2020 & 2021 NTU Engineering Entrepreneur Lectureships
To recognize outstanding individuals with exceptional credentials in starting or running their own businesses, in 2012, the College of Engineering drew up the NTU Engineering Entrepreneur Lectureship Selection Criteria. Over the years, many outstanding individuals have been selected for the lectureship.
The recipients of the 2020 NTU Engineering Entrepreneur Lectureship were Chairman Cheng-Yih LIN of Daxin Materials Corporation, Chairman Cheng-Ching WU of TASCO Chemical Corporation, and Chairman Paul SL PENG of AU Optronics Corp. The 2021 recipients were Chairman Za-Chieh MOH of MAA Group, President Ying-Ming YANG of Kenda Tires, President Steven HONG of YOKE Industrial Corp., and Chairman Tung-Sheng WU of SHINKONG Synthetic Fibers Corp. All of the above awardees have made outstanding achievements in their respective business fields and are role models for their industry colleagues and successors.
Chairman Cheng-Yih LIN, Chairman Za-Chieh MOH, President Ying-Ming YANG, and Chairman Tung-Sheng WU came to deliver speeches on April 29th, January 12th, April 15th, and April 8th of this year, respectively. President Steven HONG will be introduced in a separate article due to the postponement of his speech. To learn more about the achievements of Chairman Cheng-Ching WU and Chairman Paul SL PENG, please refer to our previous article: http://www.eng.ntu.edu.tw/EN/news_in.aspx?id=1075&chk=8cb33c8e-279c-402d-a97b-7e3001850b69&mid=72¶m=pn%3d2%26mid%3d72%26key%3d.
Chairman Cheng-Yih LIN
Title of Speech: Daxin Materials Corporation – A Materials Design House and More
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Introduction
After receiving his PhD in 1982, Chairman Cheng-Yih LIN worked as a researcher and technical director at Bell Labs in the United States for 18 years. He returned to Taiwan in 2000 to take over the role of Vice President of AUO, where he was responsible for the construction of the corporation’s glass substrate manufacturing plant. Dr. Lin understood the importance of technological autonomy, and therefore moved from relying on international technology transfer to the independent development and mastering of optoelectronics. His efforts enabled AUO to maintain its record of being the first in Taiwan to mass produce its technology from Gen 3.5 to Gen 7.5, and have not only contributed to AUO's success, but also spurred the supply chain upgrades of Taiwan’s display panel industry as a whole.
In 2006, Dr. Lin became Chairman and CEO of Daxin Materials Corporation, which specializes in the development of key chemical materials. Unlike other chemical material manufacturers, Dr. Lin’s corporation attaches great importance to the development of a strong R&D team and insists on personally interviewing each and every member of its staff. Under Dr. Lin's leadership, the corporation has gradually expanded its R&D scope from LCD chemical materials to touch panel materials, advanced semiconductor packaging materials, and green energy materials. In 2010, Daxin Materials won the Outstanding Product Award in the 10th Gold Panel Awards, becoming the first chemical materials company in Taiwan to receive this honor. In 2012, only six years after its establishment, the corporation was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, making it the first listed materials design house for specialty chemicals, and by 2017, its revenue surpassed NT$3.9 billion.
Hoping to give back to campus and support higher education in chemistry, Dr. Lin established the Daxin Materials Scholarship in 2010, which aims to encourage outstanding students in the doctoral programs of NTU, NTHU, NYCU, and NCKU and contribute to fostering Taiwan’s researchers of advanced chemical materials.
Chairman Za-Chieh MOH
Title of Speech: The Ups and Downs of Engineering Consultancy
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Introduction
Chairman Za-Chieh MOH formerly served as a faculty member at Yale University and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). During his tenure at AIT, he educated many of the best and brightest in the engineering field, both domestically and internationally, and served as Department Chair, Vice President, and Provost at the institute. In 1999, he received an honorary doctorate from AIT and is still respectfully referred to as "Professor Moh" by many in the civil engineering community.
In order to broaden academic and technical exchanges, Chairman Moh founded the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society in 1967 and served as its president. He has hosted many international interdisciplinary academic conferences as well as brought international conferences, seminars, and academic associations to Asia. He has continued to promote the internationalization of Taiwan’s geotechnical engineering community and has received many honors and recognition both domestically and internationally.
MAA Group was founded by Chairman Moh and his brother, Dr. Za-Lee MOH, in Taiwan in 1975 as a purely private company. Since its founding, MAA has been involved in major domestic and international engineering projects and has introduced new engineering methods and technologies which have since taken root in Taiwan. From its earliest days, MAA's main focus was the geotechnical engineering market, and after 43 years of growth and transformation, it has become one of Southeast Asia’s leading engineering consulting groups. Over 1,200 technical staff in various fields of expertise, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies in the Greater China and Southeast Asian regions are closely integrated into a common entity through MAA Group, sharing a replete professional service network.
Chairman Moh has also served as the director of several civil engineering associations in Taiwan and assisted engineers in urging the Ministry of Economic Affairs to develop and implement laws and regulations regarding engineers’ scope of business, authority, and responsibilities, making considerable contributions to civil engineering associations. During this time, he also proactively pushed the government to put geotechnical engineers in charge of duties related to their domain.
Since the establishment of MAA Group, Chairman Moh has been involved in significant engineering projects in Taiwan and overseas, including the Songshan Airport underpass project, tunneling shields and deep excavation for the Taipei Metro, and geological improvement design and supervision for the Second Bangkok International Airport in Thailand. The methods introduced in these projects, the observation networks which were established, and the scale of the projects are all of benchmark significance to the engineering community. In addition, Chairman Moh has also led his colleagues to participate in Taiwan High Speed Rail, Bangkok MRT, Taiwan sewage treatment, and Taiwan geological mapping research projects, as well as risk management services at Beijing’s Agiletech for China’s metro system. Having published over 600 technical papers, he is truly the godfather of the international geotechnical engineering community in Taiwan and a contemporary master of both academics and the engineering practice.
