The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday officially unveiled its Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program, which aims to lower the entry threshold for new and innovative technologies in a bid to attract foreign investment.
The Executive Yuan on Nov. 6 last year approved the program, allocating funding of NT$300 billion (US$9.65 billion) from this year through 2033.
NSTC Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) yesterday said that semiconductors and generative artificial intelligence (AI) are two “driving forces” propelling humanity into a new industrial revolution.
Photo: CNA
The project aims to assist the industry to fully utilize technologies that combine semiconductors and generative AI, and explore new adaptation methods, Wu said.
With Taiwan’s knowhow in the industry, hopefully the project would attract international talent in the innovation and creative field, as well as foreign funding, he said.
Funding and efforts this year to develop a large-language model to boost Taiwan’s generative AI services are ongoing, the NSTC said.
The council said it hopes to establish its first overseas site this year to help foster talent and attract foreign professionals, adding that it would continue to develop research platforms so that Taiwan would be the go-to location for semiconductor design and training.
It also hopes to establish a one-stop pipeline for integrated circuitry design, wafer tapeouts, quality control and trial production of new products this year to lower the entry threshold for innovative ideas to attract more foreign investment, the council said.
Also yesterday, the NSTC said that it would inject NT$2.05 billion this year to continue fostering high-tech research, with another NT$15.66 billion planned through 2028.
The subsidies would be distributed in three ways: to encourage research talent, to help doctoral students conduct research and to build a more friendly research environment, it said.
Researchers would receive NT$20,000 per month, while assistants would get a 4 percent wage hike, it said, adding that the government is expected to provide NT$540 million in grants and scholarships.
About 16,000 people are expected to benefit from the government’s funding of the program, the council said.
To help with doctoral research, the council is planning to increase stipends for study in Taiwan and abroad, it added.
Academic research facilities would be asked to increase wages by 10 percent for researchers with a doctoral degree, it said.
The number of doctoral students eligible for scholarships of NT$40,000 per month would rise to 1,000 from 300, valid until the third year of their program, it added.
Expenditure for these endeavors is expected to total NT$1.51 billion, paid for entirely by the NSTC, it said.
The council would also work with the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of the Interior to help foreign professionals apply for residency and work permits, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its