Student-designed MRT defense system wins Golden Pin New Design Award

The 2026 Golden Pin New Design Award ceremony was held today, featuring the inaugural 'Island Resilience Design Award' established by the General Association of Chinese Culture. The winning entry is the 'SHIELDEX MRT Emergency Defense Shield System,' designed to buy critical time during sudden violent incidents in MRT carriages. The Golden Pin New Design Award is guided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education, hosted by the Industrial Development Administration, and executed by the Taiwan Design Research Institute and the Taiwan Design Association. Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chiang Wen-jo stated at the ceremony that recent winning works show young designers proposing forward-looking solutions for issues like environmental sustainability, technological development, and elderly care. Chiang noted that design has transcended product aesthetics to become a key driver for industrial upgrading and life optimization. With Taiwan's strong technical advantages in semiconductor and ICT supply chains, she hopes that design can transform technology into products and services that are more human-centric and warm, thereby increasing industrial value and allowing Taiwan's design prowess to shine on the international stage. This year, 57 Golden Pin New Design Awards, 8 special awards covering contemporary issues like circular economy, packaging, island resilience, and cultural heritage, and 48 sponsored special awards were presented. Additionally, the 9 most anticipated 'Best Design of the Year' winners each received a prize of NT$100,000. Two awards collaborated with the General Association of Chinese Culture for the first time to encourage young designers to start from perspectives of social responsibility and cultural heritage. The 'Island Resilience Design Award' was won by Zhang Guang-yu and Tsai Si-han from the Department of Design at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology for their 'SHIELDEX MRT Emergency Defense Shield System.' The students designed the system for MRT carriages, utilizing AI to detect anomalies and combining a high-strength, lightweight defense shield with flashing LEDs and lens visuals to interfere with and deter attackers. The 'Cultural Seeding Design Award' was won by Wang Yun-han, Hsu Ruo-zhen, Luo Yu-qing, and Chiu Hsiang-en from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Ling Tung University. They focused on 16 species of cetaceans in Taiwan's waters, constructing sound-shape diagrams and color-pattern systems through ripples, combined with sound buttons and interactive displays to guide children to hear and understand the ocean through exploration.