The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday outlined its spending plan for next year, with funding for the National Space Organization (NSPO) and experimental schools affiliated with the country’s science parks included in the proposed NT$54.54 billion (US$1.71 billion) budget.
The council, formerly the Ministry of Science and Technology, said it plans to increase spending next year by NT$7.06 billion to boost Taiwan’s development of cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors and 6G.
NSTC Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) reported on the council’s budget for next year at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
The extra NT$7.06 billion planned for next year’s budget would go to the National Science and Technology Development Fund (NT$2.24 billion), subsidies for the NSPO (NT$2.76 billion) and funding for establishing and maintaining experimental secondary schools in the nation’s four science parks, Wu said.
The NSTC had decreased the National Science and Technology Development Fund’s allocation by NT$1.6 billion to NT$43.1 billion as projects had been completed, he said.
The ministry has earmarked NT$16.2 billion of its science park operation fund, in addition to a rolling budget for maintaining fixed assets totaling NT$40 billion, Wu said.
The operation fund would acquire land to establish and expand science parks, and maintain affiliated experimental schools, he added.
The NSPO, soon to become a directly affiliated agency of the NTSC, is in the final stages of testing the country’s first domestically built weather satellite, Triton, with its launch planned for early next year, Wu said.
The NSTC has tasked those working on the Triton project with testing 10 domestically developed key technologies and components, he said.
The agency would propose a plan by the end of this year for achieving net zero carbon emissions in Taiwan by 2050, Wu said, adding that it also plans to establish a national artificial intelligence center and an information security technology research center.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to