What was hard to bear, though, was that when news of the budget cuts broke, not only was there little support from business circles to be seen in the press coverage, but there were even many people who aired criticisms of the ITRI, such as that its efficiency was not evident, its interests conflicted with those of the private sector, its status was uncertain, and so on.
難堪的是，工研院預算被刪之事傳出後，報紙上不僅少見業界聲援，反而刊出許多人對工研院的批評言論，譬如：績效不彰、與民爭利、定位不清等等。