Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI)

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.

ITRI is dedicated to creating new value and identifying emerging demands for partners while facing global challenges and opportunities, such as urbanization, aging societies, new production and consumption patterns, climate change caused by global warming, and a post-COVID-19 era.

2030 Technology Strategy and Roadmap
To innovate a better future, ITRI has drawn up its 2030 Technology Strategy and Roadmap, in which it enhances the development of intelligentization enabling technologies and focuses on three application domains: Smart Living, Quality Health, and Sustainable Environment. The Institute strives to use technological innovation to shape new lifestyles, develop market-oriented solutions, and find uncontested spaces.

Smart Living
Digital transformation has become a driving force for global economic innovation. With the prevalence of IoT and AI, people are seeking a faster, easier, and smarter life with the introduction of intelligent devices/services and new business models. Therefore ITRI is developing personalized devices and services, autonomous mobility systems, and smart industries and services for the Smart Living domain. ITRI is also working on human-machine interaction, enhanced imaging and perception systems, autonomous decision-making and control, and smart business technologies and services.

Quality Health
As many countries are moving towards hyper-aged societies, demands for medical personnel and healthcare resources are increasing. New business opportunities in the emerging diagnosis and treatment market are also created through integrated solutions that include smart long-term care systems, personalized/precision medicine, and healthcare models. In the domain of Quality Health, ITRI leverages Taiwan’s strengths in ICT and medical care systems to develop smart medical and healthcare technologies. The R&D scope includes smart medical electronics, regenerative medicine, wearable devices, digital healthcare services, and many more.

Sustainable Environment
Due to the current climate change, greenhouse effects, and limited energy sources and resources, how to coexist with Mother Nature has become an important issue when developing new technologies. A sustainable environment can be maintained by creating a circular ecosystem, cutting down time and energy consuming production processes, and discovering green energy sources. ITRI is thereby enhancing the technology development in the circular economy, smart manufacturing, and green energy and environment fields by exploring high-value circular materials, smart manufacturing systems, and supply chain management to achieve ecological symbiosis.

Intelligentization Enabling Technology
Intelligentization enabling technology is the backbone supporting multiple applications in the 2030 Technology Strategy and Roadmap. As a result, ITRI turns to AI, semiconductor, communications, cybersecurity, and cloud technologies to foster technology breakthrough in the above three application domains. At the same time, Intelligentization enabling technology can ensure data privacy and information safety when combating cyber threats.

Cross-Disciplinary Strategy Offices
From 2018 to 2021, ITRI successively launched four offices, namely the Grid Management and Modernization Strategy Office, AI Application Strategy Office, Southern Taiwan Industrial Innovation Strategy Office, and Net Zero and Sustainability Strategy Office. 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.