On the afternoon of December 17, President Ma Ying-jeou attended the 1st ROC (Taiwan) Presidential Innovation Award Forum at the Howard Civil Service International House, where he spoke about the purpose of the awards and called on award winners to share their experiences and promote a spirit of innovation throughout society, so that Taiwan can further develop.
In remarks, President Ma thanked Dr. Curtis R. Carlson, vice chairman for innovation at SRI International, for coming to Taiwan to take part in this event and share his thoughts on innovation theory and practice. He said that Dr. Carlson became SRI president and CEO in 1998, and during his tenure frequently delivered addresses on innovation and national competitiveness. Dr. Carlson, the president stated, not only serves as an advisor to US President Barack Obama, but also was co-chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Singapore National Research Foundation. Since retiring at the beginning of this year, he has been SRI International's vice chairman in charge of research and development division. President Ma added that Dr. Carlson has unique experience in helping enterprises and government agencies both at home and abroad pursue innovation.
The president stated that Dr. Carlson, during a visit to Taiwan two years ago, suggested that Taiwan should move from an efficiency-driven economy to an innovation-driven one. He said that Dr. Carlson's recommendation dovetailed with his "six steps to a better Taiwan" statement that he made in 2010 on the second anniversary of his inauguration. One of those steps was to strengthen the country through innovation. President Ma noted that the ROC in July of this year named the winners of the first Presidential Innovation Awards, which were created on the basis of concepts promoted by Dr. Carlson. This, the president remarked, shows that the government is eager to hear a wide range of views, and actively strives to promote innovation.
President Ma went into further detail, saying that in 2013 he asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to establish the Presidential Innovation Award to encourage society to pursue innovation. After a year-long screening process, the winners were selected from a total of 321 nominees. They included the Zen drumming group U-Theatre and the non-profit R&D organization Industrial Technology Research Institute in the group category, and Franz Collection Founder and CEO Franz Chen (陳立恆) in the individual category. The president commented that the winners are active in a wide range of fields and have distinguished themselves as promoters of industrial diversity and innovation.
President Ma said that besides establishing the Presidential Innovation Award, the MOEA has also founded the National Industrial Innovation Award and promoted the Taiwan Mittelstand Award to encourage companies that do not have a lot of capital but are irreplaceable in the global supply chain. In addition, to spark the domestic economy, the Executive Yuan continues to promote a program for regenerating traditional industries, as well as the "Three Industries, Four Reforms" initiative, to spur industry, government, and academia to become more innovative, to cultivate more professional talent, and to generate a constant flow of innovative energy, he remarked.
President Ma also mentioned that in recent years many young people from Taiwan have distinguished themselves at the Red Dot Award, the iF Design Award, and other international science, technology, innovative design, and invention competitions. The president pointed out that Taiwan's innovative abilities have been recognized by the international community. For instance, in this past January's Bloomberg Rankings of the most innovative countries in the world, Taiwan ranked 10th among the 215 countries surveyed, and in September the World Economic Forum released the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, in which Taiwan again ranked 10th (among 144 countries) in the category of innovation. Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank recently released its Innovative Asia: Advancing the Knowledge-Based Economy report. In the Knowledge Economy Index portion, Taiwan was given a score of 8.77 points, which was the highest in Asia, he said. The president emphasized that this points to the strong innovative abilities of Taiwan.
Lastly, President Ma applauded CommonWealth magazine for inviting the winners of the Presidential Innovation Awards to come and share their experiences, which he said will help create an innovation-friendly atmosphere. President Ma also expressed hope that Taiwan can effectively transition from an efficiency-oriented economy to an innovation-driven one, which will enable Taiwan to achieve sustainable development in the ever-changing and intensely competitive global environment.