Issue
Science and innovation are at the heart of government strategy for promoting prosperity and growth. Research and knowledge is increasingly developed and transferred through international collaboration which provides opportunities to work with the best in the world, exchange students and researchers, and gain access to large scale international facilities; leading to mutual benefits for UK and Taiwan.
Actions
To promote international collaboration the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office jointly fund the UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN), based in 28 countries around the world.
SIN Taiwan work to the following global objectives:
influence science and innovation policies of Taiwan governments, industry and academia to benefit the UK
improve UK policy based on international experience and emerging opportunities and challenges with Taiwan
stimulate strategic science collaborations with Taiwan to benefit the UK and deliver wider policy goals
harness Taiwan international technology partnerships and investment to grow UK innovation capability
Science and Innovation in Taiwan
The UK and Taiwan have a strong and growing relationship in the field of science, research and innovation. The Science and Innovation Team at the British Trade & Cultural Office is here to spread awareness in Taiwan about UK scientific strengths and promote UK-Taiwan science and innovation partnerships.
Why Taiwan
Taiwan offers world class technical expertise and scientific research. It is notably, though not exclusively, strong in the fields of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and electronic engineering, life sciences and energy. Taiwanese and UK researchers already collaborate extensively in these areas.
Taiwan spends close to 3% of its GDP on research and development within its world class institutions such as Academic Sinica (AS), National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the National Synchrontron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC). It has nine National Research Programmes covering diverse fields such as energy, electronics, nanotechnology, digital archiving/e-learning and life sciences. It also has some of the best universities in Asia, such as National Taiwan University (NTU) and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU).
Taiwan is also a natural partner for the UK because it is the best place to bring concepts and ideas to physical form. Domestic research initiatives focus on applied research and commercial exploitation ahead of fundamental research. Across academia, industry and business outcomes are assessed on short timescales. This short-term R&D strategy has drawbacks, but it does represent an excellent opportunity for the transfer of intellectual property and knowledge from the UK for development and commercialisation in Taiwan, in the forms of in-license and joint venture development partnerships. Examples of sectors which have worked well in the past include consumer electronics and medical devices.
How we can help
The British Trade and Cultural Office’s Science and Innovation Team is part of the UK’s global Science and Innovation Network, which has representatives in countries worldwide. If you are involved in science, research or innovation in UK, we can help to identify and introduce you to potential partners in Taiwan.
Our goals are to:
ensure that the UK Government is informed about key science and technology developments in Taiwan.
identify centres of scientific excellence in Taiwan and fruitful areas of potential collaboration between research teams and institutes in the UK and Taiwan.
raise awareness in Taiwan of the UK’s world class scientific base and innovation - and in the UK, of the strengths of Taiwan’s science and innovation.
facilitate and work with partners on missions, workshops, seminars and other activities to bring key science communities together.
identify commercial opportunities for UK science organisations and companies.
work with UK Trade and Investment to support UK scientific and innovative companies in looking to enter the Taiwanese market or develop their commercial interests here.
We work with a broad spectrum of Taiwanese and UK partners including companies, research institutes and universities to develop science and innovation relationships.
Our current and planned future projects include:
ICT: Internet of Things, 5G telecoms, additive manufacturing, open and big Data.
Life Sciences: personalised medicine, drug discovery, oncology and medical devices.
Energy: smart grids and low carbon technologies.
We are always looking for new suggestions for how the UK and Taiwan can collaborate scientifically and are happy to support UK and Taiwanese scientists who are interested in collaboration. You can contact us.
Science and Innovation Newsletter
We produce a quarterly newsletter in which we outline upcoming events, highlight collaborative research opportunities and round up relevant and interesting news from the Taiwan science and technology landscape. If you would like to subscribe to our newsletter, please contact us.
Download the Annual report 2013 of the Science and Innovation Network
Contact details for SIN Taiwan team
Head of Science and Innovation Network Taiwan
Sam Leng
British Trade and Cultural Office
26F, 9-11, Sung Kao Road, International President Building,
Taipei 11073
Taiwan
Email: sam.leng@fco.gov.uk
Office: +886 (2) 8758 2046
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