Written by  NCKU Office of Internation Affairs.Image credit to NCKU News Center.
 

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and the Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) jointly hosted the NCKU × Science Tokyo Joint Research Day on October 19. Bringing together academic leaders, research teams, and industry representatives, the event focused on strengthening collaboration in smart healthcare, semiconductors, silicon photonics, quantum technologies, and other emerging fields. Through the signing of a Collaborative Research Cluster (CRC) Agreement, keynote presentations, parallel research sessions, and high-level strategic discussions, the two universities aim to leverage their complementary research strengths and industry connections to advance interdisciplinary research, cultivate international talent, and translate research outcomes into real-world applications, opening new avenues for scientific and technological collaboration between Taiwan and Japan.
 

NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen delivers opening remarks, noting that the Joint Research Day is not only an important occasion for academic exchange between the two universities, but also marks a new beginning toward a decade of long-term collaboration.
 

Innovation and Talent at the Core: Partnering with Industry to Translate Research into Real-World Impact
 

In his opening remarks, NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen emphasized that the Joint Research Day marked not only an important occasion for academic exchange but also a new starting point for a decade-long partnership between the two universities. He identified innovation and talent as the two pillars of NCKU’s research mission. Innovation requires research to address real-world challenges, while talent is essential to translating ideas from the laboratory into practical applications that benefit society and passing knowledge and experience on to future generations.
 

President Shen noted that no university can tackle every challenge alone. By deepening its partnership with Science Tokyo, NCKU seeks to combine Science Tokyo’s strong foundations in science and engineering with NCKU’s strengths in translating research into practical applications and fostering industry collaboration. Together, the universities aim to identify critical challenges, develop innovative solutions, and work with industry partners to turn research ideas into tangible outcomes.
 

Echoing this vision, Naoto Ohtake, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Science Tokyo, delivered a specially recorded video address. He noted that university partnerships are built on sustained exchanges among researchers, students, and professionals across disciplines. Through joint research and knowledge sharing, universities can generate innovations that would be difficult for any single institution to achieve on its own.
 

President Ohtake highlighted the complementary strengths of Taiwan and Japan in semiconductor manufacturing, system integration, materials, equipment, and metrology. He expressed his hope that the two universities would leverage their respective expertise to advance joint research and create more opportunities for students and early-career researchers to collaborate across institutions, further strengthening the Taiwan–Japan partnership.
 

General Manager Charles Tsai from the Hydrogen Energy Business Division at Delta Electronics, Inc. emphasized that global challenges such as artificial intelligence, the energy transition, and sustainable development require technological innovation that extends beyond individual disciplines. Addressing these challenges requires integrated expertise across power electronics, electrical and mechanical engineering, control systems, energy, and materials science.
 

He noted that universities contribute forward-looking research capabilities, while companies provide real-world application needs and opportunities to bring technologies into practice. Close collaboration between academia and industry is therefore essential to accelerating the translation of research into tangible impact. He added that the strengthened partnership between NCKU and Science Tokyo represents more than the signing of an agreement; its real value lies in bringing faculty members, research teams, and students together to pursue joint research, connect the strengths of academia and industry in Taiwan and Japan, and advance emerging technologies toward practical applications that support global technological progress and sustainable innovation.
 

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and Institute of Science Tokyo jointly held a Joint Research Day on October 19, signing a Collaborative Research Cluster Agreement.
 

Launching a Three-Year Research Initiative: Advancing Cluster-to-Cluster Collaboration
 

The morning plenary session opened a new chapter in the partnership with the signing of the Collaborative Research Cluster Agreement, followed by keynote presentations showcasing the universities’ priorities in global research collaboration, quantum technologies, smart healthcare, advanced packaging, and industry–academia innovation. The presentations highlighted the potential for collaboration in emerging technologies and interdisciplinary research.
 

Dist. Prof. Liang-Ming Whang, NCKU Vice President for Research and Development; Prof. Wen-Tai Chiu, Vice President for International Affairs; and Prof. Chia-Yih Wang, Associate Vice President for Research and Development, outlined opportunities for collaboration between the two universities from the perspectives of research development, strategic partnerships, and research cluster implementation.
 

Dist. Prof. Whang highlighted NCKU’s commitment to combining interdisciplinary research capabilities with industry resources to translate innovation into practical outcomes. Prof. Chiu outlined three priority areas for collaboration: semiconductors and silicon photonics, smart healthcare, and quantum science. He highlighted the importance of establishing structured mechanisms for collaboration to deepen scientific and technological exchange between Taiwan and Japan. Associate Prof. Wang emphasized the cluster-to-cluster model, which integrates research teams, industry partners, and application environments from both universities to advance joint research, talent development, and technology transfer, thereby building a sustainable collaboration network with tangible impact.
 

