Academia and Research Are the Key to Taiwan's Success

Academia and Research Are the Key to Taiwan's Success
Academia and Research Are the Key to Taiwan's Success
Long known as a worldwide center for manufacturing of semiconductors and components, Taiwan is rapidly emerging as a strategic center in Asia for advanced technologies, engineering and design in diverse fields from cloud computing to biotechnology, medical devices and solar energy solutions. The country's ongoing shift from being a manufacturing center to a knowledge-based economy centered on education and innovation is remarkable.
Driving Taiwan's transformation is a web of key academic and research institutions that work together with industry to promote applied solutions that play to existing strengths and work to build up new ones. A network of science-based industrial and software parks - each with their own specialization - has also been built across the country to attract talent and facilitate growth. This unique environment and the opportunities it generates are the subject of this survey on Taiwan.
Today's Taiwan is also at the center of the world's most dynamic region for growth. Taiwanese companies have long been active in mainland China, constituting by some estimates nearly half of all Chinese electronics manufacturing. During the past year, President Ma Ying-Jeou has promoted an official thaw in relations, sponsoring a series of Bridge Building initiatives that will allow Taiwan to end its regional isolation and to fully benefit from China's emergence as the world's most important economy.
The National Science Council, an Executive body responsible for coordinating policy as well as funding fundamental and applied research, has identified a number of key areas for growth in the next decade. These include specific initiatives in biotechnology, genomics and nanotechnology. Renewable energy, including solar and wind power, is also a core priority for a country which relies on imports for 99% of current needs. Readers of this report will note how the focus on these areas seamlessly carries over to the initiatives and programs of individual universities and research institutes profiled.
Biotech is a growing priority for academia and industry
A LEADING ROLE FOR INDUSTRY
Private industry is also playing a key role in transforming Taiwan from a supplier of components to a center of expertise in engineering and design. "Western manufacturers used to come to us with blueprints and ask us if we could produce components for them," says one Taiwanese electronics executive. "Now they ask us to design entire devices." The result is a range of new products "Made and Designed in Taiwan" including netbooks, e-readers, and LED lighting.
Taiwanese companies such as Acer for computers, HTC for touch-screen cell phones and D-Link for networking technology are now well-known consumer brands around the world. Just as important, however, are lesser-known but equally innovative companies: AUO, the world's 3rd largest producer of LCD monitors, is set to unleash a new generation of e-readers. Delta, a components manufacturer focused on power-saving technologies, produced inexpensive solar panels that turned the roof of the Kaohsiung stadium - host of the 2009 World Games - into a Green engineering marvel.
Taipei's annual Computex show, long considered an essential trade fair for ICT component procurement, is now a world-wide stage for new product and technology launches with celebrity-style appearances by senior executives from Microsoft, Intel and HP. The June 2010 30th anniversary show is expected to draw an audience of over 100,000 visitors and exhibitors, including a large contingent from mainland China.