HSINCHU, , Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO) today announced that it has been honored with Thomson Reuters Taiwan Innovation Awards 2012. The Award is organized by the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. Four metrics were used to assess the level of innovation of candidate companies, including size of patent portfolio, success rate, extent of globalization, and influence of innovation. AU Optronics Corp. was selected as one of the top five innovative companies in Taiwan. This affirms the Company's excellent achievements in technology R&D and innovative patent development.
"We are much honored to gain Thomson Reuters Taiwan Innovation Awards 2012," said Mr. Paul SL Peng, President of AU Optronics. "AUO has long dedicated itself to the research and development of innovative technologies. We utilize the self-developed patents to continuously increase company competitiveness and assets value. The complete patent portfolio is able to support the various news products innovation, and establish a benchmark for the enterprise to constantly advance its technological research and development. "
"Thomson Reuters Taiwan Innovation Awards 2012" is conducted by the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters for the first time to recognize the most innovative enterprises and academic institutions headquartered in Taiwan for their innovation in Research & Development (R&D). Five corporations and five academic organizations received this recognition, and AU Optronics was among the top five corporations.
"Patent research and analysis from Thomson Reuters reveals that AU Optronics is a leading innovator in its field, and has therefore been selected as one of the five Corporate sector recipients of the Thomson Reuters Taiwan Innovation Awards 2012," said Mr. Bob Stembridge, expert patent analyst and manager, customer relations, Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters. "Our research shows that AU Optronics has a large portfolio of innovative inventions protected in global markets such as US and China as well as the Taiwan domestic market. According to our analysis, their innovation is influential in stimulating further technical development with over 40% of their portfolio being cited by later published patents."
The Award was assessed by the volume of new inventions from Taiwan organizations published between 2009 and 2011. The Derwent World Patents Index® (DWPI) database was used to evaluate the candidate organizations by the number of new unique inventions, ratio of granted patents to all new inventions, number of new inventions with foreign (non-Taiwan) patents in the patent portfolio, and frequency of patent citations by other companies in their technological fields. By using these key performance indices to give a multi-faceted perspective, the final list was determined to identify the Top Taiwan Innovators in the Academic and Corporate sectors.
As one of the world's leading providers of optoelectronic products, AUO is a technology innovator with strong emphasis on R&D for optoelectronics technologies. Established in 2002 and located in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park, AUO Technology Center is Taiwan's largest R&D facility for optoelectronics, and currently houses more than 3,200 dedicated R&D engineers. As of the end of October 2012, AUO has applied for 17,700 patents and obtained 10,100 patents, which places it number one among Taiwan's flat panel industry.
Derwent World Patents Index® (DWPISM) is the world's most trusted source of patent information, expertly indexed and featuring enhanced titles and comprehensive abstracts. It provides a record of patents published by 47 patent issuing authorities worldwide to enable a comprehensive picture of activity to be produced. There are over 20.7 million unique inventions covering more than 45.2 million patent records in DWPI.
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ABOUT AU OPTRONICS
AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) is one of the world's leading providers of optoelectronic solutions. AUO offers a full range of panel sizes and comprehensive applications ranging from 1.2 inches to 71 inches. Based on its profound R&D and manufacturing experience, AUO continues to develop advanced display technologies of the next generation. AUO extended its market to the green energy industry in 2008. By building a vertically integrated high-efficiency solar value chain, AUO provides its customers with high-efficiency solar solutions. AUO now houses a staff of more than 45,000 employees, with global operations in Taiwan, Mainland China, the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Czech and Slovakia. Additionally, AUO is the first pure TFT-LCD manufacturer to be successfully listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). AUO has also been named to Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012. AUO generated NT$379.7 billion (US$ 12.54 billion) in sales revenue in 2011. For more information, please visit AUO.com.
* 2011 year end revenue converted at an exchange rate of NTD30.27:USD1.
Safe Harbour Notice
AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO), a global leader of TFT-LCD panels, today announced the above news. Except for statements in respect of historical matters, the statements contained in this Release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements were based on our management's expectations, projections and beliefs at the time regarding matters including, among other things, future revenues and costs, financial performance, technology changes, capacity, utilization rates, yields, process and geographical diversification, future expansion plans and business strategy. Such forward looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including risks related to the flat panel display industry, the TFT-LCD market, acceptance of and demand for our products, technological and development risks, competitive factors, and other risks described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on April 27th, 2012.
