The Taiwan Design Center is slated to be upgraded to the Taiwan Design Research Institute next year, with its budget raised to NT$530 million (US$17.39 million).
After 16 years of operations, the Taiwan Design Center (TDC, 台灣創意設計中心) will become the Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI, 台灣設計研究院), a platform for different disciplines to collaborate and strengthen Taiwan's design capabilities, according to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The deputy minister of Economic Affairs, Lin Chuan-neng (林全能), has stated that the TDRI, which is expected to open in the first half of 2020, will cooperate with the Ministry of Culture. He added that the main purpose of the institute is to work closely with different industries, UDN reported.
Lin pointed out that the TDC's 2019 budget was NT$424 million, 42 percent of which came from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and other government departments, while 19 percent came from public funding.
Lin said that the 2020 budget for the TDRI will be NT$530 million and promised that the MOEA would not cut a penny. Nevertheless, he said he expected funding from the private sector and the public to account for 30 percent.
The MOEA expressed the three main goals of the TDRI: to expand Taiwan's design prowess through cross-discipline collaboration, to set up a creative platform for young talents, and to grow the institute into a high-end research and manufacturing center.
Source：Taiwan News
