The management of science and technology projects in Taiwan

Abstract

Since 1982, in order to raise the global technology competitiveness, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in Taiwan, ROC has offend about five hundred million US dollars each year to support applied research in technology development through a program called 'Science and Technology Projects (STP)'. This research reports an operational model called IPRCE (Input-Process-Result-Channel-Effect) for management and performance evaluation. To achieve operational effectiveness and efficiency of the STP, this research conducts three forums among members of industry, government, Legislative Yuan, and academia. In the first forum, the evaluation criteria and items in IPRCE are evaluated and approved. In the second forum, the weighting system for IPRCE criteria is determined for reference in actual STP evaluation. From the weights of the five stages in IPRCE, it is found that the professionals focus on the effectiveness rather than efficiency. In the third forum, the processes of STP operation are investigated thoroughly and comprehensive suggestions induced. According to the suggestions of professionals, the MOEA plans to do some milestone changes: 1. to change proposal operation from bottom-up to top-down, 2, to open the STP to industries, 3. to reduce the proposing process from 18 months to 6 months.