ITRI is a world-leading applied technology research institute with more than 6,000 outstanding employees. Its mission is to drive industrial development, create economic value, and enhance social well-being through technology R&D. Founded in 1973, it pioneered in IC development and started to nurture new tech ventures and deliver its R&D results to industries. ITRI has set up and incubated companies such as TSMC, UMC, Taiwan Mask Corp., Epistar Corp., Mirle Automation Corp., and Taiwan Biomaterial Co.
2035 Technology Strategy & Roadmap
Climate change, population dynamics, societal resilience, and paradigm shifts to digital lifestyles and industries are emerging as critical factors in shaping the landscape of technology. To remain at the forefront of innovation and address global challenges, ITRI has launched its 2035 Technology Strategy & Roadmap. This strategy aims to enhance intelligentization enabling technologies and focus on four application domains: Smart Living, Quality Health, Sustainable Environment, and Resilient Society. The Institute strives to leverage technological innovations to inspire new lifestyles, engineer market-driven solutions, create uncontested spaces, and ultimately steer society toward a better future.
Smart Living
For all to enjoy high-quality living and lifestyle, ITRI is directing its R&D efforts toward innovations in human-machine interaction & services, autonomous mobility systems, and smart consumption & logistics services. ITRI is currently engaged in the development of XR systems, interactive in-vehicle systems, perception & prediction technologies, decision-making control, autonomous mobile robots, smart consumer services, and smart logistics. The goal is to meet the daily needs of the public and businesses while connecting Taiwan’s industries with international advancements to explore new markets.
Quality Health
With the aid of ICT, big data, and AI, successful aging has become more attainable than ever before. To keep healthcare good and affordable, ITRI is actively advancing holistic and preventive technologies for precision health, medicine, and healthcare. Leveraging Taiwan's strength in ICT and medical systems, ITRI continuously refines smart medtech and elevates healthcare technology. The scope of development includes smart medical electronics, regenerative medicine, drug development, preventive healthcare, healthcare decision support systems, and general life-enhancing solutions. ITRI aspires to build a tech ecosystem for the public’s well-being within the global biomedical market value chain.
Sustainable Environment
In pursuit of a sustainable future, ITRI is dedicated to enhancing technologies in the fields of circular economy, low-carbon manufacturing, and green energy & environment. To create a community where both society and industry thrive, ITRI puts emphasis on the green transition of chemical & material industries, sustainable electronics technology, biotechnology manufacturing, low-carbon product design, energy-efficient & low-carbon manufacturing, digitalization within manufacturing processes, low-carbon agrotechnology, sustainable energy sources, energy efficiency, smart grid & energy storage, and environmental technologies.
Resilient Society
To address risks brought by extreme weather, large-scale earthquakes, geopolitics, and pandemics, ITRI is strengthening society’s ability to respond and recover through technology. In sectors of infrastructure, resource & energy, and productivity, ITRI is rolling out resilience solutions for transportation, information & communication networks, grid, energy resource management, key resources supply, workforce development, as well as manufacturing equipment and components.
Intelligentization Enabling Technology
Intelligentization enabling technology is the backbone of the 2035 Technology Strategy & Roadmap. ITRI turns to AI & cybersecurity, semiconductor, communication, and smart sensing technologies to foster breakthroughs in the above four application domains. Dedicated to driving industry growth, ITRI continues to explore innovative combinations of applications and service possibilities.
Cross-Disciplinary Strategy Offices
From 2018 to 2022, ITRI successively launched five offices, namely the Grid Management and Modernization Strategy Office, AI Application Strategy Office, Southern Taiwan Industrial Innovation Strategy Office, Net Zero and Sustainability Strategy Office, and Office of Intelligent and Green Vehicle Promotion Strategy. These offices are the platforms to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaborations with R&D resources.
Grid Management and Modernization Strategy Office
Established in 2018, the Grid Management and Modernization Strategy (GMS) Office aims to enhance the resilience and reliability of Taiwan’s electric power system through grid management and modern technology solutions. The solutions come from ITRI’s R&D resources along with advisors from both the academia and industry, which allow the GMS Office to deliver root cause analyses and recommandations on the power grid issues for the policy makers and industrial practices. The GMS Office has three major missions:
- Being a think tank: The GMS Office gathers electric power experts from the academia and industry to form a grid consulting committee. This committee provides recommandations and advice on grid development and operation, which help deploy plans and policies by government agencies.
- Promoting consensus towards sustainability: The GMS Office promotes rightful advocates and concepts via media, forums and courses in order to increase public awareness.
