Our national S&T policies are formulated mainly through four mechanism: (1) Executive Yuan’s major policies and programs,(2) resolutions of Executive Yuan’s Board of Science and Technology, (3)“National Science and Technology Conference” held every four years by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), and(4) the planning and implementation by all ministries and councils according to their functions as defined by law.

The NSTC is responsible for planning national S&T development guidelines and policies, proposing White Papers on Science and Technology, organizing National Science and Technology Conferences, etc.

Fundamental Science and Technology Act

The Fundamental Science and Technology Act was enacted in 1999 for the purpose of establishing fundamental guidelines and principles for the government in promoting scientific and technological development, to raise the standards of science and technology, maintain economic development, strengthen ecological conservation, improve public well-being, boost national competitiveness and promote the sustainable development of human society.

National Science and Technology Conference

In accordance with the Fundamental Science and Technology Act, the NSTC shall convene the National Science and Technology Conference once every four years, to consider the national development directions, social demands and balanced regional development. This conference shall attain the two-way communication integrating top-down policy piloting and bottom-up issue collection, and take into consideration all opinions from the industrial, governmental, academic and research sectors for the purpose of drawing up a National Science and Technology Development Plan as a basis for formulating S&T policies and promoting S&T development. The National Science and Technology Conference has been held nine times. The 10th National Science and Technology Conference will convene in the fourth quarter of 2016.

National Science and Technology Development Plan

The “National Science and Technology Development Plan” is compiled according to the consensus and conclusions of the National Science and Technology Conference, and approved by the Executive Yuan. The latest “National Science and Technology Development Plan (2013-2016)” has established 7 goals, 27 strategies and 58 important measures, all of which are jointly implemented by 22 government agencies, including the NSTC, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), etc. The 7 goals include: raising Taiwan’s academic and research status, strategizing intellectual property arrangement, promoting sustainable development, bridging academic research and industrial application, advancing top-down sci-tech projects, promoting innovation in sci-tech industry and addressing Taiwan’s human resource crisis in sci-tech fields.

White Paper on Science and Technology

According to the Fundamental Science and Technology Act, the government shall present a written statement once every two years describing the visions, strategies and current status of S&T development. The latest “White Paper on Science and Technology (2015-2018)” has developed eight strategies and multiple measures aiming at “R&D innovation transfer”, “sustainable green environment”, “industrial S&T added value” and a “happy pluralistic society”.