President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of September 1 with Dr. Curtis R. Carlson, who serves as a Science and Technology Advisor to the Executive Yuan. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, welcomed Dr. Carlson to Taiwan and expressed his hope that Dr. Carlson will share his insights on national and corporate innovation with the people of Taiwan.
President Ma remarked that the Executive Yuan's Science and Technology Advisory Group was founded by the late Senior Advisor to the President Dr. K. T. Li (李國鼎, 1910-2001). Over the past three decades, this body has provided many important recommendations that have spurred scientific and technological progress in Taiwan. The president noted that Dr. Carlson has held positions at a number of prominent US companies. Twelve years ago he moved to the Stanford Research Institute, which has since become known as SRI International. President Ma remarked that Dr. Carlson stresses the importance of talent and believes that the present policy under which Taiwan recruits talent in the United States is not effective. Consequently, he has provided a number of suggestions and observations for improvement. President Ma added that previously the Academia Sinica joined with the government, industry, and the academic community in issuing a "Declaration on Talent Recruitment" with the hope that Taiwan will provide more opportunities and resources to recruit talented individuals and keep them here. President Ma noted that the entire world is looking for people with advanced skills. Over the past three years, while Taiwan has adopted various measures to open its doors to talent, the results of this initiative are still insufficient. "This is something we must urgently pursue. There can be no delay," the president said.
President Ma noted Dr. Carlson's position that neighboring countries, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Israel, have devoted significantly more manpower and resources to attracting talent. The president acknowledged that some local industries and individuals still embrace protectionism. They don't want their job opportunities and product competitiveness impacted by liberalization. President Ma said that while these concerns are valid, a more comprehensive policy needs to be formulated in the face of global competition so that domestic industry and local job seekers would not be impacted. President Ma said that methods must be devised to attract innovative talent and keep such individuals here. This is a severe challenge that we are currently facing, he said.
The president expressed his belief that the next 20-30 years will feature competition based on innovation, and that talent is the most critical factor in this. He added that enticing people with big salaries isn't enough to attract the most outstanding individuals. Rather, an appropriate environment must be created in order to effectively recruit talent. The president explained that Taiwan has made considerable progress in raising "innovation" efficiency. The next step is to consider how to increase added value, so that the innovations developed in Taiwan can become widely used throughout the world.
Dr. Carlson was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Academia Sinica President Dr. Chi-Huey Wong (翁啟惠) and Minister without Portfolio Dr. Cyrus C. Y. Chu (朱敬一) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General John C. C. Deng (鄧振中) .