The “Regulations for Scientific and Technological Research Results Ownership and Utilization” issued by the Council of Agriculture (COA) has become effective since 2001, aiming to strengthen good practices for valorization and commercialization of agricultural R&D results. The revenue generated from this program has steadily increased, reaching a sum of NT$1.12 billion by the end of the first half of 2020. Additional data show that in the past three years, the transfer/licensing has subsequently generated over NT$ 2.6 billion market value, significantly contributed to the valorization of agricultural knowledge assets in Taiwan.

In order to strengthen marketing of innovative technology and new varieties developed by various District Agricultural Research and Extension Stations (DARES), the COA has proactively participated in relevant international trade fairs and expos. For 16 consecutive years, the COA has participated in the “Taiwan Innotech Expo” (formerly known as the “Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart”), now is an international hub for R&D transactions. Last year (2019) the COA presented 36 cutting edge agricultural technologies at this event and among them 28 have been successfully transferred to 53 firms, representing a successful rate of 78%.

The COA states that further efforts were devoted to again achieve excellent results in business matchmaking for technology licensing, indicated by 7 licensing contract signing ceremony on September 26 for 10 technologies transferring beheld by COA Deputy Minister Huang Chin-Cheng  in the “Sustainability Pavilion” at the Expo.
The transferring included “microbial fertilizer—Bacillus velezensis KHH13” from the Kaohsiung DARES, “seafood liposome preparation technology and atomized liposome application methods” from the Fisheries Research Institute (FRI), “brown algae functional polysaccharide extraction-separation technology” from the FRI, “mass production and application technology for fast-acting decomposition liquid for rice straw” from the Miaoli DARES, “Taichung No.1 purple coneflower” from the Taichung DARES, and five technologies from the  Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute: “sex pheromone attractant for the sweet potato weevil,” “thrip alarm pheromones,” “sex pheromone attractant for the Asian corn borer,” “sex pheromone attractant for the rice stem borer,” and “fall armyworm sex pheromones” (which were licensed in a package). The total amount of the contracts reached NT$6.16 million, and it may lead further investments in agriculture.

The COA had arranged 64 business negotiations with respect to technologies exhibited in the Expo (September 24 to 26), to dialogue academics and producers with commercial firms. The “Methods for Trichoderma mass propagation fermentation formula manufacturing and applications in treating of kitchen waste,” has drawn the most attentions with interests from ten firms. A successful knowledge dissemination and technology valorization can be expected with a prosperous future.