The National Science Council's (NSC) National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) said yesterday at a press conference that reform of its organizational framework would enable it to extend its role to become more proactive in facilitating technological innovation.
"Instead of just being a service provider to the academic field in applied research, the NARL aims to become an integrator of leading edge technologies and bridge the gaps in the nation's innovation value chain," NARL president Joe Juang (
The NARL, established in 2003, consists of 10 labs: the National Nano Device Laboratories, the National Laboratory Animal Center, the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, the National Space Organization, the National Center for High-performance Computing, the National Chip Implementation Center, the Instrument Technology Research Center, the Science and Technology Policy Research and Information Center, the National Center for Ocean Research and the National Center for Typhoon and Flood Research, Juang said.
In the four years since the laboratories were formed, development has been limited because of a lack of collaboration between the laboratories, Juang said.
He also said that a lack of centralized direction for future developments also contributed to the NARL's low visibility in the technological field.
"As such the NARL will adopt two supplementary roles to propel itself towards becoming an unified team with a clear direction," Juang said.
The first role aims to address `upstream' integration of academic research and development, providing researchers with the best research and development facilities and platforms while making sure that no redundant efforts are made, Juang said.
"In addition, the NARL fosters talent development and works with higher educational institutions abroad to form strong working teams," he said.
The second role addresses "downstream" developments that bridge innovations with businesses, where the NARL aspires to act as a synergy hub for foresight, forecast and leading technologies, "without competing with the Industrial Technology Research Institute," he said.
In view of emerging global trends, the focus of future research and development will be geared towards an "advanced, sustainable and secure society," he said, adding that the research will generally fall into five fields, including environmental and disaster reduction, space technology, biotechnology, IT, nano electronics and system technology services.
To standardize its services, NARL will be entirely ISO-certified for quality assurance, he said.
In addition a System Management Office was launched last year with a plan to implement all NARL projects through an integrated structure, Juang said.
He also said that the NARL will become a not-for-profit institute operating on an activity-based costing scheme, which means that services provided to researchers or businesses will be charged for in the future.
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