Page 63 - 2018 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Annual Report 2018 Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan Agriculture 4.0 and participate in 38 projects under the Industrial Technology Development Project, which led firms to coordinate with investment in research and development to the amount of NT$164 million. Some agribusinesses have already interfaced with the “platform for information about the international smart agriculture industry,” and have set up an “intelligence office” to get the newest information and make the most informed decisions possible; the information on this platform can be accessed through cell phones and mobile devices. (3) Promoting the industrialization of the results of R&D in agritechnology To promote the effective use of the results of R&D, the COA continued to pro-actively promote the industrialization and application of the results of R&D in agricultural technology. In 2017, the COA completed 240 cases of technology transfer (with 128 cases of technology being transferred for the first time), with income totaling NT$82.911 million, reaching 2% of the technology budget. Of these, there were 13 technology transfer cases of NT$1 million or more, including “bacterial strains for preventing bacterial soft rot in crops and their application.” In addition, in September of 2018 the COA co-sponsored the “2018 Taiwan Innotech Expo” (TIE). We exhibited 41 results of R&D with potential for commercialization in the “Sustainable Development Pavilion” at the TIE, as well as arranged for 53 cases of business matching, with 22 exhibited technologies being transferred. Finally, we set up a “Taiwan Technology Pavilion” at the “2018 BioTaiwan” exhibition. All these steps demonstrate the synergy of the industrialization of technology R&D by the COA. (4) Establishing an orchid seedling trading services center Orchids are a major flagship export industry for Taiwan. In order to strengthen the protection of orchid varieties and grasp global market conditions, the COA guided the Tainan City government to establish the “Taiwan Orchid Varieties Commercial Center” (TOVCC) in the Taiwan Orchid Plantation. The Center, which began operations on January 24 of 2018, offers services such as orchid variety management, marketing services for seedlings, collection of information from abroad, and application for plant variety rights. Further, on September 29 of 2018 the TOVCC founded an orchid biotesting center to assist with variety testing and simulated container storage and transport testing to screen out varieties suited to the market. In the future we will set certication standards for exclusive orchid varieties, in order to ensure the value of Taiwan orchid varieties and maintain their position in the global market. 61