According to the Global Competitiveness Yearbook released on May 14, 2003 by the IMD, the international management institute in Lausanne, Switzerland, Taiwan rated number six in overall national competitiveness among 30 countries and regions evaluated who had a population over 20 million. Taiwan improved by one notch since the evaluation issued in 2002. Categorically, Taiwan ranked 11th in economic-performance for a six-place improvement, 6th in governmental efficiency for a three-place climb, and placed 4th and 7th in business efficiency and infrastructure respectively that saw no change relative to that in the previous rating. So the trend indicates that Taiwan is fairing better in terms of total competitiveness.

Setting one’s sights on the increasing moves overseas by American technological R&D people, Taiwan lends itself to be a technological lab with various advantages. Progress has been made already under the “Attracting International Enterprises to Set Up Regional R&D Centers” under the greater program named “Challenging the 2008 Key National Development Plan.” Some of the biggest names in the IT sector are establishing R&D centers in Taiwan, including IBM、MICROSOFT、HP, Dell, PERICOM and Broadcom Network SoC R&D Center from the USA, Becker Avionics and AIXTRON from Germany, Sony’s Design & Engineering Center Taiwan, LSI and Module Design Center, as well as Ericsson from Sweden.

Generally, these R&D centers are engaged in information technology, semi-conductors, telecommunications, etc., which go hand-in-hand with the developmental forte of Taiwan industry. Such is an indication that internationally-known makers recognize the capacity of Taiwan's competitiveness and R&D prowess.