The Ministry of Science and Technology's GLORIA 2.0 is an industry-university-institute collaboration platform with universities as its core, focusing on forward-looking fields, providing talent and research services for the industry and establishing links with the international market. National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) has joined forces with 10 schools in the central and southern regions to set up the "GLORIA 2.0 SOUTH" platform. A strategy roundtable and launch ceremony was held on the 9th, with the aim of building a innovation ecosystem for industry and academia in the greater southern region.

In recent years, under the leadership of President Su Huey-jen, NCKU has been actively promoting university-industry cooperation, and to render a one-stop service for patents, industry-academia, technology transfer and innovation, has integrated the resources of its GLORIA NCKU, Technology Transfer & Business Incubation Center, and Research and Services Headquarters to create the university's first-tier unit, the Innovation Headquarters, in the hope that it can connect more effectively with the industrial market.

The current model of long-term linkage between research institutions and industry includes the establishment of collaborative laboratories, joint research centers, technology R&D centers and industry-academia alliances, with an increasing emphasis on the “platform” model of promoting research results to industry.

NCKU has allied with 10 other schools in the central and southern regions, hoping to establish a new ecosystem of industrial and academic innovation in the Greater South through the power of the GLORIA 2.0 SOUTH platform and by linking with key industrial clusters such as the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, Southern Taiwan Science Park, Ciaotou Science Park and the circular economy park. Each university has its own area of expertise, including NCKU in smart biomedicine, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology in the semiconductor value-added industry, National Formosa University in intelligent machinery and smart manufacturing, and Far East University in polymer and composite materials.

At the strategy roundtable, the universities looked at various possible collaboration models in the areas of industry-academia, technology transfer and innovation, as well as inter-school collaboration and division of responsibilities, with a view to identifying new consensus and collaboration strategies for future research platforms and interdisciplinary partnerships between universities and industries.

NCKU allies with 10 other schools in central and southern Taiwan at the GLORIA 2.0 SOUTH platform launch ceremony to create a ecosystem for industry-academia innovation. Photo courtesy of NCKU