The National Science Council (NSC) yesterday announced NT$150 million (US$5.06 million) in subsides for 74 approved projects proposed by universities and research institutions, in the first year of its “industry-academy minor league” program, which aims to improve cooperation between industry and academia in the nation.
The program was initiated by the council in late October last year and after several months of submissions and evaluations of project proposals, the results were announced yesterday.
“Only by allowing companies to spend sufficient time communicating and working with the academic sector can we develop improved jointly-developed technologies,” council deputy director-general Hocheng Hong (賀陳弘) said, adding that the program is a new model for cooperation between the two sectors.
Department of Engineering and Applied Science director Lee Ching-ting (李清庭) said the council approved 74 projects out of a total of 399 submissions, an 18.5 percent approval rate, with a subsidy of up to NT$3 million to be allocated to each of the approved projects.
Among the approved projects, 49, or 66 percent, are from the engineering and applied technology fields, 13 projects (18 percent) from biology-related fields and seven (9 percent) from the humanities, which were the three fields with the most approved projects.
The distribution of the approved projects showed the majority came from national universities and vocational schools — with 41 projects proposed by public schools, 31 from private schools and two from the Academia Sinica.
The subsidies would be allocated to the projects in stages over a three-year period, Lee said, adding that the council will evaluate the results of the projects annually to identify those that fail to produce effective results.
About 250 research personnel, including students enrolled in masters and doctorate programs, will benefit from acquiring practical operational experience through working on the projects, the council added.
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