Former ITRI president Lin Chui-chou recalls the first National Technology Conference, held in 1978, by which time the government already recognized the limitations of an industrial structure built around SMEs. Energy, materials, information and automation were designated as national priority technologies, and measures were proposed for attracting home high-tech specialists from Taiwan who were living abroad.
前工研院院長林垂宙回憶，民國六十七年，政府已看出以中小企業民生工業為主的產業結構有它的侷限，因此召開「第一屆全國科技會議」，提出能源、材料、資訊及自動化做為國家重點科技，極力延攬海外科技人才回國。