Microtek International Inc. is a Taiwan-based multinational manufacturer of digital imaging products and other consumerelectronics. It produces imaging equipment for medical, biological and industrial fields, occupies 20% of the global imaging market and holds 450 patents worldwide. It is well known for its scanner brands ScanMaker and ArtixScan. The company launched the world's first halftoneoptical film scanner in 1984, the world's first desktop halftone scanner in 1986, and the world's first color scanner in 1989. It has subsidiaries in Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore and Rotterdam. It recently expanded its product lines into the manufacture of LCD monitors, LCD projectors and digital cameras.
History
1980-1985: Foundings and incorporation
In 1979, the Taiwanese government launched the Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park as a vision of Shu Shien-Siu to emulate Silicon Valley and to lure back overseas Taiwanese with their experience and knowledge in engineering and technology fields. Initially there were 14 companies, the first was Wang Computer, by 2010 only six of the original pioneers remained: United Microelectronics Corporation, Microtek International, Inc., Quartz Frequency Technology, Tecom, Sino-American Silicon Products Inc. and Flow Asia Corporation. Microtek was co-founded in HSIP in 1980 by five Californian Taiwanese, three were colleagues who had worked at Xerox Bobo Wang, Robert Hsieh, Carter Tseng and two were colleagues from the University of Southern California, Benny Hsu and Hu Chung-hsing. They decided to set up root after Hsu was invited by HSIP Manager Dr. Irving Ho. In September 1983, the Allied Association for Science Parks Industries was established and Hsu was elected to be its first Chairman. Microtek first entered the industry in 1983, when scanners were little more than expensive tools for hobbyists. In 1984, it introduced the MS-300A, the world’s first desktop halftone scanner. At about the same time, the company realized a need for scanning software for mainstream users and developed EyeStar, the world’s first scanning software application. EyeStar made desktop scanning a functional reality, serving as the de facto standard for image format for importing graphics before TIFF came to fruition. Continuing its leading-edge approach to the scanning industry, Microtek proceeded to develop the first OCR, or Optical Character Recognition, program for text scanning, once more successfully integrating a core function of scanning with its machines.
In 1989, Microtek invested in Ulead Systems which became the first publicly traded software company in Taiwan in 1999. Ulead System was founded by Lotus Chen, Lewis Liaw and Way-Zen Chen three colleagues from Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry. Microtek helped Ulead by jointly purchasing CCD sensors from Kodak which benefited both companies as it was a component not yet locally produced at the time.
Products
Herbarium Specimen Digitization
ObjectScan 1600 is an on-top scanner designed for capturing high resolution image of herbarium specimen. The device is bundled with ScanWizard Graphy which provides scanner setting and image correction tools. The maximum resolution is 1600 dpi.
ScanWizard Botany is a workstation software for specimen image processing, electronic data capture software, and uploading metadata to database or server. The software has OCR function which can automatically detect label information and read barcode information on botanical collections. The information will be saved as metadata. It also includes image processing tools such as brightness adjustment and contrast adjustment.
MiVAPP Botany is a botanical database management system and web-server system. This system allows a botanical garden, university, and museum to share their collection online.
Operations
Taiwan
Microtek International Inc.: Headquarters, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu City
