Innovation is answer to poverty: inventor

  • Taiwanese inventor Gordon Teng on Saturday received the highest honor at the 22nd International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition held in Malaysia over the weekend.
  • Teng said that he hoped poor children would follow in his footsteps and use inventions to create a better life for themselves.
  • Teng, who is now the head of Taichung-based Asia University’s Creative Design and Invention Center, recalled how he often went hungry growing up in a single-parent family.
  • However, his life changed at the age of 17 with his first invention — an infrared sensor for flushing toilets that made him NT$1.5 million (US$52,050). He has since invented another 300 devices.

The above are extracted from http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2011/05/23/2003503902