Dr. Wu Maw-kuen, chair of the National Science Council (NSC), never went to a top high school, college, or graduate school. Yet his research into high-temperature superconductors has made him the first Taiwanese to become a fellow of the American National Academy of Sciences.
What kind of training is needed in this age of science? Wu, dedicated to raising the level of technological research in Taiwan, believes that honing of judgment skills is absolutely critical.
Taiwan's education system is focused on exams, formulae, and memorization, says Dr. Wu. All people think about is getting the answer out as quickly as possible, which isn't conducive to the spirit of inquiry and independent judgment needed in science.
Solving scientific problems is also a matter of adhering to established rules while also looking for new paths. "Whatever slight success I have in my research comes from having the creativity to find a new way of approaching things."
Wu's inspiration for his breakthrough in high-temperature superconductors in fact came from the world of chemistry. Using high-school chemistry knowledge he used ionic bonding to create physical changes, which allowed his team to discover the world's first high-temperature superconductor effective at temperatures above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. This in turn saw Wu a hot contender for Nobel nomination.
"Of course, this just goes to prove that we scientists need to brainstorm with people skilled in different areas so as to be more easily able to generate scientific or technological innovations," says Wu.
"Combined public and private funding for R&D in Taiwan has long been as low as 2% of GDP, and in absolute terms only 1/20th of Japan's spending, 1/40th of America's, and half Korea's." But in recent years things have improved, and in 2005 funding may reach 2.5% of GDP.
In response to the demand for multidisciplinary research, the NSC has established the Interdisciplinary Office, which has created projects ranging from a partnership between display technologists and biomedical engineers to using physical chemistry methods for the investigation of biosystems, something never tried before in Taiwan.
"Pumps are limited in their uses, but if mechanical engineers and biomedical scientists get together, they might come up with a tiny pump that could power an artificial heart," says Wu by way of example. "As fundamental elements of R&D work, depth, breadth and efficiency are all equally indispensable."
