The 2019 Fresh Creativity Contest held an award ceremony recently at the Shinyi Hall of Zhengjiang Building, National Taiwan University. This activity has continued the categories of "Creative Ideas," "Innovation Practices," and "Entrepreneurship Concepts" to cultivate the energy of innovation for entrepreneurship. This year, students were encouraged to apply their knowledge of science and technology. In particular, the Industrial Research Institute, the Institute of Resource Planning, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences were be expanded into nine legal persons, including metal centers, biotechnology centers, vehicle centers, textile institutes, and food institutes. The Contest provided a total of 78 scientific and technical achievements, invited students to form teams, and organized GF Workshop, which allowed the participating teams to strengthen their oral expressions, establish their teamwork, and stimulate entrepreneurship with the guidance of experts. This year the overall participation was very enthusiastic, with a total of 256 entries and 35 entries selected to the finals.

【The works "SmartGuide" and "SkyEye" by the Department of Electronic Engineering and the Department of Creative Product Design, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, won the title of 2019 Fresh Creativity Contest and an excellent award. The students took a group photo after receiving their awards】

Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology stood out in this competition. Associate Professor Wan-Rong Chang of the Department of Electronic Engineering guided his students Wen-Chian Lan, Yu-Tang Chou, Hong-Jin Wei, Fu-Shuan Lin, while Associate Professor Kun Ouyang of the Department of Creative Product Design advised his student Han-Yian Chun. Together they formed an interdisciplinary team to help the blind, winning the championship of Innovation Practice Group and a prize money of NT$ 150,000 with their "SmartGuide."

【The interdisciplinary team of the Department of Electronic Engineering and the Department of Creative Product Design, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, won the title of 2019 Fresh Creativity Contest and an excellent award】

"SmartGuide" aims to improve the safety of the visually impaired when walking, which includes smart sunglasses, smart cane and smart guide box. Smart sunglasses are equipped with a lens, which can transmit the front image of the visually impaired when they have to cross the road with a smart guide box they carry. The smart guide box combines the technical expertise of the Institute of Industry and Technology and AI technology to identify and remind the visually impaired when they cross the road. In addition, the smart guide box can also receive the traffic light and second information for the visually impaired, which is currently built at the intersection of Taipei City, connected to the voice of the headset or the vibration of the cane via Bluetooth to remind the visually impaired of road conditions to ensure that the visually impaired are in a safe range. If a visually impaired person falls, he or she will be notified of his family's location via a mobile app. So far, 30 visually impaired people have actually been tested on the road, and the function is extremely positive. In addition, another award-winning team, formed by Jia-Hao Hsu and Zhi-Jin Yang, was directed by Associate Professor Wan-Rong Chang of the Department of Electronic Engineering and Associate Professor Kun Ouyang of the Department of Creative Product Design. Their work "SkyEye" was developed to solve the problem of missing golden rescue time after an elderly person falls. This system includes an AI image sensor, a cloud server to store and forward event information, and a smartphone app that can communicate with users.

Associate Professor Wan-Rong Chang of the Department of Electronic Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, stated that the Technology Division of the Ministry of Economic Affairs has held the "Fresh Creative Contest" for nine consecutive years since 2011 in order to encourage students on campus to invest in scientific and technological ideas and innovation and entrepreneurship. In the 2017 Fresh Creativity Contest, they won double champions in the entrepreneurial category and the system integration implementation category, respectively. This year, in collaboration with Associate Professor Kun Ouyang of the Department of Creative Product Design, they combined the results of AI technology and design, and eventually they won the Innovation Practice Champion and an Excellent Award. In the future, the university will invest more resources to students' Research & Development and innovation, so that students can learn from each competition and constantly grow in their knowledge and skills.