ROC Taiwan 2002

ROC Yearbook 2002

Science and Technology
The successful development of high-tech industries has made Taiwan the world's fourth largest IC supplier.
  1. Public Sector Research
    1. NSC-supported
    2. MOEA-supported
      1. Close Public-Private Sector R&D Cooperation
    3. Public Sector Research Facilities
      1. Science-based Industrial Parks
      2. Industrial Technology Research Institute
  2. Research Work Force
  3. Other Developments
    1. Biotechnology
    2. Aeronautics and Space Technology
Charts, tables, and boxes:

The Republic of China is committed to scientific development and has allocated an ever-increasing portion of its budget and manpower to the research and development of new technologies. The government's education, national defense, and economic policies all emphasize the development of scientific expertise. The absolute and relative amounts of funding for R&D in both the public and private sectors have grown rapidly over the last decade. In 1999, national R&D expenditures totaled US$6.1 billion.

Because land and natural resources are limited in the Taiwan area and labor is becoming increasingly expensive, Taiwan must seek a comparative advantage in knowledge.

More people are now graduating with bachelor of science degrees, master of science degrees, or Ph.D.s in physics, chemistry, and biology. More ROC scientists are traveling abroad and more non-Chinese scientists are visiting Taiwan. There are more R&D institutes, more experiments, and more scientific publications in Taiwan than ever before.

Direct scientific research in Taiwan is motivated first by private-sector profit; and second, by the National Science Council 國家科學委員會 (NSC), the highest ROC government office charged with coordinating national science and technology policy, which closely coordinates all R&D activities, and funds public-sector scientific and technological research projects through grants and subsidies (see inset).

One major advance toward building Taiwan into a high-tech island is the Science and Technology White Paper 科技白皮書, issued by the government for the first time in June 1997. Intensified R&D will build Taiwan into a "green silicon island." The legal foundation for facilitating science-technology development is the Basic Law of Science and Technology 科技基本法, promulgated in January 1999.


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