TAIPEI: The government will launch an "innovation voucher" program to encourage small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop new technologies and products in collaboration with research organizations, an official said yesterday.

"If all goes smoothly, the program might be put into practice after the Chinese lunar new year holiday," said Lai Shan-kuei, director of the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration under the "Ministry of Economic Affairs" (MOEA).

The program is patterned upon similar incentive projects adopted in the Netherlands, Singapore and the United States to help SMEs adapt and upgrade to survive in the increasingly competitive global market, Lai said.

The Executive Yuan's Science and Technology Development Fund has earmarked NT$30 million (about $940,438.8) to help finance the voucher program, he explained.

In the first year, he went on, the MOEA plans to help up to 90 SMEs develop innovative technology or products, with each company given a maximum NT$300,000 in research subsidies.

The government subsidies are expected to cover 50 percent of the funds needed to finance each project, while the applicant companies will have to raise the remaining 50 percent of the needed money on their own, Lai said.

SME Administration Deputy Director Huang Wen-ku said local SMEs are welcome to approach local academic or research institutions or incubation centers to work out research programs and then apply for subsidies to the MOEA.

For example, he said, if a sports shoe manufacturer intends to upgrade its products, say, by adding "intelligent" shoe pads or pedometers, it can contact a technological incubation center to flesh out a cooperative R&D program and then file an application for the "innovation vouchers."

As SMEs form the backbone of Taiwan's economy, Huang went on, the government will devote more resources to helping them upgrade their competitiveness through technological innovation.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of a talent cultivation conference Sunday, Premier Wu Den-yi also said the government will send at least 300 talented people to top-notch overseas universities to pursue advanced studies, offering them scholarships of between NT$1 million and NT$1.5 million.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 01/26/2010 page2)