Meeting challenges is what Johnsee Lee is all about. And challenges, rather than material things like a high salary or Silicon-Valley lifestyle, are what he hopes will make Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) an irresistible place to work for the best of the best of American researchers.

Lee is the president of ITRI, a government-sponsored incubator for technology start-ups in Taiwan. "Over the years, ITRI has spun off 130 companies, including TSMC and UMC," said Lee, referring to the island's two biggest chipmakers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and United Microelectronics Corp. "Among the companies listed on Taiwan's stock market, 65 CEOs are ITRI alumni," he boasted.

For those who are research-minded, ITRI is quite clearly the place to be. Lee believes ITRI is ideal for aspiring scientists because its mission is more grandiose than that of any private company. At ITRI, researchers can tackle riskier and more innovative projects. "Our division head oftentimes will lead a team of 100 or more--a rare chance in an overseas lab," Lee said.

Two years ago, the institute implemented a policy to reward researchers and inventors. ITRI researchers whose inventions are patented and begin generating profits will receive 25 percent of the royalties that ITRI receives for their inventions, even after the inventors leave the institute. That percentage decreases each subsequent year. "Nobody thought this policy would work when it was first introduced in 2004, but about 200 ITRI employees received such payments in 2005, and some were huge!" Lee grinned.

Lee--himself a 15-year veteran of the trenches of technological research--hopes to attract American researchers to come work for the institute when he travels through the United States on a recruiting tour next month. Between April 27 and May 6, Lee will lead a delegation of division directors and deputy directors to San Francisco, Long Beach and Austin to interview potential candidates for more than 100 positions. The recruiting tour, which will be Lee's third since being named head of the institute in 2003, has now become an annual event.

According to ITRI officials, the theme for the recruiting tour this year is "pioneers." Through this tour, the institute is looking to recruit experienced professionals, preferably those who hold PhDs and have five or more years of work experience in fields like information and communications, materials and chemical research, biomedical engineering, and mechanical and systems research.

Lee said that, in addition to bringing in fine talent in the above fields, he would use the recruiting tour to scout for seasoned experts in the service industry. Three months ago, ITRI established the Technology Centre for Service Industries, one of only two ITRI divisions that does not have a laboratory. Lee pointed out that the service industry in Taiwan now generates more than 70 percent of the island's gross domestic product, and he sees opportunities in the merger of technology with the service industry.

Lee has set himself another goal for his whirlwind tour of the United States: to increase the number of what he calls "non-Chinese-speaking talents" at ITRI. He believes that a clash of cultures often brings about innovation.

"A different perspective is worth 40 points of IQ," he proclaimed. At present, there are around 60 non-Taiwanese scientists at ITRI, many of whom hail from India and Eastern Europe. He wants to increase that number to 200 in just three years' time, so that foreign faces will make up roughly 3 percent of ITRI's workforce of 6,000.

This concept of "bringing in different culture" also has an impact on the institute's international internship program this year, which originally targeted second-generation Taiwanese-Americans. According to ITRI's HR people, the institute will expand the scope of its program this year by offering 30 internships through an open application process that aims to attract more non-Taiwanese candidates. So far, more than 120 applications have been received.

ITRI's annual recruiting tours to the United States have in the past generated quite the favourable response. Lee pointed out that in 2004, ITRI received more than 600 resumes from abroad, and on the recruiting tour the delegation conducted no fewer than 200 interviews. In the end, some 60 hires came to ITRI to work. In June 2005, ITRI set up an incubation centre in Silicon Valley, called ITRI International Inc., to handle international cooperation, R&D and the recruitment of personnel.

Lee admitted that the majority of his overseas applicants are Taiwanese expatriates, or people who already have some kind of connection with the island.

ITRI's overseas recruiting drive faces strong competition from similar institutions in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and China, and then there is the ever-present competition from the private sector, both foreign and domestic.

Despite the competition for qualified employees, Lee is hopeful that his U.S. tour will bear fruit. He is confident that with ITRI's reputation, the institute will remain a veritable magnet for those who have ambition, and who dare to dream.