President Ying-Ming YANG
Title of Speech: The History of Tire Development
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Introduction
In 1973, President Ying-Ming YANG returned to Taiwan to take over as the CEO of Kenda Tires, actively expanding the company’s export market in Europe and the United States and building the Kenda brand. After becoming Chairman of the board in 1991, he set up factories in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen, Kunshan, and Tianjin, as well as in Vietnam and Indonesia. During the 20 years of his leadership, the annual turnover of Kenda Tires grew from NT$2 billion to roughly NT$34 billion, and the company, which originally only had a few hundred employees in Taiwan, expanded into an enterprise with around 11,200 employees worldwide. Kenda products are sold in more than 150 countries, making it the second largest tire company in Taiwan.
President Yang is deeply committed to his industry, rewarding innovation, breaking away from the traditional OEM business model and the red ocean market of price competition, and laying the foundation for the company’s sustainable growth. In addition, he has long been committed to the improvement of tire technology, internationalization, and diversification. By proactively operating his own brand and diversifying into sports marketing, he has succeeded in dispensing with traditional frameworks. With sports marketing, he has been able to enhance Kenda’s international visibility and familiarity and break new ground one step at a time. President Yang has also served Director of the Taiwan Rubber & Elastomer Industries Association and Director of the Taiwan Bicycle Association, and has been personally dedicated to promoting the development of Taiwan's rubber industry. In addition, President Yang established the Kenda Foundation to sponsor local community construction, enrich community arts and cultural activities, promote academic culture, and provide charity. President Yang is a role model for the industry in promoting sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.
To give back to the Department of Chemical Engineering at NTU, his alma mater, President Yang also helped raise NT$21.28 million, which went towards the renovation of the facade and roof waterproofing of the Department's Building No. 1, pledging the first NT$5 million himself. In addition, he worked with other alumni to promote the establishment of the Department of Chemical Engineering Sustainability Fund, which has made significant contributions to the long-term development of the Department.
Chairman Tung-Sheng WU
Title of Speech: Life and Business in the Post-Pandemic Era
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Introduction
After graduating from the NTU Department of Law, Chairman Wu went to the U.S. to pursue master's degrees in both law and business administration from Harvard University. Later, he received his J.D. from Harvard and became licensed to practice law in New York State. Upon his return to Taiwan, Chairman Wu joined the public service and served as a member of the Legislative Yuan and as a National Assembly representative. After a 12-year career in politics, he returned to the corporate world in 2004 and now serves as the Chairman of SHINKONG Synthetic Fibers Corp.
SHINKONG Synthetic Fibers has been in business for 50 years, with Chairman Wu now at the helm and leading his team under the core values of "pragmatism, methodical approach, transparency, and team spirit." The company also emphasizes rejuvenating its organizational methods, bringing in innovators, fostering the next generation of leaders, and continued education, with the belief that enhancing the quality of the company's human resources can breathe new life into traditional industry. In 2007, SHINKONG received an Achievement Award from the Technology Development Programs (TDP) for Industry of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of Industrial Technology, and in 2009, was honored at the MOEA’s 10th Industrial Excellence Awards. In 2014, SHINKONG won gold and silver medals for its 4T short fiber patent and four-hole hollow fiber patent at the Taipei International Invention Show. The company's profit margin has increased year by year, and it is now one of the top 100 manufacturing companies in Taiwan. It has also adopted a diversified business strategy, and in addition to plastic and synthetic fiber products, SHINKONG has also developed its optoelectronic business through subsidiaries, expanding its corporate territory. In recent years, environmental issues have greatly influenced the development of the manufacturing industry through advocacy, policy, and trade. SHINKONG took note of these trends, investing in the R&D of environmentally friendly materials, and has already brought a number of eco-friendly fiber products to the market to contribute to global sustainable development.
In addition to operating a business, Chairman Wu has also dedicated himself to cultural undertakings. In 1982, he founded Asian Culture Publishing, which publishes representative works of contemporary masters such as Yu Ying-shih, Li Yih-yuan, and Pai Hsien-yung, winning several Golden Tripod Awards. In 1995, when he was a member of the Legislative Yuan, Chairman Wu also founded the Jin Guang Fu Culture and Education Foundation at the Jin Guang Fu Hall historical site in Hsinchu, and has been deeply involved in the local community for many years. Chairman Wu also brought together resources from various sources to renovate important historical buildings such as the Chiang A-Hsin Mansion and Chung Shu Hall, which were facing a preservation crisis at the time. He even provided resources for guided tours, giving people a chance to explore century-old buildings and learn about Hakka culture in Beipu Township, Hsinchu. In 2022, the year of the Taiwanese Cultural Association's centennial, the Ministry of Culture established the Cultural Association Medal, awarding Chairman Wu in the Cultural Assets and Integration category in recognition of his contributions in the fields of publishing and cultural preservation.
In his speech, Chairman Wu encouraged students to not only study hard in their majors, but also to remain open towards knowledge and not limit themselves. He expressed that the sciences and humanities are complementary fields, and if science students can learn more in the humanities, they will be able to better understand human needs and use science to help humanity develop. He also quoted the words of Stewart Brand, a paragon of Silicon Valley culture who inspired Steve Jobs, who stated that when we observe technology and innovation, we also need to examine the culture behind it–that is what made Silicon Valley what it is today, and that is the true innovative culture and life that we should pursue.