Semiconductor and electronics industries, as an example, the mainstay of Taiwan's economy, consume a large amount of water during manufacturing. Therefore, in addition to planning for wastewater treatment, their water reclamation and regeneration systems must also be reinforced to maintain steady water supply during the alternation of drought and flood seasons. In response to more and more stringent discharging standard mandates in recent years, comprehensive solutions should be in place to work on the ammonia-containing industrial wastewater treatment with concentrations from high to low levels. Moreover, since small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of Taiwan's industries, the ITRI has developed small modular livestock wastewater and waste treatment machines, which are more easier to be installed and more environment-friendly. The waste is treated by high-efficiency anaerobic fermentation processed into biogas which can then be used to generate electricity, hoping to realize the concept of full recycle and zero waste.

While fixed equipment is the main focus in traditional thinking for R&D, the core design concept of water quality monitoring equipment and intelligent control, instead, is to create a "platform" which the innovative water quality monitoring IoT (Internet of Things) and AIoT (artificial intelligence IoT) technologies are utilized. It not only masters the water quality or wastewater discharging status, but also builds up the self-control mechanism to further save energy, reduce the costs of chemicals and risks, and keep in line with the future development trend of science and technology.

Because each country has different nature environments, government regulations, industrial structures, economic models and other conditions, the demand for environment protection technologies are somewhat different. Take Taiwan as an example. We have different amounts of rainfall and runoff during wet and dry seasons and each industry, mostly small and medium-sized factories, has relatively diverse modes in its overall water usage and drainage. As a result, , we need to design a flexible combined applications, which would meet the needs of the Southeast Asian market," emphasized Wang-kung Chang.

To comply with environmental protection emission standards is the basic function of water treatment technology. But, to reclaim and regenerate "water" and "valuable resources" in the end is the focus of future research and development and the key to the "Circular Economy" ecosystem. Wang-kung Chang asserted, "How to balance between performance and cost has always been the biggest challenge in practice." If the cost of reclaimed water would be equal to the one of regular water or additional value provided, then reclaimed water will become more attractive to the industry.

At present, many of ITRI's technologies have been successfully applied in various fields, such as wastewater treatment and reclamation for large semiconductor manufacturers, pre-treatment of tap water, and wastewater treatment for people's daily lives. To respond to changes with the time, simultaneously uphold government policies and meet industry needs, the ITRI has been playing an indispensable role in not only transferring the necessary technologies to manufacturers, engineering companies and related entities so as to jointly improve the competitiveness and output value of the water industry but also promoting the upgrades for environmental protection and various industries.