This Act has been formulated in order to boost innovation of industry-university cooperation in national key fields and innovation of the training of skilled professional personnel for these fields to upgrade the effectiveness of the results of the research and development（hereunder abbreviated to “R&D”）achievements of national universities, train high level science and technology professionals, and enhance industry competitiveness.
The provisions of the University Act, the Degree Conferral Act, the Teachers’ Act and other relevant legislation shall apply to the handling of matters not provided for in this Act.

The competent authority referred to in this Act is the Ministry of Education.

The definitions of terms used in this Act are given below:
1. Innovation: refers to innovation of industry-university cooperation and of models for the training of highly skilled people undertaken by research institutes set up by national universities to conduct research in particular key national fields（referred to hereunder as a “key research institute” or “key research institutes”）.
2. Staff: refers to teachers, professional technicians, researchers, and office staff employed in full-time positions by a key research institute in accordance with the provisions of the Teachers’ Act, the Act Governing the Appointment of Educators, the University Act, the Civil Service Employment Act, and related regulations.
3. Contract employees: refers to various personnel that a key research institute employs on a contract basis, in addition to the personnel referred to in the preceding paragraph.

The competent authority shall set up a steering committee for the innovation of national key fields industry-university cooperation and of the training of highly skilled professional personnel（hereunder referred to as “the innovation steering committee”）to deliberate over and supervise the following matters:
1. The selection of national key fields.
2. The eligibility criteria for national universities to lodge applications and the eligibility criteria for collaborating enterprises.
3. Applications by national universities to set up or continue a key research institute.
4. The competent authority’s appointments（assignments）of and replacements for the government representatives on each national university supervisory committee（each hereunder abbreviated to “the supervisory committee”）and on the management committee of each key research institute（hereunder referred to as “the management committee”）.
5. The keeping of copies of key research institutes’ annual operations plans and performance reports for future reference.
6. Changes to the innovation plan of a key research institute.
7. Closure or cessation of operations of a key research institute.
8. Formation of ad hoc groups to visit key research institutes or commissioning of accountants to check a key research institute’s operational situation.
9. Supervision of other matters related to key research institutes.
The innovation steering committee referred to in the preceding paragraph shall have between 15 and 21 members who serve for a term for four years. Its members will comprise government representatives of the competent authority, the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other related government agencies, and scholars, experts and industry representatives. The person appointed to represent the competent authority shall be the convener. The number of government representatives is not permitted to comprise less than half of the full number of committee members; and the number of committee members of any one gender is not permitted to be less than one third of the full committee. When a vacancy occurs on the committee during the term of its members, a person may be appointed（assigned）to fill the vacancy and that person’s term on the committee will end at the time when the term of the person whom they are replacing would have ended.
Any member of the innovation steering committee or their spouse, or any third degree or closer blood relative, or third degree or closer relative by marriage is not permitted to serve as a member of the supervisory committee or the management committee and is not permitted to take part in any industry-university collaboration or skilled professional personnel training matters organized by the key research institute. If such a person is appointed in breach of this provision, the national university shall remove that person from the supervisory committee and from the management committee, and it shall halt their participation in any industry-university collaboration or skilled professional personnel training organized by the key research institute.
The national key fields referred to in Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1, and the eligibility criteria for national universities to lodge applications, and for collaborating enterprises referred to in Subparagraph 2 shall be announced by the competent authority after being deliberated on and approved by the innovation steering committee.

After a national university’s application to set up a key research institute has been deliberated over and approved by the innovation steering committee and approved by the competent authority, the key research institute shall handle matters relating to industry-academic cooperation in national key fields and the training of highly skilled professional personnel for these fields.

A key research institute shall have independent staffing and an independent budget, and it may issue official documents externally; its personnel, budget and accounting, and general affairs related administrative tasks may be handled concurrently by the personnel of the national university who handle such matters for the university.
The key research institute budget referred to in the preceding paragraph comes under the university endowment fund, compiled as a sub-budget of a subordinate unit budget and categorized as an independent budget.

A key research institute has the following sources of funding:
1. Executive Yuan National Development Fund appropriations.
2. Independently generated revenue from the following sources:
（1）Income from the key research institute’s tuition and miscellaneous fees
（2）The key research institute’s income from continuing education
（3）The key research institute’s income from industry-university collaboration
（4）The key research institute’s income from government subsidies for scientific research or commissions for scientific research
（5）The key research institute’s income from management of venues and facilities
（6）The key research institute’s income from gifts and donations
（7）The key research institute’s income from investment earnings
（8）The key research institute’s income from other sources
If the funding referred to in Subparagraph 2, Item 3 and Item 6 of the preceding paragraph is from a collaborating enterprise or enterprises, the funding amount provided this way each year is not be permitted to be less than the Executive Yuan National Development Fund appropriations referred to in Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph; if the annual financial statements show that this requirement has not been met, the competent authority shall order the key research institute to take action to improve the situation within a specified time limit and follow-up the situation at regular intervals until the situation has been remedied, and the remedying of the situation shall be listed as one of the items to be examined when conducting evaluation of the key research institute and referred to when deliberating over a n application to continue operating the key research institute.
The funds of a key research institute are used for the payment of:
1. The key research institute’s teaching and research expenses
2. The key research institute’s personnel costs
3. Scholarships and grants for key research institute students
4. The key research institute’s industry-university collaboration expenses
5. Expenses for increasing, expanding, or improvement of the key research institute’s assets
6. Provision of a set proportion of the key research institute’s income from its R&D results to the national university to use to improve teaching staff, supplement facilities, and for other expenditure for further development of the university.
7. Other expenses related to further development of the key research institute.