STUST held a press conference for the opening of the base and the signing of industry-university cooperation on April 21. During the conference, Section Chief Hui-Jie Yan, of the Economic Development Bureau of Tainan City Government, Chairman Wen-Long Liang of JorJin Technologies, Deputy General Manager Zhe-Ching Yang, of Vision Automotive Electronics Industry, Associate Manager Yu-Shian Dong of Kepro Development, Manager Yu-Wei Chen of Cenming Co., Ltd., and General Manager Ze-Yang Liu of EBN Technology Co., Ltd., participated in the grand event. Through technology transfer, special research, talent cultivation and equipment, and donation these companies have invested in STUST a total of nearly NT$ 15 million and signed a letter of intent for industry-academic cooperation to jointly build this "Smart Factory + Smart Manufacturing Visual Inspection Factory" as a research base for industry-academic joint research and development of AIoT technology.

[STUST President Deng-Maw Lu (fourth from left) and Associate Manager Yu-Shian Dong of Kepro Development (first from left), Manager Yu-Wei Chen of Cenming Co., Ltd.Chen Yuwei (second from left), and Chairman Wen-Long Liang of JorJin Technologies, (third from left), Deputy General Manager Zhe-Ching Yang of Vision Automotive Electronics Industry (second from right), and General Manager Ze-Yang Liu of EBN Technology Co (first from right) took a group photo during the signing ceremony.]

Based on the results of the past implementation of the technical and vocational reengineering equipment update plan, the Department of Electronics of STUST offered the "Smart Networking Technology Development and Application Talent Cultivation Project" in 2018 and was granted the Ministry of Education's Optimized Technical and Vocational School Implementation Environment Plan for four years, with NT$ 20 million subsidies. Thanks to the outstanding results of the implementation of the plan, the Ministry of Education granted an additional subsidy of NT$ 10 million for the expansion of this plan, which showed the effectiveness of the STUST's deep cultivation of talents in the field of AIoT technology. Through the additional subsidy of the "Smart Networking Technology Development and Application Talent Cultivation and Expansion Project," STUST completed the only establishment in Taiwan’s colleges and universities to address the issue of high rate defects due to missed inspections of manufacturing objects. The solution was this Smart Factory + Smart Manufacturing Visual Inspection Implementation Factory, built on the basis of artificial intelligence.

[President Deng-Maw Lu of STUST was delivering a speech at the press conference for the opening of the "Smart Factory + Smart Manufacturing Visual Inspection Factory" industry-university joint research base and the industry-university cooperation signing ceremony.]

The interdisciplinary teachers of STUST will lead the skilled students cultivated by this program to conduct industry-university project implementation in the joint research base. Through the curriculum matching program, the additional subsidy and equipment donated by enterprises will be expanded to improve students' practical ability and further cultivate students' ability to solve practical engineering problems in the enterprise. In addition, cooperative enterprises can form an alliance with STUST through industry-university cooperation to become a partner of the "Smart Factory + Smart Manufacturing Visual Inspection Factory." By combining the research and development capabilities of STUST with the planned purchase of high-end equipment, STUST and the enterprises will jointly train the artificial intelligence visual inspection talents required by the manufacturing industry in the form of corporate propositions.

[The opening ceremony STUST "Smart Factory + Smart Manufacturing Visual Inspection Practice Factory" Industry-University Co-research Base was followed by the opening ceremony of Industry-University Cooperation Signing and Press Conference.]

Zhao-Tang Yu, Director of the Department of Electronics, STUST, and Wan-Rong Chang, Director of the AIoT Smart Internet Application Technology R&D Center, both stated that this field has constructed three different types in response to the current production lines that need to detect various object defects (such as PCBA bad solder joint detection) The AI visual inspection system includes AI closed visual inspection system, AI open visual inspection system, and smart glasses visual inspection system; it meets the visual inspection needs of different manufacturing industries. At present, cooperative companies have proposed several AI visual inspection propositions. Participating teachers lead their students to practically face and solve the problems raised by the company through engineering methods by means of graduation project implementation. This "Smart Factory + Smart Manufacturing Visual Inspection Implementation Factory" is the result of the industry-university joint research base. Regarding expectations as an innovative model for industry-university cooperation across Taiwan's technical and vocational colleges, it is the last mile for schools to cultivate students and the first mile for the corporates’ needs for talent.

[Prof. Wan-Rong Chang from STUST was giving a guided tour of the achievements of the distinguished guests in the "Smart Factory + Smart Manufacturing Visual Inspection Implementation Factory" industry-university joint research base.]

Deng-Maw Lu, President of STUST, said that the establishment of an industry-university joint research base to provide students with a practical field close to the manufacturing production line is to strengthen the ability of teachers and students to integrate with the local industry and enable the original single teaching method in the school. It can extend the compound training mode and effectively shorten the learning gap, so that students can directly enter the workplace and become seamlessly integrate with the industry after graduation, and have a better grasp of the blueprint for future development.