A Look Back at NTU 2014: We Work, We Play, and We Create!

Taking a look back at the past year, 2014 was certainly a year of creativity and innovation here at National Taiwan University. Since the launch of the Creativity & Entrepreneurship Program, the Entrepreneurship Association, and the NTU Garage project, NTU has seen a number of student teams grow and flourish into remarkable startups. Our achievements have also been recognized locally and internationally, with teams such as FLUX (3D Printer) and Somer (mobile application) travelling to America’s Silicon Valley for entrepreneurship training. Three NTU teams also stood out among hundreds in taking down the final five places of the Ministry of Science and Technology “Outstanding Entrepreneurship Award.”

During the year-end review press conference, NTU President Pan-Chyr Yang (楊泮池) pointed out that NTU has spared no efforts in recent years to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among both our teaching faculty and students. Not only has NTU become a university strong in research capabilities, it has also grown into a center for nurturing creativity and innovation. As a result of such efforts, many of our startup products have been recognized for market potential both inside and outside Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Executive Vice President for Academics and Research Liang-Gee Chen (陳良基) reiterated that NTU will continue to encourage startup projects in the upcoming new year, as well as work to enable more student teams to follow in the footsteps of such teams as FLUX and Somer in participating in entrepreneurship training programs in the United States. FLUX became the first NTU team to travel to Silicon Valley in 2014, while Somer will depart for the home of startups in January of 2015.

The establishment of the NTU Garage project has also become a common workspace for NTU innovators. Since its establishment, the project has encouraged its participants to enter into various competitions so as to better understand their strengths and weaknesses against the multitude of innovative ideas. As a result, NTU was able to take home three out of the five “Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards” hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s 2014 Innovation & Startups program.

In addition to FLUX and Somer, EpiFaith and GaussToys were also among the NTU teams to have stood out in 2014. The EpiFaith team created a safer puncture needle that could be produced at low costs. The team has already registered for patent in many countries and the product is scheduled for production two years later.

GaussToys, an example of research-turned-innovation, is a combination of mobile games with physical and educational training. The team is now seeking to expand the application to help patients in medical rehabilitation.

Having won multiple prizes this year, PaGamo has been one of NTU’s most outstanding products in 2014. Led by Prof. Ping-Cheng Benson Yeh (葉丙成) of the Department of Electrical Engineering, PaGamO is an interactive teaching tool focused on probability education. The team officially registered as a startup company in March, 2014, and has since recruited up to 15,000 users worldwide. It also won the highest honors of the first QS/Wharton “Reimagine Education Awards” in December, 2014.

President Yang further pointed out that students in Taiwan are filled with research spirits as well as innovative ideas. In 2015, NTU will continue to provide more resources to help these students turn their ideas into executable plans and marketable products. He also thanked the teams of faculty and students for their efforts, and looked forward to more outstanding innovations to emerge in 2015.