February 4, 2005
Government agencies reached a conclusion at the Seventh National Conference on Science and Technology in mid-January to raise the total amount of enterprise research and development financing to
NTD 14.5 billion by 2006. The Industrial Development Bureau has been responsible for granting low-interest
R&D financing to high-tech businesses using funds from the Executive Yuan Development Fund since 2003.
As a total of
NTD 5 billion in
R&D financing has already been provided in 2003 and 2004, the IDB would need to provide financing of
NTD 4 billion each year in 2005 and 2006 in order to reach this target. The bureau had originally intended to limit enterprise
R&D financing to
NTD 2.5 billion in 2005.
Taiwan's emerging biotechnology sector, which in urgent need of
R&D funding, has received the greatest portion of these low-interest loans over the last two years.
During his last campaign, President Chen Shui-bian declared his goal of raising the percentage of Taiwan's gross domestic product that is invested in
R&D to 3% by 2006.
R&D expenditures are currently equal to 2.45% of Taiwan's
GDP.
National Science Council statistics show that private sector
R&D expenditures have maintained an average annual growth rate of 8% in recent years. The council says that to reach the 3% target this growth rate will need to be increased to 11% over the next three years.
Taiwan's economic miracle has been largely dependent on the growth of high-tech industries. The government is committed to the promotion of domestic high-tech
R&D in order to keep Taiwan on the cutting edge of industry.
(United Daily News)
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