Guidance

UK Science & Innovation Network snapshot

Updated 31 January 2024

Taiwan Science and Innovation landscape

Background

Taiwan is the world’s 22nd largest economy, with GDP per capita reaching US$32,756 in 2022. According to its National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan’s Technology R&D spending in 2021 was USD $26.7 billion, which accounted for 3.77% of its GDP. Total personnel employed in R&D has exceeded 279,000, making it 24.3 per thousand total employment– one of the highest in the world. Taiwan has ranked as the 14th best global destination for investment and the 5th in Asia in the 2022 US Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) report. Taipei city, the capital of Taiwan, ranked 4th in IMD- SUTD Global Smart City Index in 2021 and 51st in the Global Cities Talent Competitiveness Index 2021.

Taiwan has a highly educated workforce with more than 95% of high-school graduates entering higher education (UK 50%). 10 Taiwanese Universities are in the 2023 QS World University top 500 rankings. National Taiwan University is the highest ranked at 77th and also ranks 37th in the Impact Ranking 2022 of Times Higher Education. By 2030, Taiwan aims to become a bilingual society in both English and Mandarin.

Taiwan ranked 6th in 2023 IMD’s World Competitiveness Ranking

Policy landscape for science and innovation in Taiwan

5 + 2 innovative industries plan, first announced in 2016, prioritises innovation in areas of Biotechnology, Defence, Green Energy, Smart Machinery and the Internet of Things. This was followed by Six Core Strategic Industries, including information and digital, cybersecurity, precision health, renewable energy and national defence. Published in March 2022, Taiwan’s Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050 sets out strategies to achieve energy, industrial, lifestyle and social transition through technology R&D and climate legislation. Aiming for 60% of generation capacity from renewable energy, Taiwan has prioritised solar and offshore wind and is now exploring hydrogen, CCUS and smart grid technology. 

Taiwan’s northern and western coasts are more industrially developed with electronics and technology clusters. With strong support from the government since the 80s, Hsinchu Science Park has been known for its electronics and semiconductor cluster, in particular the TSMC value chain. The Taipei- Hsinchu cluster is ranked 26 in the Science and Technology Clusters report published by Intellectual Property Organisation in 2022. On the west coast, Central Taiwan Science Park boasts leading precision machinery and biotech. Southern Taiwan Science Park focuses on semiconductors and optoelectronics. Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City gathers R&D and testing capacity from Academia Sinica, ITRI and NARlabs working on innovative energy solutions.

Market landscape for Science and Innovation in Taiwan

SMEs play an important role in driving Taiwanese economic growth and disruptive innovation. In 2021, SMEs accounted for 80.3% of employment in Taiwan. SMEs contribute 52.5% of the overall market sales, nearly 90% of which comes from domestic transactions. Vibrant start-up ecosystem driven by public, business  and universities, has put Taiwan in the top 3 in 2022/23 Global Entrepreneurship Index.

In terms of industry value, manufacturing accounts for 32.1% of the market share whereas the service industry takes up 67.7%. Taiwan enjoys global dominance in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, accounting for 66% of global market share by revenue in 2022.  In addition, Taiwan has significant strengths in biotech accounting for 22% of the listed companies in Taiwan. A reputation for strong IP protection has also been important in assisting the development of its tech industries and will assist with future emerging technologies. Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs indicates that 58,015 applications were approved in 2022 with TSMC producing the largest number of patents. (UK 10,899 in 2021) 

Major UK engineering and pharmaceutical companies with operations in Taiwan include ARM, Astra Zeneca, GSK, Mott Macdonald, ODE Ltd, and Oxford Instruments.

Key stakeholders in Taiwan 

There are a number of world-leading research institutions with funding provided by both the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), for fundamental academic research, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA), for applied research. The key research bodies include:

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is named as one of the world’s top 100 global innovators by Clarivate Analytics. It has played a key role in Taiwan’s economic transition into a high-tech innovation-driven economy since its establishment in 1973. Funded by MoEA, ITRI supports technology commercialisation and has nurtured more than 260 companies, including TSMC and UMC. ITRI has registered over 20,000 patents with over 6,000 employed and partners across the globe.

Academia Sinica, founded in 1928, is Taiwan’s most prestigious academic institution. Its research scope ranges across science and humanities, including 32 research institutes and centres. It employs over 1,800 PhD level researchers, including 8 Nobel laureates. It was ranked 18th in Reuters World’s Most Innovative Research Institutions in 2019.

National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs), funded by NSTC, is a non-profit research institute with a mission to create an R&D platform based on fundamental science and technology. It consists of 7 labs focussed on areas including semiconductors, high-performance computing, oceans, and earthquake engineering.

Science and Innovation Network (SIN) Taiwan

The SIN Taiwan team is based in the British Office Taipei. We work to support UK science and innovation objectives in Taiwan, including R&D and innovation exchanges, collaboration and facilitation. Bilateral funding calls are in place to strengthen UK-Taiwan collaboration. This include the Innovative Industries Programmes (I2P) supporting researcher placements and the UK-Taiwan Collaborative R&D competition to fund industrial research.

If you’re interested in exploring S&I cooperation opportunities in Taiwan please feel free to get in touch with us.

SIN Taiwan contacts

Guy Robertson, Head of Science and Innovation Guy.Robertson@fcdo.gov.uk

Ginell Hsu, Science and Innovation Officer Ginell.Hsu@fcdo.gov.uk

Andie Wang, Science and Innovation Officer Andie.Wang@fcdo.gov.uk