About Us

SOIC Overview

About SOIC

Surrounded by sea, Taiwan is midway between Japan and the Philippines, and is separated from the Americas by the Pacific Ocean to the east; its geography makes it a hub of international trade and subsequently committed to the development of shipping and shipbuilding, not only to set the cornerstone of national defense, but also to tie up with the economic lifeline of our Country.

In 1974, a U. S. based scholar had advised the Premier of Executive Yuan that in order to actively develop the domestic shipbuilding industry, a plan of introducing foreign technology to assist in establishing the domestic foundation of self-designed ships should be made. The Executive Yuan then passed on the mission to the Ministry of Economic Affairs to entrust all relevant units with researching and planning all possible projects to make this happen. As a result, the Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of National Defense jointly hosted the founder meeting of the “Foundation – United Ship Design and Development Center,” and invited CSBC Corporation, CPC Corporation, Navy Command Headquarters, CR Classification Society, Taiwan Machinery Manufacturing Corporation, Merchants Steam Navigation Company, Port of Keelung, Port of Kaohsiung and other units as financial donors to advance the preparation works. The “Foundation – United Ship Design and Development Center” was officially founded after the act of endowment had been adopted during the founding conference held on July 1st, 1976. The Foundation is to provide ship engineering planning, engineering design, research and development, technical services and knowledge integration services, to assist the purposes of upgrading and developing for the domestic and foreign ships, marine and related industries, and the objectives of cultivating the capability of designing the ship by our own countrymen.

In order to cooperate with the requirements of the national economic and trade globalization industrial policy, undertaking the shipbuilding task of marine transportation requirement in the “Division of Work for the Global Industrial Value Chain,” our Center has completed its transformation in 2011 and changed the name to “Ship and Ocean Industries R&D Center (hereinafter referred to as the “Ship Center”). Ship Center aims to achieve the mission of revitalizing the country by marine rejuvenation, rebuilding Taiwan’s shipbuilding industry, and bringing the innovative thinking for the domestic shipbuilding industry with the concept of “Departing from Taiwan to Connect the World,” and is committed to the heart of professionalism and the care for the industry.

The main tasks of Ship Center are: to advance Taiwan’s marine economic development, to pursue the local development of technological excellence in Taiwan, to take a broad view at Asia and move towards the world market, to uplift the foundation of industry through integration and sharing, to contribute to the development of the national marine economy and to continue the improvement of “Advanced Ship Technology.” At the present stage, Ship Center cooperates with the national policies, actively joins the ranks of Indigenous Combatant Vessel and integrates industrial energy through national defense independence to drive the overall development of the Country. In addition, the Ship Center is also moving towards emerging marine industry technologies such as “Transportation and Recreation” and “Ocean Energy Engineering,” striving to promote the development of marine industry for our Country, and to improve the quality of MIT (Made In Taiwan), develop the differentiation in competitiveness, establish independent innovation and forward-looking technology development capabilities, drive the development of related industries and employment, and achieve the original founding intention of serving the Country, serving the ship and marine industries.

Mission & Prospect

Service

Shipbuilding is intrinsically a cost and technology -intensive industry. Behind each successful ceremonial ship launch is the professional and careful planning as well as intensive shipbuilding capabilities.
The Ship and Ocean Industries R&D Center (SOIC) started out designing merchant ships, with its service scope gradually expanding to include official ships, research vessels and warships to meet all kinds of sailing demands and provide each shipbuilder with personalized and customized service. In addition, the SOIC also keeps pace with the times by exhibiting flexible and diversified design capacity in the sightseeing and recreational fields. In stabilizing the economy and consolidating national defense capability, a domestic shipbuilding program is no longer a dream or a slogan with the assistance of SOIC. It is a dream come true in the days to come.

Integrity

In the shipbuilding industry, sufficient and friendly communications must be facilitated between the client and the manufacturer to build a vessel that is practical, of excellent performance and able to meet actual marine demands.
The SOIC was established to take on the intermediate role between the client and the manufacturer. From planning, contracting, designing, reviewing to manufacturing, the SOIC provides a complete professional service which is widely recognized and trusted by ship owners and shipyards alike, further building a great business reputation in Southeast Asia.
With its excellent coordination and industrial integration capability, the SOIC has become a great player in various shipbuilding domains in Taiwan.

Profession

From the start of Japanese Colonial Rule, outstanding shipbuilding technologies have been developed in Taiwan. In 1976, the United Ship Design & Development Center (USDDC), which employs excellent shipbuilding talents, was formally established. For many years, the USDDC has been gathering top ship design, shipbuilding and management information from around the world. From emulating, learning, to acquiring independent developing capability, the SOIC has exhibited great development potentials in various domains.

Innovation

Having a stable foundation and an ambition for expanding into new domains are the major factors behind the SOIC’s successful business performance.
Aiming for a future with renewable energy, the SOIC has actively launched different science and technology development plans to facilitate the transformation of the shipbuilding industry in Taiwan. For example, offshore wind power, marine engineering ships and research vessels are some new domains where the SOIC has been actively engaged and for which the Center has energetically striven.
From R&D and talent cultivation to initiating industrial transformations, the SOIC has undertaken several missions and is dedicated to raising domestic advantages and competitiveness in global shipping and marine industries.

Quality

Since the design, manufacture, certification, overall quality and capability of the Taiwanese shipbuilding industry have begun to gain global recognition and praise, foreign orders for merchant ships, fishing boats, yachts and naval ships have increased as well. The excellent business performance is attributable to the constant devotion and commitment of the Ship and Ocean Industries R&D Center (SOIC) over the past 40 years.
Aside from constant improvement in research and development, the SOIC also plays an important role as a centralized organizer among various groups, particularly among industrial circles, political circles, academic circles and R&D circles. At the same time as assisting with
the continual development of the domestic shipbuilding industry, the SOIC also constantly seeks business opportunities for trans-disciplinary collaboration. Under this collaborative relationship, the shipbuilding industry in Taiwan has been gradually transformed into an efficient, professional and design-oriented industry, taking up an important role in the global shipbuilding community.
As a result, “Constant Improvement” has become the best description for the SOIC.