23,000 Trainees A Year In Taiwan: What Does Jordan Need To Build Its Next Generation Of Technology Talent?

(MENAFN- Amman Net) More than 23,000 people take part each year in training programmes organised by Taiwan's Semiconductor Research Center, which works with more than 50 universities and 600 research teams and provides students and researchers with advanced infrastructure for chip design,

fabrication and testing. Jordan, meanwhile, is still trying to move from diagnosing the problems facing scientific research to building a system that connects universities with industry and the market. The difference between the two experiences is not simply a matter of how much money is spent. It is also about how that money is used, and about the question each country puts before its education system: does it want graduates who hold degrees, or engineers capable of entering a laboratory and working in the industries of the future?

A visit to the semiconductor research center in Hsinchu shows that part of Taiwan's technological strength was built long before it reached the factories. The institute operates as a national shared platform, allowing universities and researchers to use equipment and tools that individual universities could not afford to own on their own. More than 100 commercial electronic design automation tools are available through its research infrastructure, while more than 2,000 academic chips go through experimental fabrication each year. Its facilities also conduct more than 7,000 electrical and material analysis cases annually.

This model places scientific research in a different position from the way many countries approach it. Researchers do not stop at publishing papers, students do not have to wait until they join a company before working with industrial tools, and universities do not have to purchase every piece of equipment they need individually. The infrastructure becomes available to the wider research community, and access to it becomes part of national policy for developing talent.

That is precisely where Jordan could begin.

Jordan does not need, at this stage, to try to build a semiconductor industry capable of competing with Taiwan. It does not have the market size, industrial base, or the energy and water requirements for such an undertaking. Nor would it make sense to move directly into capital intensive manufacturing before developing the human and industrial base needed to operate it. What Jordan needs is to build the capabilities that come before the factory.

The country could establish a national network of open research laboratories, concentrated in a limited number of specialised centres and made available to universities, researchers and startups. Instead of every university maintaining a small laboratory with limited capabilities, the state could invest in advanced equipment that hundreds of researchers and students from different universities could use.

That is what makes the TSRI model relevant to Jordan. More than 600 research teams work with the institute, more than 50 universities are connected to its network, and more than 23,000 people participate in its training programmes every year. The institute is not simply producing research. It is continuously developing a pipeline of engineers who become familiar with industrial tools and technologies before entering the labour market.

The issue extends beyond semiconductors. Once a country has shared laboratories and advanced equipment, it can direct them towards its own national priorities. For Jordan, these could include water, energy, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, robotics, embedded systems and sensing technologies.

In a country facing severe water scarcity, for example, it is not enough to fund studies on water management. Researchers need to be able to build sensors, test them, connect them to intelligent systems and then deploy the technology in real water networks. In the energy sector, universities and companies could develop solutions for managing consumption and improving grid efficiency through shared laboratories. The idea is to turn Jordan's own problems into laboratories for innovation.

Jordan already has an institutional starting point. Its National Research Priorities for 2026 to 2035 involved around 700 experts and aims to direct research towards clearly defined national sectors and needs. Yet spending on research and development in Jordan remains below 1 percent of GDP.

Defining priorities, however, will not be enough if the way research is funded does not also change. A researcher who receives a grant to conduct a study needs a path to the next stage: developing a prototype, testing it, protecting the intellectual property and eventually transferring the technology to a company. In many economies, ideas die in this space because it falls between research budgets and corporate investment.

Taiwan has built institutions that help close that gap.

The institute does not simply provide researchers with design tools. It offers a chain that extends from an initial idea to design, fabrication, testing and prototyping. This helps explain why universities and industry can operate within a common ecosystem rather than remaining inside separate institutional boundaries.

Training talent in Taiwan is also tied to this model. Around 100 courses and 200 practical sessions are organised every year, ranging from hands-on fabrication training to advanced integrated circuit design. The institute says it helps inject more than 2,000 specialised semiconductor engineers into industry each year.

In Jordan, practical training should become a central part of education and technology policy. The goal is not to add another course to the hundreds already offered. It is to change the nature of training itself. An engineering or computer science student should work on a real project, using real equipment, alongside a researcher and a company, and graduate knowing how an idea can be turned into a product.

This also leads to the question of talent, which will become even more important as artificial intelligence expands. Companies will need more than programmers. They will need engineers who understand software and hardware together, as well as sensors, embedded systems, power management and edge computing. These are also areas of focus for TSRI, including the integration of artificial intelligence and sensors into low power chips.

For Jordan, this creates a realistic area in which to compete. The country does not need to manufacture the processor inside a smartphone. It could develop the system that uses that processor in agriculture, water management, industry or medical devices. Economic value does not always come from manufacturing a component from scratch. It can come from possessing the knowledge needed to turn components into products.

The relationship between universities and the private sector must also change. Jordanian companies should not simply be places that receive graduates. They should participate in defining the research they need. Universities, in turn, should measure success not only by the number of academic papers published, but also by the number of technologies reaching the market, prototypes developed, patents converted into products and companies emerging from university research.

Taiwan has built part of its technological advantage through this kind of system, linking research, design, manufacturing, training and industry. That is what makes the Hsinchu experience more important to Jordan than the image of a giant factory. The factory is the visible result. Behind it is a long chain of universities, laboratories, researchers, engineers and continuous training.

Jordan could build a much smaller system, with different objectives, but based on the same logic: shared national laboratories, funding that extends from research to prototypes, practical training programmes, partnerships with local and international companies, and a clear strategy for attracting Jordanian researchers back home and connecting them with expertise abroad.

The country could start with a limited number of fields rather than spreading resources across dozens of sectors. Water, energy, artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals, embedded systems and smart agriculture are closely connected to Jordan's needs and could offer realistic opportunities to build a competitive advantage.

The lesson Jordan can take from Taiwan is not that it should become a semiconductor manufacturing power. The lesson is that a technology industry does not begin with a factory. It begins with the ability to train people, provide access to laboratories, finance experimentation and connect researchers with companies.

The figure of 23,000 trainees a year within one ecosystem is significant, but it is not the most important part of the story. What matters more is that Taiwan has built a place where students can learn, researchers can experiment, companies can test, universities can collaborate and industry can recruit people with practical skills.

Jordan already has universities, engineers and researchers, and it is increasingly developing clear national research priorities. What it lacks is the connecting layer that brings these elements together into a functioning system.

If that layer is built, Jordan can enter the technology economy through the areas that fit its own strengths, rather than trying to reproduce Taiwan's path. The question then will not be how Jordan can manufacture what Taiwan manufactures, but what technologies Jordan can develop from its own problems, talent, resources and regional market.

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