To help connect information technology (IT) firms and researchers, the National Science Council launched a Web site yesterday. It is hoped that the site will provide a place to help formulate Taiwan's IT strategy and be used as a channel to encourage technology transfers from academic circles to industry.
Science council officials said the Web site, called "21st Century Information Technology Trend Web (21
"Where are the IT professionals in Taiwan? What are their specialties? What IT is available in Taiwan? The answers are on the Web site," said Su Yan-kuin (
With the revolutionary change the Internet brought toward the end of the 20th century, Su said, the science council would like to make pertinent information available so it that can be used as a reference for revising industrial policies in Taiwan.
"Especially when Taiwan is facing the effects of the exodus of the high-tech industry and [its upcoming] entry into the WTO, we have to be aware of what Taiwan's potential is," Su said.
Chao Ming (
Chao said that many countries had focused on training software professionals and some countries had even attracted foreign IT professionals by offering opportunities for immigration.
"If Taiwan wants to compete with other countries, we have to find out what our advantages are," said Chao, an information engineering professor at Feng Chia University.
Chao said Taiwan should have not focus only on the IT industry in the US, where the software sector is prosperous.
Instead, Chao said, Taiwan has to realize that Europe currently dominates the communication standardization market and several Asian countries had competed with each other in the wireless communication field.
In addition to up-to-date local and foreign information relating to the IT industry, the Web site has integrated academic research results into a database for firms.
"Most top IT professionals are doing research in universities. Firms might benefit from the results of their research," said Hsiang Jieh (
Scientists said that firms could easily use the Web site to find specialists in a variety of fields, including artificial intelligence, natural language processing, computer graphics, database, human-computer interaction, networking, security, software infrastructures and others.
"IT firms in Taiwan have difficulties in mastering core technology. We would like to see successful technology transfers from universities to the industry through the Web site," said Kuo Yau-hwang (
Science council officials said that the Web site, updated and maintained by Feng Chia University, was the beginning of a national project that will continue for at least five years with the overall aim to revise IT strategies for the new century.
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