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This was the observation made aloud by the ITRI president, Dr.
Johnson Lee, as he spoke with reporters immediately after giving a
talk last week on the institute’s role in propelling Taiwan’s
economy over the past 30 years from an industrial to a knowledge and
high-technology-based economy. As a result, Taiwan today has an
economy with GDP and GDP per capita among the world’s largest.
In 2007, its GDP was $383 billion with its GDP
per capita at $16,790.
That high-technology exports have made this
possible has been underscored by the fact that Taiwan has among the
largest number of patents registered in the United States. In 2006,
it had 6,361 patents for high-technology devices registered that
year with only Germany, Japan and the US surpassing this number in
ascending order.
Dr. Lee spoke at a forum on technology and
economic trends at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila on the role of
R&D in Taiwan’s economy. The forum was organized by the joint
Senate-House of Representatives Committee on Science, Technology,
and Engineering.
COMSTE is co-chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara
and Cavite Representative Emilio Abaya. The committee’s task is to
spur legislation to enable the Philippines to become competitive in
today’s global and knowledge-based economy.
Dr. Lee told reporters that the US model of
academe alone doing R&D while industry commercialized the
results of these research and development efforts might not be
viable for the Philippines. For research done in Philippine
universities might be too theoretical for Filipino companies to
commercialize.
Thus, a separate institution dedicated to
applied research and specialized in high technology similar to
Taiwan’s ITRI might also be viable for the Philippines, according
to him. But he added that the Philippines would have to spend more
than the 0.12 percent of its GDP that it allots yearly for R&D.
He noted that Taiwan allots 2.25 percent of its
yearly GDP to R&D efforts and this amounted in 2006 to over $15
billion.
In a global and knowledge-based economy,
innovation is the key to a country’s and a company’s
competitiveness. In turn, innovation is the result of R&D
efforts undertaken.
In addition, Dr. Lee explained that the
Taiwanese government established ITRI in 1973. However, the
institute never ever depended on a budgetary allotment from
government for its funding.
Rather, it had and continues to source its funds
from revenues for R&D projects that it actively seeks from
government and the private sector. Such projects are undertaken to
spur creation of new high-technology industries and enable
traditional industries to remain competitive through upgraded
technologies and processes.
ITRI’s R&D fields include information and
communications technology; material, chemical, and nanotechnologies;
biomedical technologies; advanced manufacturing systems; and energy
and the environment solutions.
Dr. Lee said that such R&D efforts yielded
for ITRI in 2007 $560 million in revenues. The amount came from
royalties from patents, R&D project fees, and various
consultancy services such as laboratory testing, training of
personnel and pilot production of new products. Its clients from the
private sector included large companies and SMEs.
ITRI’s R&D efforts are credited for
Taiwan’s becoming today a major global player in
semiconductors, an ascent which began in 1980. It is also credited
for Taiwan’s hefty presence in the global ICT products
market—having 74-percent share of the global market for notebook
computers as an example.This was the observation made aloud by the
ITRI president, Dr. Johnson Lee, as he spoke with reporters
immediately after giving a talk last week on the institute’s role
in propelling Taiwan’s economy over the past 30 years from an
industrial to a knowledge and high-technology-based economy. As a
result, Taiwan today has an economy with GDP and GDP per capita
among the world’s largest.
In 2007, its GDP was $383 billion with its GDP
per capita at $16,790.
That high-technology exports have made this
possible has been underscored by the fact that Taiwan has among the
largest number of patents registered in the United States. In 2006,
it had 6,361 patents for high-technology devices registered that
year with only Germany, Japan and the US surpassing this number in
ascending order.
Dr. Lee spoke at a forum on technology and
economic trends at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila on the role of
R&D in Taiwan’s economy. The forum was organized by the joint
Senate-House of Representatives Committee on Science, Technology,
and Engineering.
COMSTE is co-chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara
and Cavite Representative Emilio Abaya. The committee’s task is to
spur legislation to enable the Philippines to become competitive in
today’s global and knowledge-based economy.
Dr. Lee told reporters that the US model of
academe alone doing R&D while industry commercialized the
results of these research and development efforts might not be
viable for the Philippines. For research done in Philippine
universities might be too theoretical for Filipino companies to
commercialize.
Thus, a separate institution dedicated to
applied research and specialized in high technology similar to
Taiwan’s ITRI might also be viable for the Philippines, according
to him. But he added that the Philippines would have to spend more
than the 0.12 percent of its GDP that it allots yearly for R&D.
He noted that Taiwan allots 2.25 percent of its
yearly GDP to R&D efforts and this amounted in 2006 to over $15
billion.
In a global and knowledge-based economy,
innovation is the key to a country’s and a company’s
competitiveness. In turn, innovation is the result of R&D
efforts undertaken.
In addition, Dr. Lee explained that the
Taiwanese government established ITRI in 1973. However, the
institute never ever depended on a budgetary allotment from
government for its funding.
Rather, it had and continues to source its funds
from revenues for R&D projects that it actively seeks from
government and the private sector. Such projects are undertaken to
spur creation of new high-technology industries and enable
traditional industries to remain competitive through upgraded
technologies and processes.
ITRI’s R&D fields include information and
communications technology; material, chemical, and nanotechnologies;
biomedical technologies; advanced manufacturing systems; and energy
and the environment solutions.
Dr. Lee said that such R&D efforts yielded
for ITRI in 2007 $560 million in revenues. The amount came from
royalties from patents, R&D project fees, and various
consultancy services such as laboratory testing, training of
personnel and pilot production of new products. Its clients from the
private sector included large companies and SMEs.
ITRI’s R&D efforts are credited for
Taiwan’s becoming today a major global player in
semiconductors, an ascent which began in 1980. It is also credited
for Taiwan’s hefty presence in the global ICT products
market—having 74-percent share of the global market for notebook
computers as an example.
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