With dramatic growth in Taiwan's semiconductor industry having turned the nation into one of the world's major producers of integrated circuits, the government -- in the form of the National Science Council -- is heavily engaged in efforts to further develop industry by taking responsibility for coordinating the nation's already extensive research into nanotechnology.
A visit by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and senior officials of the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Monday to a major new research center in Hsinchu -- to be formally opened in mid-January -- will underline the importance attached by the government to the burgeoning new field.
Research in the field has been underway for some time at research centers and universities around the country without any national coordination. The National Science Council (NSC) is now leading the planning of a national nanotechnology program.
NSC officials say the program is to play a crucial role in setting Taiwan's nanotechnology agenda and will be launched next year.
A top-level NSC meeting is to review the draft of the program this month.
NSC Vice Chairman Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) told the Taipei Times that a second meeting would be likely to approve the draft in March. After that, Wu said, details of the program would be revised on the basis of advice given at the meeting.
Wu said that the budget for the program would be drawn up by the end of this year. The proposed budget, about NT$19.1 billion for the program, which is scheduled to run until 2007, is expected to be approved.
In addition to the NSC, government agencies involved in the nanotechnology program include the Atomic Energy Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the Ministry of Education, and the elite Academia Sinica.
Wu said, however, that of the NT$19.1 billion asked for, only NT$1.5 billion had been allocated to the development of nanotechnology for this year.
He said that Taiwan sill has a long way to go before it will make any major achievements in the area of nanotechnology.
"The most important thing now is to point out specific directions for the development of nanotechnology for the benefit of researchers and industry," Wu said.
The manipulation of minutiae
Nanotechnology involves the creation and utilization of materials, devices and systems through the control and manipulation of matter at the nanometer scale, that is, at the level of atoms, molecules, and supramolecular structures. A nano-meter (one billionth of a meter) is about 10,000 times narrower than a human hair and about four times wider than an atom.
NSC officials say that such materials and systems can be designed to exhibit novel and significantly improved physical, chemical and biological properties and perform unique processes because of their size.
In 2000, the NSC initiated a three-year research project on nanomaterials whose aim is to both carry out basic research and move nanomaterial technology from the lab into industry.
Coordinated by Mou Chung-yuan (
At Academia Sinica, Taiwan's most prestigious academic institution, physicists are studying the characteristics of one-dimensional nanomaterials and maintains a Web site on the subject -- the only network on which all ongoing projects relating to nanotechnology in Taiwan are available to view.
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