Taiwan established a National Nanotechnology Program in 2003. The Program is now in its 2nd Phase, 2009-2015, with the aim of commercialising the groundwork from Phase 1.
A relatively unheralded global player, Taiwan has been funding nanotech for almost 15 years.
The Taiwan government has provided significant funding for nanotechnology for over a decade. In 1998, the government launched a series of national-level science and technology programs to accelerate the island’s socioeconomic development and sharpen its competitive edge. Administered in coordination with numerous government agencies, these programs integrated up-, mid- and downstream R&D resources to promote innovative technologies. Seven such programs were implemented, covering networked communications, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, e-learning and digital archives, genomic medicine, system-on-chip, nanoscience and nanotechnology, and energy.
National Nanotechnology Program Phase 1
In 2003 a National Nanotechnology Program was launched, seeking to establish common core facilities and education programs to achieve academic excellence in basic research, to create innovative industrial applications and to speed up commercialization in nanotechnology. Phase 1 of the Program (2003-2008) was funded to the tune of USD $557 million, mainly funded via the Department of Industrial Technology (MOEA), with input from 9 other agencies. The main tenet of this phase was the industrialization of nanotech, which accounted for 63% of the overall budget allocation. Private industry investment in nanotechnology during Phase 1 of the plan was mainly for electronics applications.
As part of the Core Facilities Program in Phase 1 Taiwan established a number of national nanotechnology centers including:
• Center for Microscopy and Nano-Analysis, Center for Nano Science and Technology (CNST) at the National Taiwan University
• Development of state-of-the-art Research Tools for Nano-science and Technology, Academia Sinica
• ITRI Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) Common Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI)
• Core Facility for Nano Fabrication and Nano Characterization, Hsin-Chu Area – National Chiao Tung University (NCTU)
• Infrastructure Project of Nanoscience and Technology Center in Central Taiwan, Central Taiwan –National Chung Cheng University (CCU)
• Core Facilities for Southern Taiwan Nanotechnology Research Center, South Taiwan – National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)
• Frontier Educational Program for Nano Technology in Eastern Taiwan, National Dong Hwa University
• Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Nano-laboratory for Kaohsiung and Ping-Tung Area, National Sun Yet-sen University
• UST-Core Facility for Nano Lithography and Nano Biotechnology, National Tsing-Hua University
• Southern Taiwan Nanotechnology Research Center (CMNST) Center for Micro/Nano Science and Technology, National Cheng-Kung University.
Phase 1 with judged a success in terms of the improvements in human capital; the establishment of the core facilities; increase in science publications; development of standardization; and industrialization of nanotechnology. In terms of budget resource allocation for the Industrialization Program, the government has established a mechanism that aims to further streamline the usage of nanotechnology funds in different stages of product development. Consequently, budget resources are further disaggregated according to the strategic needs and time horizons of specific products following a 20-60-20 rule. In view of this rule, 20 percent of the funds are allocated to easily commercialized products over the short-term (less than a 5 year time frame – for traditional material industries, textiles, cleaning, etc.), 60 percent is allocated to medium-term projects (with a 5 year time frame – high tech applications such as integrated circuits, displays, data storage, packaging, mobile communications, optical communications, biotechnology and energy applications), and 20 percent is allocated to longer-term projects (with a 10 year time frame and over). The benefit of the rule is that it provides a benchmarking mechanism for different stages of product development and hence an internationally competitive ground for new innovative industries.
Phase 2
The 2nd Phase of the Program is from 2009-2015. Major development areas include nano-electronic and optoelectronic technology, nano-scale instruments, nanotechnology for energy and environmental applications, nano-scale biomedical research, and utilization of nanotechnology in traditional and emerging industries. The budget is USD $712 million (NTD 22.6 billion). The 2010 budget was USD$94 million. There is input from 8 sponsoring agencies, with MOEA again the main funding body .
Allocation of the budget is as follows:
• Industrialization of Nanotechnology: ~70% of overall budget
o Electronics & Optoeletronics ~23%
o Energy & Environment ~14%
o Instrument Development ~26%
o Biomedical and Agriculture ~14%
o Traditional Industry ~23%
• Advanced Research: ~20% of overall budget
• Strategic Projects
o Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) ~25 %
o Education ~25 %
o Nano Standardization ~ 5 %
o nanoMark and Industry Promotion ~45
In Phase 2 the EHS budget was significantly increased (8% of the overall budget).
Standards and certification
Taiwan’s Nano Mark is the world’s first government-established system for certifying nanoproducts. Manufacturers wishing to have the mark appear on their products must have them tested to show that they contain material of dimensions less than 100 nanometers and exhibit new and useful characteristics. As of February 2009, 20 firms offering more than 100 products had been granted the mark.
The Taiwan Nanotechnology Standard Council (TNSC), under the steering of National Nanotechnology Program and Bureau of Standards, Metrology & Inspection, MOEA, was inaugurated in June, 2009. The TNSC consists of four technical working areas (TWAs), focusing separately on particular aspects of Terminology, Measurement and Characterization, Health, Safety and Environmental issue of Nanotechnologies, Product Performance and Specifications. The four groups work cooperatively to develop standards and formulate proposals on behalf of the nation with response to ISO/IEC standardization activities.
Patents and publications
The number of nanotech patents has been witnessing considerable growth. For instance, the total number of such domestic and foreign patents earned by Taiwanese scientists nearly doubled over the past six years, from 485 in 2003 to 947 in 2008. In the same time period academic publications increased from 397 to 1398.
Industry
A main focus of the National Nanotechnology Program is industrialization of research and promotion of nanotechnology amongst industry. In 2006, the Science and Technology Policy Research and Information Center (STPI) undertook a survey on the state of Taiwan’s nanotechnology industry. It found that 455 of companies with have a paid-in capital below USD $3 million and 40% of the companies employed fewer than 100 people. The majority of companies are currently applying nanomaterials to existing products in an effort to improve products’ functional capabilities. The aggregate production value of Taiwan’s nanotechnology industry was USD $9.4 billion in 2008 according to ITRI and by 2012 over 1,500 companies are expected to be working in the nanoscience and nanotechnology industry.
Although funding in Taiwan is significantly less than countries such as the United States, Japan and Germany, they have made impressive strides in Phase 1 of the National Nanotechnology Program. This Phase has been judged a clear success and with it’s efforts to increase consumer confidence in nanotechnology while bringing products to market Taiwan will continue to play a leading role in nanotechnology.
