DOIT's budget will increase 4.6% to fund R&D and ITRI

The budget for the Department of Industrial Technology (DOIT) for next year is expected to top NT$18.94 billion (US$580.83 million), up 4.6 percent over this year's level, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥) said yesterday.

Most of the budget will be used to help upgrade the industrial structures of industries in central and southern Taiwan, small and medium enterprises, as well as traditional industries, Shih said during a meeting of the legislature's Sci-tech and Information Committee.

Shih said the nation's research and development budget in 2005 was 2.46 percent of GDP, making Taiwan 10th in the world.

Shieh said that of the DOIT's budget for next year, NT$8.44 billion, or 45 percent, will be allocated to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI); 19 percent will go to finance special research projects conducted by private firms; 25 percent will finance special research projects conducted by non-profit institutes; 5 percent will be allocated to research projects conducted by the academic sector and 6 percent will go toward financial management of sci-tech related affairs.