COA stages trade show to boost agro-technology transfer

This article was written by Bowun Jhu and published by the Taiwan Journal on July 22, 2005.

The Council of Agriculture recently launched its first-ever Agricultural Technology Trade Show in Taipei, displaying 79 research and development results of its 20 affiliated research institutions and pushing for their commercialization.

In the past, agricultural R&D was primarily conducted by government agencies and considered as public property that is available to everyone in Taiwan's private sector, free of charge. However, the Science and Technology Fundamental Act was enacted in 1999, and the Council of Agriculture began to set up regulations regarding the ownership and utilization of its intellectual property in 2000.

Since 2002, the Council of Agriculture has approved 95 applications for technology transfers, which in total generated revenues of approximately US$510,000. Over that same period, it has had 66 applications granted for ROC patents.

Quoting this article: "The trade show featured new technologies in the realms of farming, forestry, fishery, animal husbandry, quarantine and disease-prevention measures. These included cloning techniques and diagnostic processes for detecting viruses harmful to orchids. Also on display were a number of newly developed consumer products… The COA also utilized the trade show as a venue for public forums in which researchers discussed various topics with interested private-sector parties."

The Council of Agriculture hoped that trade shows like this would help disseminate the concepts of intellectual property rights, technology transfer and cooperation between public R&D institutions and the private sector, as well as bringing about more effective use of technologies and spurring new technological development.