Defense Technology
In recent years, there have been frequent regional wars around the world, and the trend of long-term confrontation between great powers has placed Taiwan at the forefront of global strategy. The current international political, economic environment, and regional security situation are unprecedented challenges and excellent opportunities for Taiwan. In order to protect Taiwan's security, Taiwan must establish a new national defense industry strategy and national defense strategy, expand and promote national defense independence, and drive the overall industrial upgrading of Taiwan through cutting-edge technology research and development and investment in outstanding talents.
In view of the challenges of the new era and based on the experience and foundation accumulated in the past, Taiwan has promoted the "5+2 Innovative Industries Plan" since 2016, including the national defense industry, to drive the growth of the next generation of industries and enhance the international competitiveness of our industry. In 2020, on the basis of the "5+2 Innovative Industries Plan", President Tsai Ing-wen declared to promote the "Program for Promoting Six Core Strategic Industries", such as national defense and strategy, continuously promoting national defense independence, developing common military and civilian technologies, establishing a national defense industry supply chain, and investing resources in the long term for steady cultivation of talents.
To this end, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of Taiwan have jointly established "Research Centers for National Defense Technology" in top universities since December 2020 to promote 7 major subject domains, including Information and telecommunications and smart technology, key system analysis and integration, advanced sensing and precision manufacturing research, cutting-edge power system and flight vehicles, advanced system engineering research, advanced ships and underwater vehicles, advanced materials and mechanical analysis research.
The government will continuously promote academic research centers to become think tanks in the domain of national defense research and collaborate with national defense units to jointly take inventory of domestic scientific research energy, and draw up a blueprint for technological development paths. They will also formulate future research directions for national defense science and technology and promote the progress of national defense science and technology. Moreover, they will plan to jointly invest the science and technology budget and the national defense budget into academic research centers in 7 major subject domains, and cultivate national defense scientific research talents through the participation of academia in various national defense scientific research projects. They will also use cross-department resources to encourage inter-university and interdisciplinary collaboration to jointly develop a national defense scientific research blueprint and deepen national defense science and technology through academic research and development energy. It is hoped that it can assist in the upgrading of industrial technology by leveraging the needs of national defense and promoting the development of national defense and the overall industry.