Government cuts nanotechnology budget this year

The government's investment in nanotechnology has decreased this year as the budget in the National Science and Technology Program for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology is only 90 percent of what it was last year, according to the National Science Council (NSC) yesterday.

The program was launched by the council in January 2003.

At that time, it was estimated that at least NT$21.2 billion (US$687.9 million) would be invested over a period of six years, but the proposal would be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan annually. Statistics show that the program received NT$2.64 billion in 2003 and NT$3.03 billion last year.

According to Lee Ting-kuo (李定國), a physics research fellow at the Academic Sinica and one of the principal researchers in the program, the government investment in the program this year decreased by roughly 10 percent to NT$2.76 billion.

"However, we believe that the government will show greater interest because new research areas involving environmental technology and related issues would be carried out soon by government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Administration [EPA]," Lee said at a press conference yesterday.

The program will demand, on average, at least NT$4 billion a year from next year to 2008. It has been estimated that the six-year program would need NT$20.65 billion.

NSC Deputy Chairman Liao Chun-chen (廖俊臣) said yesterday that several achievements had been made in the past two years.

"In terms of academic excellence, industrialization, incubation of professionals and internationalization, the program has proceeded well," Liao said.

Council said that Taiwanese researchers had dug into diverse fields, ranging from basic research on the physical, chemical and biological properties of nanostructures, to the development of MEMS/NEMS technology and nanobiotechnology, while core facilities, such as laboratories for characterization, nanomaterials simulation and synthesis/production, have also been established.

The Nanotechnology Research Center of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is also one of key players promoting cooperation on research projects involving nanotechnology.

According to Su Tsung-tsan (蘇宗粲), the center's general director, in the rest of the world, cash is starting to flow into nanotechnology from both government and private industry.