Canada and Taiwan enjoy long-standing cooperation in science, technology and innovation. Recognizing the importance of international research collaboration in promoting scientific discoveries, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) of Taiwan are partnering to fund collaborative research projects to support priority areas identified by the Canada–Taiwan Joint Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation. Semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) were identified among the areas of focus.
Research collaborations leveraging Canada’s AI strengths with Taiwan’s semiconductor expertise present an unprecedented opportunity to co-develop AI-driven semiconductor solutions that advance global innovation, economic growth, and technological leadership. In response to the growing need for responsible AI and resilient supply chains, and to support sustainable growth in emerging technologies, this call for research proposals aims to foster scientific collaboration and knowledge exchange between leading university researchers in Canada and Taiwan to address fundamental challenges and explore cutting-edge applications at the intersection of semiconductors and AI. This includes how AI technologies can advance semiconductor research, and how semiconductor research can advance AI infrastructure.
This call for proposals will be led by NSERC and includes a two-stage application process whereby teams must first submit a letter of intent (LOI) which will be reviewed and evaluated by NSERC. If successful in the first stage, the Canadian principal investigator (PI) will be invited to submit a single collaborative research proposal to NSERC, on behalf of both Canadian and Taiwan-based research teams, which will undergo a scientific review process led by NSERC. Only proposals from teams that have been invited to submit will be accepted. Please refer to the Apply section for more details. The Taiwan-based collaborator(s) are required to meet NSTC eligibility criteria and must submit a copy of the LOI and the full proposal to NSTC for eligibility verification and record keeping. Researchers in Taiwan will need to consult the NSTC website for more information.
