Following the completion last year of the National Telecommunications Technology Plan, the government is now mulling plans for large-scale investment to develop the next potential star industry — biopharmaceuticals.
National Science Council (NSC) officials yesterday said the plan, which is expected to start in 2011 and span six years, would raise national health standards, develop virus immunizations, as well as stimulate medical and pharmaceutical developments.
“This proposal, if passed ... will result in the rapid growth of Taiwan's biopharmaceutical industry within the next four years,” council Deputy Minister Chen Cheng-hong (陳正宏) said.
Chen said the government's telecommunications plan had helped the industry grow by an average of 20 percent between 2004 and last year. Taiwan is now a world leader in a number of technologies, including global positioning system (GPS), wireless local area network (WLAN) and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX).
Statistics provided by the Industrial Technology Research Institute showed that Taiwan’s telecommunications industry was estimated to be worth about NT$1 trillion (US$30.9 billion) last year.
NSC officials said the biopharmaceutical development plan would merge research previously made in the fields of biomedicine production and genetics.
The plan would combine research and manufacturing through cooperation between research institutes and businesses, they said.
Designating an industry as a national plan will allow the government to invest more resources and create a long-term strategy for its development, the officials added.
At the same setting yesterday, the council said it had developed an “Emergency Response Technology Plan” in response to Typhoon Morakot, which claimed hundreds of lives in August.
Officials said the plan would increase the effectiveness of rescue efforts.
It would coordinate technology resources currently spread over different government agencies in the event of a natural disaster, the council said.
It also includes measures for upgrading weather surveillance techniques, providing instant weather upgrades and establishing teams of experts that would advise local governments in rescue operations, it said.
Chen said the plan, which is expected to become operational in January, was made in response to requests from the legislature.
Lawmakers had criticized government agencies for failing to communicate and quickly aid victims of Typhoon Morakot.
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