The signing of the CRC Agreement marks a shift from individual research exchanges toward strategic collaboration across teams and disciplines. The two universities will use the next three years as the initial phase of implementation, guided by a long-term vision of cooperation spanning ten years, and progressively establish stable mechanisms to sustain their partnership.
 

Through the cluster-to-cluster model, NCKU and Science Tokyo will bring together research teams, industry partners, and real-world application environments. Moving beyond the traditional principal investigator-to-principal investigator (PI-to-PI) approach, the partnership will incorporate industry needs into research planning and implementation, promote interdisciplinary research driven by practical challenges, and strengthen talent development, technology transfer, and the translation of research outcomes into real-world applications.
 

Representatives from NCKU and Institute of Science Tokyo gather for a group photo at the Joint Research Day hosted by the two universities.
 

Exploring Quantum Technologies, Advanced Materials, and Clinical Innovation for Future Research and Practical Applications
 

In the field of emerging technologies, Prof. Emeritus Kazuya Masu introduced the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT), sharing its development priorities and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in quantum technologies. He highlighted the close interconnections among artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and quantum technologies, noting that advances in quantum systems require contributions from diverse areas of expertise. Shared research platforms that connect universities and industry can help integrate fundamental research, engineering, and industrial applications, accelerating progress across the innovation ecosystem.
 

Prof. Susumu Saito delivered an online presentation on his research plans under Taiwan’s Yushan Fellow Program. He expressed his hope to connect NCKU, Science Tokyo, and research institutions in Taiwan and Japan to strengthen international collaboration in quantum and materials science. Combining AI-based computational methods with materials research, his work explores the structures and physical properties of emerging materials. Looking ahead, he also hopes to expand the Taiwan–Japan research network through exchanges between research teams and the joint participation of graduate students.
 

Prof. Koji Fujita, Vice President for Clinical Practice and Hospital Research Environment Development, shared how the university is developing a medical innovation environment centered on its university hospital, where clinical and engineering expertise can come together to co-create new solutions. By integrating clinical needs, engineering technologies, research data, and industry resources, the university aims to accelerate the development of medical devices and their translation into clinical practice.
 

Prof. Fujita further highlighted the complementary strengths of the two institutions. NCKU has an outstanding affiliated hospital and benefits from Taiwan’s strengths in the semiconductor and information and communications technology industries, while Science Tokyo has engineering research teams embedded within its hospital environment and extensive clinical research resources. By leveraging their respective clinical settings and technological capabilities, the two universities can jointly advance research and applications in AI-driven healthcare, intelligent surgery, and medical devices, accelerating the adoption of innovative technologies in clinical care.
 

In addition, Prof. Takayuki Ohba, founder of the WOW Alliance at Science Tokyo, introduced BBCube™, a bumpless three-dimensional integration technology. He explained how 3D stacking and heterogeneous integration can reduce data-transfer energy consumption while improving computing performance and energy efficiency, offering a promising direction for next-generation high-performance computing and sustainable data centers.
 

Through the Joint Research Day, NCKU and Science Tokyo also seek to deepen research and applications in these areas by connecting semiconductor technologies with broader interdisciplinary research capabilities. By combining complementary expertise, shared research priorities, and industry engagement, the two universities aim to establish a lasting Taiwan–Japan partnership that advances scientific discovery, cultivates international talent, and translates technological innovation into meaningful societal and industrial impact.
 

Representatives from NCKU and the Institute of Science Tokyo pose for a group photo in front of the banyan tree, planted in 1923 by Japanese Crown Prince Hirohito, after the event.
 

From Three-Year Collaboration to a Ten-Year Vision: Creating Shared Value in Taiwan–Japan Research and Industrial Innovation
 

The afternoon sessions focused on smart healthcare and semiconductors, complemented by high-level strategic discussions on long-term research collaboration. Prof. Yoichi Oshima, Executive Vice President for Global Partnerships and Community Engagement at Science Tokyo, outlined a ten-year vision for developing Collaborative Research Clusters (CRCs), building on the initial three-year partnership to foster sustained research collaboration and innovation.
 

The high-level meeting brought together industry representatives from Taiwan and Japan, including Mr. Alex Wang, Director of Product Design at ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd., and Dr. Keh-Chung Wang, Head of Emerging R&D at Macronix International Co., Ltd. The semiconductor session also featured Dr. Chih-Hsin Ko, Division Head at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and Deputy Director General Hann-Huei Tsai of the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI), National Institutes of Applied Research (NIAR). Participants exchanged insights on emerging technologies and explored opportunities to strengthen industry–academia partnerships.
 

Looking ahead, NCKU aims to leverage the CRC framework to bring together expertise in medicine, engineering, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and other fields. By expanding Taiwan–Japan research networks and nurturing globally minded research talent, the partnership seeks to bridge academic research and real-world needs, translating knowledge and innovation into meaningful societal impact.