Taiwan is allocating TWD600 million ($18.2 million) a year for 5G R&D over the next four years, with the funding going to existing research organisations.

The government, with a total budget of TWD2.4 billion ($73 million) for the 2017-20 period, aims to incorporate Taiwan-developed 5G technologies into international 5G standards, DigiTimes reported.

Jonathan Tseng, chairman of the Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards (TAICS), recently signed an agreement to cooperate on 5G technologies with Peter Meissner, CEO of the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance.

Tseng said TAICS expects the cooperation to create more opportunities for Taiwan-based makers to enter the international market, and develop 5G technologies with global market potential. He said that if Taiwan-based firms can account for 3-5 per cent of the intellectual property rights essential to 5G technologies around the world, they can play an important minority role, DigiTimes reported.

In addition to the NGMN Alliance, Taiwan will cooperate with Horizon 2020, the largest European Union research and innovation programme.

TAICS, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute, will also cooperate with US-based Sprint and Japan-based SoftBank to set up an experimental network in Taiwan for testing advanced mobile communication technologies.