Ramping Innovation, Not Production
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor; and Laura Peters, Lead Technical Editor -- Semiconductor International, 8/1/2007
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| Johnsee Lee, President, ITRI |
Key research areas for the organization include alternative energies, flexible electronics, new types of non-volatile memory and biomedical applications. Part of this is locally driven (98% of Taiwan's energy is imported), but it is also guided by international needs. For instance, an investment of over NT$650M ($20M) is being made in the WiMAX wireless broadband communications technology. “WiMAX will use a lot of semiconductor technology in the handsets, systems and software,” Lee said. For WiMAX, the industry has reached a point where multiple issues, such as infrastructure, innovative applications, system integration, components and standardization, call for a comprehensive assessment to maximize the benefits of the new technology. ITRI brings its systems-level and IT expertise to the table.
Not unlike that of IMEC (Leuven, Belgium), Sematech (Austin, Texas) or other organizations in the industry, ITRI takes a global approach. The research house has over 5500 researchers, including 1000 people with Ph.D.s and over 3000 with master's degrees. The 5500 number includes full-time researchers, visiting researchers and collaborative partners. “It's foolish to think that all the smart people are at one company or in one country. We are trying to increase international collaboration, because that is something that will bring us to the next stage,” Lee said.
About half of the organization's NT$17.6B (US$550M) budget comes from the Taiwanese government, but increasingly, revenues are generated from the private sector, whether it is in collaboration with other major institutions, such as IMEC, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or the Fraunhofer Institute (Munich, Germany), or with private companies. Interestingly, most of the forward-looking research is backed by the local government. “This is part of the role of government, to share risk and to foster innovation,” Lee said. The organization produces ~1000 patents per year and spins off 3-6 companies per year.
In March 2007, ITRI announced a new facility that provides pilot-level manufacturing of different kinds of flexible electronics, from displays to solar cells to flexible signage. Using roll-to-roll processing, the Hsinchu-based facility (Figure ) is designed to help ramp up a flexible electronics invention from the lab to the prototype stage. “This kind of facility is very expensive to set up, and flexible electronics require a lot of material to scale up, so we are inviting partners to use the platform we have to scale up their products,” Lee said. In alternative energies, the organization is working on biofuels with several organizations in Latin America and throughout the world.
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| The organization employs over 5500 researchers, many of who work at the main campus in Hsinchu. |
In a broader sense, ITRI is very focused on the end user. For instance, they are working with MIT's Media Labs to develop an intelligent, environmentally friendly residential building construction, especially for sub-tropical areas, to meet the demand of energy conservation. Lee admits that part of the challenge of his job is balancing the new market-driven model with long-term research needs. “If you focus too heavily on quick returns, you lose the nature of your organization,” he said.
Johnsee Lee can be reached at +886-3-591-6001 or by email at johnsee@itri.org.tw.
