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Peta Tomlinson

ORGANISER merit awards

THE NUMBER OF smaller companies featuring in this year's awards proves that not only big names succeed.

One home-grown company among the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to be recognised for its achievements is iD Innovation, which received the HKSTP Certificate of Merit in Technological Achievement.

Founded by chief executive Sean Shek in 1998, the technology application development company has about 50 employees in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Its wallet CD, which can be made into all sorts of shapes - from a name card to a Coca-Cola bottle - is designed mainly for marketing and promotion purposes. The company has had more than 1,000 orders for the product in the past two years, with the majority of clients from multinational companies.

The firm has now moved on to develop a 'smart card' CD with magnetic application for theme-park ticketing in the mainland..

'When people go home after visiting the theme park, instead of just throwing their entry ticket away they have a CD reminder of their day,' Mr Shek says.

The company has also developed game kiosks where people can record their own CDs. About 20 of the kiosks have been set up in Hong Kong and the number will grown over the coming years.

Mr Shek says the certificate of merit is important to iD Innovation.

'It is a recognition of innovative ideas, and we appreciate that. We are a company just starting out, not yet commercially successful, so it is encouraging that the authorities have recognised our ID innovation.'

Another small firm, ASIC Technol-ogy, also received the HKSTP Certificate of Merit in Technological Achievement. The company's single-chip Internet engine is a modem embedded with an Internet protocol controller that can work on low voltage (3V) and low current (6mA).

'We found there was no modem in the industry that could work on low power and low voltage. We think this is a major reason why consumer electronic products cannot become Internet-enabled,' chief executive Alex Wong says.

'We also found it is quite difficult to develop Internet appliances. Our product is built to solve these problems. It consumes low power, is small in size and easy to use and does not require a sophisticated operating system. We supposed it would have a high commercial value as there will be a large demand for Internet appliances in the near future.'

Mr Wong says the awards demonstrate that even small firms in Hong Kong can compete with large companies in terms of technological excellence.

'Technology does not depend on the scale of the company. The basic criteria are to have a stable environment for research and development and how much you devote to it. The award gives us encouragement and the spirit to move ahead.'

Skyworth Multimedia International director Finsen Yu agrees. Receiving a Hong Kong Trade Development Council Certificate of Merit in Export Marketing, Mr Yu says the company's recognition from the award will give greater confidence to consumers. It will even enable the colour television and audiovisual products firm (see below) to market other companies' products, he says.

China State Construction Engin-eering (Hong Kong) received the BEC Certificate of Merit in Environment Performance for two public housing projects, Tsing Yi Area 10 Phase 2 and Tin Shui Wai Area 101 Phase 2.

The company is committed to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources, chairman Kong Qingping says. 'All staff from the company president to site managers are expected to implement our environmental policy and participate in all kinds of environmental activities,' he says. 'The company endeavours to use the best practices and latest technologies to manage the environment, and is integrating a green concept into its construction business.'

With the improvement in environmental performance, the company's image has been recognised, Mr Kong says.

'Moreover, by adopting green initiatives and cost-effective construction technologies, we save a large amount of building materials and help towards cutting overall construction costs,' he says.



Pocket-size but packing a punch