India clinches IT Travelers Go! title

Mumbai, Nov 7 (Calcutta Tube / IBNS) Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) on Monday welcomed back to Mumbai, the winning 4 tech-savvy Indians donning the crown of IT Travelers Go!, a grand prize of USD 20000 and their Taiwanese-ICT-gadget-powered IT Travel Kit.

Technology enthusiasts from all corners of the nation lent support by voting for the daily blogs posted by the India team, as they travelled across four nations on a 21 day trip, using their technology skills, creative story telling abilities and social media influence to stay ahead of the Vietnam and Indonesia crews and claim the title on November 2 at Taipei 101, Taiwan.

The four India contestants Amir Melani from Ansari, Maharashtra, Leah Sodhi from Panchkula, Haryana, Rohan Shah from Surat, Gujarat and Siddharth Mukund Srivastava from New Delhi, were initially selected to participate as India representatives for IT Travelers Go! After three elimination rounds, from over 2000 entries.

The objective of IT Travelers Go! Was to engage with young, tech-savvy and creative participants from three nations- India, Indonesia and Vietnam, and highlight Taiwan’s world class, innovative, reliable and worthy ICT gadgets.

The contest was conducted by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), in conjunction with the Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of External Affairs, R.O.C, as part of an Integrated Marketing and Communications programme to highlight Taiwan’s ICT superiority in overseas markets, under the Taiwan Excellence banner.

The theme for Taiwan Excellence India 2011 campaign has been ‘India Intelligence + Taiwan Technologies = IT for Excellent Lifestyles. Excellent Lifestyles, is TAITRA’s and Taiwan ICT industry’s brand promise.

As the 12 contestants from three countries, travelled over a 21-days all expenses paid journey to Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Taiwan, they were equipped with a IT Travel Kit consisting of 27 latest, sleek and smart Taiwanese lifestyle gadgets, sponsored by leading Taiwan brands like Acer, Asus, BenQ, D-Link, HTC, MSI, Transcend and others.

Emma Yang, Director, Taipei World Trade Center, Mumbai, said: “Through this social media contest, we have familiarized Indian audiences with our top of the line Taiwan ICT brands and foster a fan base for them amongst the target users of our ‘Excellent Lifestyles’ gadgets.”

The three national teams were scored on the overall ICT spirit they created through sharing their daily blog updates on the official contest website capturing their experience of using a gadget from the IT travel kit to better explore the known and unknown areas in each nation.

These blog updates were voted, liked and discussed amongst the many followers of the contest, technology enthusiasts, friends and family of each IT Traveler and the newly made connections.

Emma Yang, said: “The contest had picked up 4 Indians who not only were well-aware of consumer technology but also used them in their daily lives to enhance their IT lifestyles and their personalities allowed them to easily share and make connections adding to their vote count. Finally the best nation has won the title.”

In Siddharth Mukund Srivastav’s words,” Yes, technology is widely available to makes things easier for us, but these 27 unique Taiwanese gadgets allowed us to get the best out of the latest and smartest technology. We have had a thrilling and once in a lifetime experience over the journey of IT Travelers Go! “

Said Leah Lanjon Sodhi,” The contest was a well-designed journey for us to explore gadgets through travelling, sharing and meeting new people. The contest has re-defined the way I will use technology in my daily life like using a smart-phone less to make calls and more to converse with people from different speaking languages and my tablet to stay connected with my loved ones or my mp3 player to view many memories captured in photos and videos.”

Malaika Arora Khan, Bollywood personality and endorser of Taiwan Excellence India Campaign 2011, while handing over the winning team the title at Taipei 101 on November 2, said, “This is an extremely proud moment for me and all of India. IT Travelers Go! Has been a thrilling competition that has spurred thousands from 3 Asian nations to put their best technology skills forward.

“Being the official first India participant of the contest and having kicked-off IT Travelers Go! On August 9th, it is a wonderful feeling to be there in Taipei and crown the India team  with the IT Travelers Go! Title. ”