To respond to rapid changes in technologies and the times, to meet the goals and directions of national policies, and to jointly enhance national competitiveness, considering the overall strategy of AS science and technology development, the targets and key results of Type 3 programs are set and led by AS, before recruiting participants to execute projects. Researchers recruited to work on Type 3 projects are expected to contribute to specific task-based research and to develop technological inventions for the benefit of humanity. This is different from the competitive Type 1 and Type 2 research programs, which are designed to encourage and protect the freedom of academic research and research concepts in a bottom-up manner, such as the Career Development Award, Investigator Project Grant, Thematic Research Program, and Grand Challenge Program.
The content of the task-based Type 3 research programs are broad and diverse: These include the “Sustainability Science Research Program, “which focuses on solving global sustainability issues and emphasizes the integration of cross-disciplinary scientific research to break through the sustainability dilemma of human society; the “The Innovative Materials and Analytical Technology Exploration (iMATE) Program,” which aims to build up national competitiveness in research and development and to explore new materials with key characteristics and analytical technologies with key functions across disciplines to provide the country with a head start in the international research community; the Digital Humanities Research Project was established to promote digital humanities research and innovative digital culture at our institute.
In addition, AS has established the “Biotechnology Research Park Translational (BRPT) Project”, which is a research project focusing on product development, with the goal of enhancing the international competitiveness of Taiwan in biotechnology; and the "Infectious Diseases Research (IDR) Project" aims to consolidate the infectious disease research capacity within the institute, foster cross-unit collaboration for related research and development, and provide interdisciplinary laboratory support to establish a comprehensive environment for epidemiological research and emerging infectious disease control.
From discovery and development to the promotion of social and economic progress and the further enhancement of national competitiveness, the value of academic research needs to be established under a macroscopic overall development strategy. Through a wide range of top-down task-oriented programs, AS can quickly roll out and adjust tasks in various stages in response to the ever-changing international environment, thus grasping the pulse of the times and achieving various academic research missions.