Despite the 0.8% decline in the annual expenditure budget for 2006, the Taiwanese central government has decided to increase its technology budge by 19.7% next year. A total of NT$84.3 billion has been apportioned for technology use, which is significantly NT$13.9 billion more than in 2005. This will help realize President Chen's target to allocate 3% of the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for research and development use. Also, the budget for government technology projects is estimated at around NT$20 billion.

 

With more resources at hand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to aggressively invite foreign institutes to set up R&D centers in Taiwan, while invest heavily into the digital content, communications, as well as biotechnology industries. Extra effort will also be exerted on nurturing a few domestic 3G mobile phone players and developing emerging technologies, such as WiMax and RFID.