| For the seventh straight year, Taiwan ranked fourth in the world in 2005 for the number of US patents granted to its nationals—5,118 utility patents and 870 design patents—after the United States, Germany, and Japan. In that year, Taiwan ranked second among nations in terms of the number of US patents per unit of population, with a ratio of 262 patents per million people, in comparison with 277 per million in the United States.
The government of Taiwan has played a major role in encouraging the development of high-tech enterprises by providing generous investment incentives and assistance, including seed funds to establish some 60 business incubator centers, mostly run by universities.
The government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), in particular, deserves much credit for Taiwan's rapid rise to global leadership in the information and communications technology industries as well as other high-tech sectors. With a staff of thousands of scientists, engineers, legal experts, and other professionals, and with excellent research facilities and cooperative relations with other research institutions all over the country, it is uniquely equipped to help existing companies develop new products and to midwife start-ups.
In August 2005, ITRI's OpenLab in Hsinchu was honored as Asia's best business incubation center by the Asian Association of Business Incubation. Since it opened in 1996, it has helped hatch more than 130 high-tech companies. In fact, well before OpenLab began operations, ITRI had been instrumental in establishing several companies that have gone on to command prominent positions in the global marketplace, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics (UMC).
Production Value / Global Share of
Taiwan-made IT Products & Services in 2005
|
No. 1 in the World |
|
Item
|
Production Value
|
| Unit: US$ million |
Global share (%) |
Made-to-order IC
chip fabrication |
11,297 |
67.4 |
| IC chip packaging |
5,528 |
44.8 |
| IC testing |
2,096 |
60.0 |
| Mask ROM |
280 |
91.2 |
|
No. 2 in the World |
| IC chip design |
7,966 |
19.9 |
| DRAM chips |
5,640 |
22.0 |
| WLAN products |
517 |
23.0 |
| Large-sized TFT-LCD flat panels |
17,787 |
41.1 |
TN / STN LCD
flat panels |
1,248 |
20.0 |
| OLED flat panels |
144 |
25.9 |
| IC substrate |
1,328 |
23.0 |
SOURCE: Industrial Technology Intelligence Services,
Industrial Technology Research Institute
Main Science Parks in Taiwan
|
