The National Centre for Research and Development

The Centre cooperates with Taiwanese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) based on agreement signed on 7.12.2012 for period of 5 years. Agreement was concluded with the National Science Council of Taiwan, which was later renamed Ministry of Science and Technology. In December 2017 the agreement was extended by 5 years. Based on the agreement, the parties promote and support bilateral research cooperation.

Over ten years of cooperation the parties organised and concluded 9 bilateral calls for research projects. 53 projects, carried out by Polish-Taiwanese research teams consisting of enterprises and research institutions, were selected for funding. In total, the projects have been awarded 21,7 mln PLN from NCBR.

Anniversary call for researchers and entrepreneurs

10th bilateral call was opened this year. Submission of applications is open until 15th of June. Research institutions and innovative businesses from Poland and Taiwan are invited to participate. Polish-Taiwanese consortia can be awarded funding for applied research projects, lasting up to three years. Eligible topical areas include: energy efficiency, material science and engineering, smart mobility, cybersecurity and space research. More details are available at NCBR website.

Study visits and scientific conferences

Based on the agreement, NCBR and MOST organise annual scientific conferences, combined with study visits, alternating each year between Poland and Taiwan. So far nine such conferences have been organized, featuring a selected group of researchers from both countries.  During study visits the guests had an opportunity to visit selected research centres and scientific institutions of the host country and learn about the research which they conducted. High point of each visit is a scientific conference, dedicated to priority research issues, identified by both parties.  In 2019 NCBR, in cooperation with Motor Transport Institute of Warsaw, hosted Taiwanese delegation in Poland. Leading topic of the visit and conference was electromobility and autonomous vehicles. Last seminar, dedicated to space research technologies, was organised in remote mode, due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Leaders of Polish-Taiwanese cooperation

Thanks to regularly organized calls for projects Poland and Taiwan have developed a dynamic scientific cooperation, led by such institutions like Warsaw University of Technology (13 bilateral projects), Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal in Zabrze (4 projects) or Institute of Nuclear Chemistry (4 projects).

In many centres the cooperation is active and ongoing. For example all projects selected for funding in the 8th call were builiding upon, and developing, results obtained in projects funded in previous calls. Majority of projects funded so far are dedicated to materials science and engineering, which seems to be a highly interesting topic for researchers from both countries.

NCBR and Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan have on many occasions emphasised their satisfaction form current cooperation and willingness to further extend bilateral relations. Current agreement will expire in December 2022, but both parties are already at advanced stage of negotiations which will lead to singing of new agreement, extending the cooperation for many years to come.