In order to establish a pre-incubation system for national technology plans in September 9, 2013 in Taiwan, National Science Council of Taiwan (hereinafter NSC) passed two programs including “Experimental Incubation Program for National Technology Plan” and “The 101th-Year National Technology Dynamic Survey Program” to support this system. The deputy minister of NSC said, “National technology plans are long term and large-scale project and it is hard to control the risk of failure in R&D. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the pre-incubation system before deciding the development direction to reduce the damage from R&D failure. Moreover, the budget for national technology will also be spent more effectively by operating pre-incubation system first.”There are two phases in the pre-incuation system. At first, NSC will organize a team of 24 people from both industry and academy. This team is responsible for recommending development direction of specific professional technology subject. Otherwise the evaluation committee which is composed by 8 to 10 people from different area including Minister of NSC, ministry without portfolio, the president of Academia Sinica and related ministers or deputy ministers will elect 6 suitable development areas. In the second phase, NSC will hire experienced project managers to manage, evaluate, coordinate, and integrate R&D research programs. Those programs will be reviewed twice in every three years to decide potential industrial development areas, to exclude programs which did not reach the expectation, or to extend the probation for three years to those below-standard programs. Until now, around 300 million budgets will be spent to establish this system every year. The first meeting regarding the Information and Communications Technology application will be held in December 2013.

To make the Republic of China (R.O.C) participates in global and regional economic integration, Premier Jiang Yi-huah not only approved the “Free Economic Demonstration Zone Plan” (hereafter: the Plan) on April 26th, 2013, but also guided and assisted potential industries to participate in “Free Economic Demonstration Zone” (hereafter: FEDZ). Also, in order to express that our government engages in promoting economic openness and takes part in international economic and trade organizations, the premier reported to President Ma Yung-jeou on proposed changes to the plan on December 15, 2013, and planned to send it to the Legislation Yuan for deliberation.

The original Plan was divided into two parts and approved by the Executive Yuan in April this year, and its first-phase plan was activated in August. In response to the development of international economic and trade accords such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Executive Yuan took the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as a reference to expand the scope of economic liberalization in FEPZ.

That the premier proposed several new measures which incorporate professional services such as lawyers, accountants or architects and add educational innovation as a pioneer to the pilot zones in the amended plan may promote to reform regulations and to relax restrictions. Furthermore, to introduce dynamic systems in line with international standards, the amended Plan will also boost to deregulation for certified foreign specialists being allowed to invest in and to form partnership with those service.

Under the amended Plan, the pilot zones will emphasize on intelligent logistics, international health care, value-added agriculture, financial services and educational innovation; what’s more, the cooperation among industries designed in the original Plan will be listed in policies. From now on, there are seven actual FEPZs, including six ports and one airport in the North, Middle and South of R.O.C separately, and the collaboration of Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park.

On November 11th , 2013, the premier had pointed that the government has already achieved great breakthroughs this year, such as not only signed “the Agreement between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu on Economic Cooperation” (ANZTEC) and “the Agreement between Singapore and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan , Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu on Economic Partnership” (ASTEP), but also inked the Cross-Straits Agreement on Trade in Services with mainland China.

The premier reiterated “R.O.C will join neighboring countries like the TPP, RCEP and China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement in next few years, we government must stay positive”. Finally, the government expects that the amended Plan may stimulate private sector to invest by an increase NT $21 billion, to elevate gross domestic product to NT $30 billion, to create 13 thousand job vacancies for people, and FEPZ trade value will exceed 1 trillion or more in 2015.

Smart city plays an important role in many cities worldwide, which features a combination of information and communication technology (ICT) and infrastructure with a large number of green energy technologies. The most famous smart cities around the world go to San Francisco, Amsterdam, etc. Noting the overwhelming trends of smart cities, directed by the Excutive Yuan, Taoyuan government takes advantages of its international airport to develop “Taoyuan Aerotropolis” project, the most important infrastructure project since 1970s.

