The government is prepared to allocate funds to help 17 Taiwanese industries deemed most likely to be hurt by the Taiwan-China economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) , trade officials said Tuesday. According to Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) officials, the ministry is planning to earmark between NT$200 million and NT$300 million under its Small Business Innovation Reach (SBIR) program for those industries. The sum of this year's SBIR program, originally designed to help small companies pursue technological innovation, will be increased to NT$1.5 billion, up from NT$1.3 billion in 2009, they said. The ministry's Department of Industrial Technology launched Taiwan's SBIR program in November 1998 to encourage local start-up companies to pursue innovative research into industrial technologies and products. This year, however, companies in the 17 businesses believed to be most susceptible to Chinese competition after the ECFA are entitled to receive subsidies worth between NT$1.5 million and NT$2 million from the program, providing their proposed projects for industry upgrading are approved by the ministry, officials said. The 17 industries are mostly traditional, labor-intensive manufacturers of products such as clothes, underwear, towels, shoes, bedding, ceramics, home appliances, and wooden and bamboo goods, as well as the agriculture industry. Under the terms of the ECFA, 539 types of Taiwanese products will enjoy zero- tariff treatment in two years or less after the pact is implemented, while 267 Chinese goods will be subject to the same privilege. 