- Cultivating talent: The GMS Office calls for academia, research and industry sectors to establish a grid school and scholarship alliance to forster power professionals and award scholarship to the multidisciplinary talent in the electric power sector.
AI Application Strategy Office
The AI Application Strategy Office was launched in 2018 to promote the development of innovative AI technologies and applications, and strengthen ITRI’s leading position in this area. Besides enhancing cross-disciplinary collaborations, global partnerships, and industry value, the Office functions in planning ITRI’s strategies and promoting government policies. Currently, there are five major R&D themes: smart manufacturing, smart business, smart healthcare, unmanned vehicles, and smart system-on-chip (SoC). ITRI is also developing AI applications in net zero emissions and sustainability to align with global trends. The Office aims to achieve two objectives:
- Leverage “human-centric approach” x “interdisciplinary innovations” to create the industry value by AI in Taiwan.
- Utilize AI to help establish resilient industry ecochains, making Taiwan a key trusted partner in the world.
Southern Taiwan Industrial Innovation Strategy Office
To respond to the government’s Great South & Great Development policy, the Office was founded in 2020 to promote the development of compound semiconductors and green energy in Southern Taiwan. Along with the support from the technology service industry, local companies can be transformed and taken to the next level. In 2021, the Southern Rainforest Project was launched to put more efforts in developing the materials, components, equipment, applications, and talent in compound semiconductors. The project also spurs the growth in automotive power and green energy electronics. In 2022, the Southern Rainforest Project Office was officially established to ensure policy implementation and industry upgrading. Meanwhile, the Office is active in helping industries join the world to meet the net zero targets while echoing Taiwan’s Pathway to Net Zero Emissions in 2050. It proactively introduces smart technologies such as (AI and digital technology) to companies in Southern Taiwan and assists them in adapting to the net zero challenges and digital transformation.
Net Zero and Sustainability Strategy Office
ITRI inaugurated the Net Zero and Sustainability Strategy Office in 2021. The Office serves as a bridge among the industry, government, and academia, as well as forms a platform for promoting net zero initiatives. ITRI has approached net zero emissions strategies across the aspects of supply, demand, manufacturing, environment, and policy. Based on these contexts, ITRI presents comprehensive multidisciplinary technology solutions that empower industries to gain greater competitiveness for the net zero era. A cloud carbon management platform was built to help manufacturers calculate their carbon footprints. Over 10,000 carbon emission coefficient entries are available on the platform’s industry database. The platform can help industries cut carbon emissions for themselves and their supply chains. There is a service team providing consulting and advice, offering evaluation of product features, and identifying carbon emission hotspots. ITRI has also developed a learning map that enables businesses to realize net zero emissions schemes. In addition, it partnered with industry associations to hold training courses and set up a Net Zero & Sustainability School to formulate educational programs and cultivate green-collar talent.
Office of Intelligent and Green Vehicle Promotion Strategy
Established in 2022, the Office of Intelligent and Green Vehicle Promotion Strategy builds a communication platform for Taiwan’s cross-disciplinary planning of intelligent and green vehicle technology, accelerating its innovative services and applications and industrial development. Seven primary research topics of the office include unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous vehicles, rail transport, green vehicles, automotive electronics, autonomous mobile robots, and information and communication services.
Scope of Operations:
(1) Innovating and verifying technologies: pilot demonstration and region applications of ITRI’s technology
(2) Assisting the government in policy-making and proposing long-term development strategies
(3) Promoting industry alliance: helping set the standards for industries/products/technologies
(4) Connecting with international partners: seeking cooperation among international vendors and R&D institutions to increase global impact
(5) Cultivating talent: collaborating with industry and academia for tech talent acquisition
Services
ITRI is ceaselessly developing advanced technologies and strengthening interdisciplinary integration to respond the latest industry trends. Moreover, it offers comprehensive R&D collaboration and business consulting services, such as contract research, small-scale pilot production, process improvement, calibration and measuring, technology transfers, and IP value-added services. With its open labs and incubators to promote startups and entrepreneurship, ITRI is active to speed up technological development in industries and nurture emerging high-tech businesses.
ITRI is also applying technologies to improve social welfare. In addition to launching technology application and services, technology education promotion, and corporate volunteering programs, the Institute established a platform that can integrate researchers’ efforts to give back to society with their R&D results.
Collaboration
Aiming to connect the global innovative technology ecosystem network and link Taiwan with the world, ITRI set up branch locations in the U.S., Japan, and Germany. By providing a global technology cooperation platform, ITRI is able to facilitate stronger and broader long-term partnerships and bilateral/multilateral collaborations among the international community.