Targeting the numerous business opportunities along with this project; meanwhile, Chunghwa Telecom, the leading telecom company of R.O.C., leads lots of international telecom companies and automated equipment suppliers founded the “Taiwan Intelligent Aerotropolis Association” (TIAA) on December 10, 2013. TIAA aims to integrate the ecosystem of human resources flow, logistics, cash flow, and information flow, to construct the cross-industry service of smart network, smart architecture, sustainable green energy, e-commerce, smart transportation, smart retailing, 4D digital cities, smart health care, education innovation, and smart operation center. Over NT$500 billion (US$17 billion) will be invested in the Aerotropolis to generate economic benefits exceeding NT$2.3 trillion (US$78 billion) and generate over 300,000 jobs in the greater Taipei area, which also creates the largest scale of current international smart city industrial chain.

Taoyuan Aerotropolis is the largest investment and the most anticipated flagship program of the nation’s public infrastructure development in years. Premier Jiang pointed out the project is closely linked with the Free Economic Pilot Zones (FEPZs), which are being actively promoted by the Executive Yuan. But some questions still remain in the industries, i.e. the chairman Ye of Fargolory Free Trade Zone, claimed that there are some improper or outdated regulations will impede the development of Free Trade Zone. Therefore, the key factor to the success of prospering FEPZs, is the in time deregulation for the FEPZs, so as to meet the needs in related industries.

The government is moving full speed ahead to formulate special statutes for the FEPZs. After approval by the Legislature, Taoyuan Aerotropolis and FEPZs can be integrated into implementation, and has great chance to catalyze new models for industrial adjustment and attract foreign investment. To conclude, this project is critical for R.O.C.’s next economic development through industrial adjustments and upgrades with the introduction of smart industries. Most importantly, the combination of Taoyuan Aerotropolis and FEPZs will make the greatest contribution to R.O.C., which benefits the nation and people.

Abstract:

According to the OECD report "Demand-side Innovation Policies", due to financial deficit and new future challenges for public service, the public sector of the OECD countries is shift to the so-called demand-driven innovation policies (DDI policies). DDI policies refer to a policy trend from focusing on research and development -- a linear innovation model-to a model of full scope of innovation cycle, which takes into more comprehensive considerations in innovation policy planning. Under the new innovative paradigm, the "market" and "demand" factors, which are regarded as "the given factors' in the past, become focus of policy concerns.

The government executive plays a critical role in the DDI model. As the most powerful buyer in public services, a government executive may use its huge purchasing power to induce needs for innovation. As a lead / pilot user, a government executive is able to promote innovation with wider spillover effects. In this regard, "innovation in government procurement" is deemed a core policy tool of the DDI policy.

However, as a concept in developing, the implementation experiences of "innovation in government procurement" are limited; an evaluation mechanism for this policy tool remains to be established. Hence, how to implement "innovation in government procurement" relies heavily on experiences exchange and information sharing between government agencies. Finland, knowing as a country of innovation, is taking the solution of "innovation in government procurement" in confront with new future challenges, such as climate change, aging society, water crisis, energy efficiency, etc. After the economic crisis in 2008, Finland defined their new "National Innovation Strategy", which followed DDI policies as observed in the OECD report. In line with this national innovation policy, the Finnish National Innovation Agency (TEKES) planned and promoted a project of "Innovations in Public Procurement". This paper explains the concept of "innovation in government procurement" and introduces the TEKES project for our policy reference.

Keywords: Innovation in Public Procurement, Public Procurement of Innovation, Demand-driven Innovation Policies, TEKES, Lead Market.

<Source: Huei-Sian Huang, Legal Analysis on Taking Government Procurement as the tool of Promoting Demand-Driven Innovation Policy – Experience from the “Government Procurement Innovation Project” of TEKES, Finland, Science and Technology Law Review Vol. 25 No. 10, Oct. 2013, p.p. 27-45>

Abstract:

"Internet of Things" (IoT) is an expansive term, encompassing a wide range of systems and technologies with one key feature: direct communication between different devices and objects, typically in near-real-time. Under the premise that the IoT should be connected to the Internet, the author will make efforts to construct a bilateral relationship between IoT and big data.

