Taking a look back at the year gone by, 2014 certainly stood out as a year of creativity and innovation here at NTU.  Since the launch of the Creativity and Entrepreneurship Program, Entrepreneurship Association, and NTU Garage, NTU has seen a number of student teams grow and flourish into remarkable startups.  The school’s achievements have been recognized not just in Taiwan, but around the world, as well.  NTU startup teams FLUX (a 3D Printer) and Somer (a mobile application) travelled to Silicon Valley in the United States for entrepreneurship training.  Three NTU teams also stood out among hundreds to finish within the top five places and win Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards in a national competition organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

During the university’s year-end review press conference, NTU President Pan-Chyr Yang pointed out that NTU has spared no effort in recent years in its drive to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among both the teaching faculty and student body.  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 NTU’s startup products have been recognized for their market potential both here in Taiwan and overseas.

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

The establishment of the NTU Garage project has also provided a common workspace for NTU innovators.  Since its establishment, the project has encouraged its participants to enter various competitions, so they can acquire deeper understandings of their strengths and weaknesses and how their creations size up against the multitude of innovative ideas popping up around the globe.  As a result, NTU succeeded in taking home three of the five Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards presented in the MOST Innovation and Startups competition in 2014.

In addition to FLUX and Somer, EpiFaith and GaussToys were also among the NTU teams to shine in 2014.  The EpiFaith team created a safer syringe that can be produced at a lower cost.  The team has already registered for patents in many countries and the product is scheduled for production in two years.

By combining mobile games with physical and educational training, GaussToys became another example of research turned innovation.  The team is now seeking to expand their application to help patients undergoing medical rehabilitation.

Winning multiple prizes last year, PaGamo excelled as one of NTU's most outstanding products in 2014.  Designed under the leadership of Prof. Ping-Cheng Benson Yeh of the Department of Electrical Engineering, PaGamO is a multi-player online learning game created for his “Probability” course.  The team officially registered as a startup company in March, 2014, and has since recruited up to 15,000 users worldwide.  The PaGamO team also won the highest honors at the first QS/Wharton Reimagine Education Awards in December.

At the year-end press conference, President Yang further pointed out that students in Taiwan are filled with the spirit to pursue research and develop 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 expressed gratitude to the teams of student and faculty entrepreneurs for their tireless efforts, and said he looked forward to more outstanding innovations to emerge in 2015.