At the press conference today announcing the launch of trial academia-industry collaboration projects in electronic, information and telecommunications industries, Vice Premier Chang San-cheng stated that the goal of these projects is to utilize industry associations to transfer the fruits of academic research to the industrial sector for application.
Through a platform for close academia-industry collaboration, the projects will help the academic sector to unleash its knowledge and assist domestic industries to reinforce their competitiveness. In this way, the nation's economic lifeblood will become sustainable.
Chang pointed out that the government will promote the academia-industry collaboration projects in a systematic and step-by-step manner, akin to linking points to form a line and then spreading lines over a whole surface. In past academia-industry collaboration under the National Science Council (NSC)—precursor to the present Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)—one professor was assigned to each project. Today, collaboration involves a laboratory and businesses of a similar nature forming a small academia-industry alliance. A good case in point is National Cheng Kung University's Electric Motor Technology Research Center, which has become a primary source of talent and technology for the electric-motor industry in southern Taiwan.
Under the MOST-promoted academia-industry collaboration projects, industry associations will take inventory of the fruits of research of the MOST-funded programs, the vice premier said. In this way many professors can cooperate with many businesses. Over the past three years—spanning both the NSC and MOST eras—the government has supported about 50,000 research projects, a huge figure. This is why the government has decided to proceed first from the nation's lifeblood industries: electronics, information and telecommunications.
The Industrial Technology Research Institute will take inventory of the more than 7,000 research projects under those fields. Via the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association, computer associations, and the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, the research results will then be transferred to the industrial sector for application. After that the academia and industry partners will jointly decide whether to continue funding for subsequent research, transfer technology or start a new company. Academia and industry will both benefit from this win-win situation.
Chang emphasized that there are high hopes for these projects, and their launch is an important milestone in bringing academia and industry closer together. However, the electronic, information and telecommunications fields only make up a small part of all research projects, and in the future this inventory work model can be extended to other industrial fields, he remarked.
The MOST stated that Taiwan's universities produce an enormous amount of academic research and patents every year, but very little of that is adopted and commercialized by industries. The associations' and unions' strong industrial experience will help expedite academia-industry collaboration, allowing its potential to be more effectively realized. This will increase the usefulness of academia research and development, sharpen industries' competitive edge and thus help raise Taiwan's international competitiveness.
The projects launched today, enhanced by the capabilities of industry associations, are expected to bring academia's outstanding research results closer to the needs of industries, successfully facilitate commercialization and industrialization, and create a win-win situation for academia and industry.