And in the years between, to make strides in sustainability, we have established strong ties with our overseas partners including Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Japan International Science & Technology Exchange Center (JISTEC), Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI), Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and National Library of Medicine (NLM) on the strength of varied activities, such as joint research projects, exchange of information and publications, staff visits, attendance at seminars and conferences.

Some of significant joint research projects had or has conducted with international organizations such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), European Science Foundation (ESF), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), and the Netherlands.

In order to fill up the gap of information acquirement in the Asia Pacific Rim, STPI will continuously keep good interaction with National Center for Scientific and Technological Information (NACESTI) of Vietnam, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) of Japan and National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) of Thailand.

STPI shall continuously devote itself to strengthening collaboration with international organizations, which will help technology transfer, economic development and business dealings in the globalizing economy as a result.

Sci-Tech Policy Research (Virtual) Center - APEC-STPRC

Established in 1997, the APEC-STPRC (Virtual) Center is a project endorsed by the APEC Ministers and housed within STPI to 1) encourage economic and technical cooperation within the APEC and 2) serve as a common forum on innovation and S&T policies between the APEC member economies and other international organizations like OECD & EU. The entire project could be divided in two phases:

I) 1st Phase (1997~2000)－"National Innovation Systems, NIS", a 3-year joint project on innovation systems and S&T policies, sheds light on analyzing NIS in Chinese Taipei and to extend the critical achievements of this research to other APEC economies under a comparative perspective.

II) 2nd Phase (2002~2005)－"S&T Technology Drivers for a Knowledge-based Economy across APEC", exploring technological opportunities and promoting technological cooperation in APEC economies, aims to develop an in-depth understanding of current status, challenges and difficulties facing APEC economies, and to provide policy implication necessary to promote better cooperation among APEC member economies. (http://www.apec-stprc.org)

European Science Foundation/EUROCORES Project

Globalization has played an increasingly important role in policy discourses in the developed world today. This is not only limited to economic factors, but also extends to other basic aspects of human activity such as knowledge, institutions and culture.  The concept “National Innovation System (NIS)” points to the systemic character of such interaction processes. National innovation systems confront a number of serious challenges in the context of globalization such as institutions and fundamental changes, technological changes and competition dynamics.

The EUROCORES project was initiated in late 2002. The theme of this three-year project is “National Systems of Innovation in a Globalizing, Knowledge-Based Economy: A Comparative Study of Nine Small Developed Countries in Europe and Asia”, in which STPI has been working closely with six European and three Asian countries. They are Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. The project objectives are: (1) to refine and operationalize the systems of innovation (SI) approach and (2) to use the SI approach by actually carrying out empirical and comparative studies of different national system of innovation.

“2005 International Symposium on Nanotechnology Industrialization” (November 24, 2005)

In order to establish closer links with global nanotechnology industry, Industrial Development Bureau of Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan initiated the “2005 International Symposium on Nanotechnology Industrialization” hoping to upgrade nanotechnology application in Taiwan. Four topics are discussed in the Symposium: Nano material and platform technology, fundamental industry and nano application technology, nano energy application technology, and nano biotechnology application.   Chaired by Dr. Jyuo-Min Shyu, the Executive Director of National Nanotechnology Program in Taiwan, speakers from Japan, Korea and the UK share with local experts their hands-on experience on different topics such as carbon nanotube, nano metrology, silicon nanotechnology and nano materials.

“Planning the Next Wave of ICT-Biotech Convergence – Technology Strategy Based on Perspective Roadmapping” Symposium (December 6, 2005)

The Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the Biotechnology are known as the most significant technologies of this century. Especially the interdisciplinary effect of these two emerging fields can lead to numerous innovation and synergic applications. On this December 6th, this international seminar invited speakers from US, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore to interchange the experience and the latest information of ICT-Biotech industry development, and furthermore to introduce the advantageous foresight analysis as well as the technology roadmapping methodologies. This International Conference was held at National Central Library. There were 8 presentations provided, and attracted over 120 attendants from industry, government, and academia area.

Internationally, STPI plays an active role in joining cross-nation projects and establishing close relationship with the distinguished international organizations. Domestically, STPI is devoted itself to promoting the innovation and information services. To maximize the effect of the rich collection of worldwide resources and numerous value-added research results, STPI propagates the innovative ideas and services by participating in island-wide showcases and exhibitions on a monthly basis.