Taiwan and Sweden have launched their first joint research initiative with a budget of nearly NT$250 million (US$8.43 million) to be spent over five years on six teams working on information and communications technologies, bioengineering and materials research, the Ministry of Science and Technology said yesterday.
The initiative was established after the ministry and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research in August last year signed a memorandum of understanding, the ministry said in a news release.
The foundation, an independent funding agency for research projects at universities and technical institutes, said on its Web site that it prioritizes projects related to information, communications and systems technologies, life sciences and materials research.
Former minister of science and technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) last year led a delegation to the foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and met with Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research Matilda Ernkrans to discuss the project, the ministry said.
After signing the memorandum, they then called for research projects, receiving 49 applications and approving six teams, the ministry said.
It said the teams would research new technologies, such as solid-state anode-less lithium batteries; antenna technologies for beyond-5G wireless communication; highly scalable CMOS-integrated nanopore biomolecular sensors; a chip-size accelerator for material research and health; advanced gallium nitride devices for millimeter and sub-millimeter-wave communications; and two-dimensional quantum optoelectronics devices.
Recognizing Taiwan’s strengths in these areas, the foundation is to provide the bulk of the funding with 60 million kronor (US$6.43 million) over the next five years, while up to 25 percent of the grants would be transferred to Taiwanese participants, the ministry said.
The Swedish funding is significant, as the budgets for other research collaborations between Taiwan and another nation have been shared 50-50, it said.
The ministry is to allocate NT$50 million to Taiwanese researchers involved in the projects, it added.
The research groups include 23 Swedish scientists from several Swedish institutions, including Uppsala University, Chalmers University of Technology, KTH-Royal Institute of Technology and Linkoping University, the ministry said.
They also include 14 Taiwanese researchers from National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chiao Tung University, National Cheng Kung University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and National Central University, it said.
It is the first time that the two nations have launched such a joint research platform, as previous collaborations were usually conducted on a case-by-case basis, the Department of International Cooperation and Science Education said.
The ministry said it expects the joint framework to become a strategic foothold for Taiwan to increase technological partnerships with other North European countries.
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