After the examination of the relevant policies and the Congress Bills, the article will primarily focus on the issue of privacy and will identify three basic principles: Privacy-by-Design (PbD), Simplified Choice for businesses and consumers, and Greater Transparency. The author recommends that as an ICT leader in the East Asia, Taiwan should be aware of the recent trend.

Keywords:Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Privacy, Consumer Protection

<Source: Po-Kun Tsai, Legal Analysis of Big Data in the Era of Internet of Things: Perspective of U.S. Privacy Jurisprudence, Science and Technology Law Review Vol. 25 No. 10, October 2013, p.p. 46-62>

Abstract:

With the advancement of internet and communications technologies, and the fast growing pervasiveness of personal internet devices such as tablets and smart phones, the volume of data transmission is increasing at an unprecedented speed. It is clear that these circumstances are relevant to the protection of personal data. This articles aims to observe how governments around the world are responding to the phenomenon; specifically the draft of the "General Data Protection Regulation" proposed by the European Commission on January 2012, and policy documents published by government agencies in Japan.

Among those documents, the provision on the restriction of profiling for certain purposes and the concept of 'right to be forgotten' are introduced in the proposed EU Regulation. In addition, the issue regarding whether the cookies and IP addresses and identifier in certain personal smart devices lie within the scope of personal data is further discussed in the Japanese policy papers. Last but not the least, responses from various Japanese institutions to the aforementioned EU regulation draft are also provided in the hope that a more comprehensive view can be offered as a reference for similar legal policy in the future.

Keywords:Internet of Things, M2M, Data Protection, Big Data, the Right to Be Forgotten, Profiling, Personal Data.

<Source: Piao-Hao Hsu, Development of Data Protection Rights in the Age of M2M – Observation on EU and Japan, Science and Technology Law Review Vol. 25 No. 11, Nov. 2013, p.p. 47-62>

Abstract:

Innovation in Public Procurement (IPP) plans are the implementation of the Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) in European Union Framework Programme (FP7) of TEKES (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation). In contrary to traditional public procurements which focus on unilateral procedure, the new concept of public procurements established in IPP is based on the interaction between bidders and users. In comparison of different public procurement procedures among countries, the European countries seem to be more structured and efficient but experimental.

The article analyzed public procurement procedures including technology subsidies, government procurements, technology procurements regulated by existing law in R. O. C. and examined whether current regulations in R. O. C. have the mechanism which is similar to IPP in TEKES. Moreover, to improve the domestic legal system with regard to the public procurement policy, it also introduced the concept of IPP into the current legal framework and discussed the limitations to execute the plan of IPP in R. O. C.

Keywords:Innovation in Public Procurement, Technology procurements, Act for Industrial Innovation, PPI, IPP, TEKES, Innovation Public Procurement.

<Source: Shih-Chieh Chen, A Discussion on the Feasibility of Implementation of Innovation Public Procurement in R.O.C., Science and Technology Law Review Vol. 25 No. 12, Dec. 2013, p.p. 26-40>

Abstract:

Internet of Things system through information and communications technology and telecommunications infrastructure and operations. The key factor is the application of "data", and with the "Big Data", "Cloud Computing" and other technological development, making the data is collected even more rapid pace, the content of data is also more diverse. Although Emerging Technology can bring more business opportunities for the industry, for the life more convenient, but also on people's privacy concerns cause more violations, and spawned many not previously thought and personal data protection issues. In order to strengthen online privacy rights, the European Commission in January 2012 for Personal Data Protection Directive amendments proposed new law: "General Data Protection Regulation" (draft), and in June 2013 into the formal review process. The revised draft EU law can be used as a reference for our country. Look forward to assisting our future to build a better legal environment for the development of industrial applications.

Keywords:Internet of Things , European Union , EU , Personal Information , Policies and Laws.

<Source: Ko-Yi Lee, International Legal Research and Analysis of Internet of Things Application Environment – The EU Recently Draft Amending the Law of Personal Data and our Legal Suggestions, Science and Technology Law Review Vol. 25 No. 12, Dec. 2013, p.p. 41-62>