Taiwan Ranked 6th in EIU Global Innovation Index 2009-2013, and ranked 1st in Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions and INPEX (Pittsburgh)

With the strength in the development of “knowledge-intensive industry”, the front-end technology, having been growing fast in Taiwan, plays a critical role to economic transformation in Taiwan.  According to the statistics collected by Council for Economic Planning and Development in 2008, the contribution made by the “knowledge-intensive industry” to the economic growth in 2007 was 63.0%, a significant increase by 12.9% comparing to that of 50.1% in 2006.  Taiwan's industries are transforming themselves from the high-efficiency mass production (supply chain) to life application innovation (product/system/service).  Given this, the manufacturing service industry will be the priority in future industrial development, which will cover the front-end R&D service industry and back-end financial and transportation service industries and also introduce new mechanisms including “servitization in manufacturing” and “service outsourcing” that would be advantageous for entering the China market.

Taiwan ranked 6th in EIU Global Innovation Index 2009-2013, only following after Japan, Switzerland, Finland, Germany and the U.S.A.; ranked 1st among the emerging industrial countries, and only ranked after Japan in the Asian regions.  South Korea ranked 11th, Singapore 16th, Hong Kong 22nd and China 46th.

The rankings were based on the various countries’ innovation investment and performance.  The innovation investment includes the proportion of R&D investment in GDP, quality of infrastructure and education level of the labor force (among others).  The innovation performance is evaluated based on the quantity of patents issued by the patent offices of Europe, Japan and the U.S.A.

Taiwan’s GERD (Gross Expenditure on R&D) was US$16.55 billion in 2006, ranking 11th in the OECD countries.  For the R&D strength (defined as the weight of GERD in GDP), the proportion of Taiwan’s GERD in GDP increased from 2.31% in 2003 to 2.62% in 2007.  For the source of R&D fund, the businesses/enterprises occupy the highest proportion (67.15% in 2006) and then the government apparatus (31.41%).  It displays that the role played by the businesses/enterprises is becoming more and more important.  The government apparatus’ GERD will grow by 10% per year.  Until 2012, the R&D strength is expected to be 3%, the weight of GERD in GDP.

In Taiwan, 268 U.S. invention patents may be obtained per one million people. Such performance is ahead of the U.S.A. and Japan and ranks 1st in the world.  Taiwanese investors have yielded unusually brilliant results in Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions in 2010, including 28 gold medals, 21 silver medals, 10 bronze medals and 3 special awards, ranking 1st in the world for the number of gold medals and making a record of winning gold medals for over two decades.  More than 1,100 inventions from 41 countries participated in the Exhibition this year (2010).  59 of the 63 pieces of work from Taiwan were awarded, nearly 94% award-winning rate, and made Taiwan ranking 1st in the world.  Moreover, Taiwan’s delegation also won the “Best Group Award” with 24 gold medals, 25 sliver medals, 5 bronze medals and 7 special awards in the Invention & New Product Exposition (INPEX), Pittsburgh, known as one of the three major world exhibitions together with Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions and the IENA held in Nuremberg, Germany.  The USA, ranking 2nd, won 19 gold medals in the Exhibition.  (2010.06/2010.04/2009.12.02)
/DC