Reorganizing the R&D System to Promote an Innovation-Based ...

technology infrastructure, which was after USA, Canada, Australia, Germany and
Malaysia. Furthermore, according to “2003 The Global Competitiveness Report”
issued by WEF, Taiwan became No. 3 in technology index, which was after the U.S.
and Finland. Taiwan ranked No. 2 in innovation sub-index, which was after USA.
Table 3 World No. 1 products in terms of market shares/volumes of Taiwan in 2003
IC
Market shares/Production World Penetration
Foundry US$8,349M 65.8%
Mask ROM US$271M 89.7%
IC Packaging US$2,650M 27.9%
Computer & Peripheral Devices
CD-R Disk 5923.8M Pcs 64%
CD-RW Disk 228.23M Pcs 84%
DVD-R Disk 517.9M Pcs 75%
DVD-RW Disk 73.02M Pcs 62%
Networking Products
ADSL Modem 14M Sets 59%
Wireless LAN 39.4M Sets 78%
Analog Modem 9,018K Sets 25%
SOHO Router 6,491K Sets 35%
Other
ABS Resin 1530K M.T. 24.3%
Source: ITIS, DOIT, MOEA, 2004, unit: B:Billion, M:Million, K:Thousand,
M.T.:Metric Ton, Pcs : pieces
3. Major challenges for the innovation-based economy
It’s noted that Taiwan’s industry is superior to product adjustment and process
improvement. It thus results that Taiwan’s economy falls into the “incremental
innovation-based economy”. In order to transform such an economy into “radical
innovation-based economy” so as to get new momentum to push for economic growth,
Taiwan’s 2003 Science and Technology Meeting of the Executive Yuan concluded that
implementation of “innovation-based economy” was a very desirable next step for
Taiwan to take. Following this policy, the industry technology R&D would evolve
from a system based on “incremental innovation” to the one based on “radical
innovation”.
However, in a bid to promote the development of “innovation-based economy”
demands a comprehensive system. Major innovation activities in Taiwan’s
manufacturing industry (electronics or non-electronics) fell within categories such as
products, technology and manufacturing processes. Innovations in organization,
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