The government strategy for the upgrading of industrial technology in Taiwan

The Taiwanese government supports R&D activities for the advancement of dom estic industrial technology. Every year, the government R&D budget subsidiz es approximately a quarter of the R&D expenditure for industrial technology . In order to enhance technological competitiveness, the Ministry of Econom ic Affairs (MOEA), which is responsible for promoting the competitiveness o f domestic industry, evaluates and provides strategies in its efforts to an ticipate the current and future needs of the industry. In the past, the met hod of,government support has been to entrust non-profit research institute s to perform R&D projects, and then distribute the results to industry for commercialization. Since 1996, as domestic industrial technology has advanc ed, MOEA has induced the private sector to participate more in R&D projects , both in terms of performance and funding. Because of this, industrial tec hnology development has since shifted to the private sector. The government now only takes a supporting role. This paper has three main areas of interest; (1) a description of major ind ustrial technology development mechanisms over the past two decades, (2) an examination of primary industrial technology development strategy, (3) a d iscussion of the direction of industrial technology development in Taiwan a nd the role of the government in policy formation. (C) 2000 Published by El sevier Science Ltd.