical Corporation, Formosa Chemicals & Fiber Corp.,Chipmos Technologies Inc., Chang Chun Plastics Co. Ltd., Formosa PlasticsCorporation, Taiwan Prosper ity Chemical Corporation, TranscendInformation Inc., Alpha Beta Enterprise Co. Ltd, Ford Lio Ho Motor Co.Ltd., Nan Ya Plastics Corporation, and Far Eastern Textile Ltd.

Among the companies receiving the Award for International Trade in2006, the largest private owned companies had export/import revenues ofUS$19.893 billion in total, while the largest state-run enterprises had a totalof US$24.497 billion.The highest export growth rate was up to 477.91%.

"In the competitive international trade market, our private and state-owned enterprises still reached splendid results throughout the previous year,"said Chang. " I'm confident that the SMEs in Taiwan still can live up to theirfeatures of being 'small yet strong' and serve as the vital driving force to pro-mote Taiwan's economic growth in a dramatic way."

ativity and able to grasp the global competitive niche.For many years, the Rising Star Award has been acknowledged and sup-

ported by many domestic enterprises. Enterprises that have received the sealof approval through these awards came away with not only a sense of honor,but also business chances thanks to bragging rights governmental recognitionand public exposure offer.

Award for International Trade

Foreign trade has always been the primary driving force behind Taiwan'seconomic development. In 1969, the Ministry of Economic Affairs began pro-moting trade by public rewarding companies with high levels of exports orposting high export growth.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has specified the awarding categoriesincluding The Top Ten Exporters/ Importers, The Top Two State-RunEnterprises, the Top Ten Exporters/Importers in Terms of Export Growth, andthe Excellent Exporters/Importers in Terms of Export Growth Dealing withDesignated Focal Markets.Winners in these categories compete for the Awardfor International Trade. The event is held annually and serves as a means to

recognize com-panies for theircontributions toTaiwan's econo-my and publi-cize the imageand spir its ofthese compa-nies.

The Top TenE x p o r t e r s /Importers in2006 areF o r m o s aPetrochemicalMinister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen ( ) praises the important role played

by SMEs in Taiwan's development.

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