Advances in information and communication technologies have created a borderless world and pervasive globalization in many aspects of society. Rapid development and innovation in science and technology are critical factors for competitiveness and success. As such, science and technology policy making and research activities are receiving attention greater than ever by the worldwide community. Thus, STPI has evolved and refined its strategic services in the knowledge-based era, and to undertake the role of fostering and enhancing innovative research.

Comprised of a designated task force of core researchers, the Policy Research Division, Technology Strategy Division and Impact Analysis Division were established to inspire team members to lead STPI in fulfilling its role as a world-leading best-in-class think tank. STPI has adopted a matrix operation within the organization by forming different target teams to deal with emerging and critical policy issues. The goal is to perform top-quality, advanced research on science, technology and innovation, and to evaluate their implications on economic, social and environmental aspects in support of the policy-making process. Four national critical issues--information and communication security, agriculture biotechnology, energy, sci-tech diplomacy--play the determining role in the matrix research operation.

 Our research projects are conducted in the domestic and international contexts, as well as in-house, and are categorized into five major themes: Technology Foresight & Assessment, National Innovation System, Human Resources & Mobility, Strategic Research on New Technology and Industrial Development & Sci-Tech R&D Performance Evaluation.

To strengthen our research capacity and develop expertise in varied policy domains, we are very active in promoting dialogues and collaborations with both domestic and international organizations.

The accuracy and timeliness of information are essential for successful decision-making and research. Therefore, database construction and information integration are necessary to sustain the science and technology development of a nation. Foreseeing these needs, STPI has been committed to the development of information systems (STICNET) since 1988. Apart from the bibliographic databases of research projects, research reports, working papers, forum papers, conference proceedings and dissertations, STPI has also established three service databases. They are the “Research Report Full-Text Database”, the “Electronic Journal System (EJS)” and the “DataBase of Research and Innovation Capacity (DBRIC)”.

In addition to database construction and information integration, STPI has developed applications with distinctive functions.  One is the “Government Research Bulletin” (GRB) which is the collection ofinformation related to proposals and research results of government-funded projects. The GRB has been in operation for over 6 years. Moreover, we are now developing the database of National Profiles of Human Resources in Science and Technology (NPHRST) and have collected approximately 25,000 out of 30,000 Ph.D. personnel profiles in Taiwan via questionnaires.

Meanwhile, as the development, collection and dissemination of electronic information continue, we put much more emphasis on the security of information and communication. Hence, STPI provides one-stop service through the establishment of the Information and Communication Security website after being selected as the Information Collection Team of the National Information and Communication Security Taskforce for the Executive Yuan. In short, we have reinforced our management capability to provide more comprehensive information services for domestic users in Taiwan. For more details, please visit our website at http://ics.stpi.org.tw.

Nationwide Document Delivery Services (NDDS)

Document delivery request is not confined to the in-house collections. It is also available via the nationwide interlibrary system and our overseas associates. Our clients include libraries, universities, research institutes, corporations and individual researchers.

In order to facilitate resources sharing among libraries, a unique nationwide Interlibrary Loan (ILL) System was established in 1999 (http://ill.stpi.org.tw), now known as Nationwide Document Delivery Services (NDDS). NDDS is an online integrated system incorporating the existing union catalogues in Western language and Chinese (both complex and simplified Chinese) of the major local libraries. So far, it has called for the participation of around 450 local universities and libraries. The Japanese version is currently under construction and will be launched by the end of 2005.

In 2006, CONCERT leased 34 databases systems including 101 databases.