Faced with a high degree of trade liberalization, Taiwan’s agricultural sector needs new thinking to raise competitiveness. We must develop a strong foundation in agro-technology, create new value chains, and advance premium-quality market-oriented agro-industries. The goal is to achieve high-value agriculture and create new opportunities for further development.

One of the policies established to contribute to realization of these goals is: “Establish an agricultural technology research institute for the industrial application of agro- technologies and development of innovative industries.” This policy statement is part of the COA’s main policy axis of “Agriculture of Health and Sustainability,” which in turn is part of the government’s “Golden Decade National Vision” program, adopted by the Executive Yuan on June 7, 2012, at Cabinet Meeting #3301. The establishment of such an institute was further endorsed by a resolution of the 3rd meeting of the Board of Science and Technology of the Executive Yuan, held on January 29, 2013.

In 2013, during the planning stage for the Agricultural Technology Research Institute (ATRI), the COA decided to make it a foundation with the mission of taking charge of transforming agro-technology research into profitable lines of business or even whole new industries. ATRI’s organizational structure is flexible, and it can integrate talented human resources from other disciplines as well as successful non-agricultural industrial experiences in order to provide services related to agro-technology development, commercialization, and industrialization. ATRI will make its services available to agro- businesses, farmers groups, and individual farmers, and will: (1) speed the pace of innovation, diversification, and internationalization of agro-products; (2) lend impetus to industrialization and help agro-businesses create new value; (3) strengthen the technological competitiveness of Taiwan’s agricultural sector against international competition; and (4) play a leading role in turning the prospects for agriculture in Taiwan toward “youth, high competitiveness, and stable incomes.”

ATRI was established as an independent entity under civil law on January 1, 2014. Its official location is in the Xiangshan District of Hsinchu City. In the future, ATRI will be expanded step by step, including integrating with the laboratories and research stations of the COA, and will share grounds currently occupied by these laboratories and research stations. ATRI has in fact already absorbed some relevant existing organizations. For example, the Animal Technology Institute Taiwan (ATIT) was dissolved and its elements incorporated into ATRI. Task forces and offices within the COA dedicated to commercialization and industrialization of technology also came under ATRI. In addition, depending on need, ATRI is free to further establish subunits for applied R&D, industrial strategy, and overall management and supervision.

The missions of ATRI are: (1) To take research results produced by agricultural research institutions and find industrial applications for these results, thereby enhancing their economic value, including: (a) utilization of the R&D in mass production; (b) setting of technological or industrial standards and specifications; (c) evaluating and analyzing proposed applications of agro-technologies ; (d) protection and utilization of intellectual property; and (e) branding and marketing. (2) To assist businesses to take over agro-technology R&D results, turn them into commercial products on an industrial scale. (3) To use its technical and professional skills to support and assist government agencies.

As a foundation, ATRI will enjoy much more flexibility than a government agency. It will be able to flexibly employ staff from non-agricultural specialties such technology, law, finance, and commerce. It will be able to make nimble organizational adjustments, assess employees based purely on performance, and work hand-in-hand with private sector agro-businesses.

ATRI will have an appropriate division of responsibilities with the COA’s research institutes, with ATRI focusing on commercialization of R&D results, mass production, and internationalization, as well as on protecting, transferring, and encouraging value-added use of, intellectual property. In the future, ATRI will focus on helping core industries with the most potential to innovate, add value, and market their products. It will create a successful development model for technology-based agro-businesses, as it moves toward achieving the policy goal formulated as: “Build agro-technology-based industries that will become an innovative and driving economic force for Taiwan, will create opportunities for cooperation between enterprises and farmers, and will benefit all citizens.”