President Chen Shui-bian attended on October 3 an award ceremony for the outstanding R&D achievements in industrial technologies of Taiwan, sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The president gave a speech at the ceremony, presented awards to the winning companies and individuals, and encouraged local enterprises to keep their innovation in technologies and bring Taiwan's industries to a new era.
The president's speech:
Tonight I am honored to be invited to this award ceremony for the outstanding R&D achievements in industrial technologies of Taiwan 2005 sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. And I am glad to join with all of you. It is because of your efforts and contributions that Taiwan's economy is able to "keep innovating and create new values" and to grow with prosperity.
To accelerate the upgrading of our nation, the government has pushed for the plan of "Challenge 2008." Resources have been invested in six newly emerged technologies: Flexible Electronics, artificial intelligence robot, intelligent living environment, Radio Frequency Identification system, nanotechnology, and intelligent vehicles. The government has also worked hard to attract investment from private sectors, encouraging service industry to employ new technologies and to enhance its innovation. With all these efforts, the government aims to boost the quality of Taiwan's service industry as well as the quality of life of our people. In addition, since the establishment of multi-national research centers in 2002, we have received wide responses and feedbacks. So far, there have been 28 R&D centers set up in Taiwan, including joint investments with the world-renowned Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Sony. They are ready to get involved in more than 295 cooperation projects. Over NT$23 billion will be put into these efforts during the period of three years. Meanwhile, another 87 R&D centers that are participated by our local enterprises were also established. This shows that Taiwan truly is in the process of transformation, and these are the evidences that enterprises around the globe and at home can have "faith in Taiwan."
In the future, the government will continue to push for various laws and policies as they are conducive to the economic improvement of Taiwan, and will lead the enterprises of Taiwan toward the direction of high value -added industries. We look to combine knowledge from the campus with research efforts done by the enterprises, so together they realize Taiwan's strategy of "investing in Taiwan while promoting globalization." As a result, we will be able to enhance the international competitiveness of our industries.
At last, I want to congratulate again all the wining enterprises, research units and individuals, and hope that all of you continue your role models as innovators and bring Taiwan to a new era.