On April 29, 2024, Chung Yuan Christian University’s College of Business, in collaboration with the Center for Global Taiwanese Business Studies, hosted the Smart Technology and Innovation Forum. The forum focused on innovative developments and applications of smart technologies in areas such as smart cities, digital currencies, and GPU technologies. Featuring distinguished speakers from various industries, the event highlighted the College of Business’s commitment to exploring and advancing smart technologies, providing students with opportunities to engage with cutting-edge technology and fostering collaboration between academia and industry.
The forum covered a range of emerging smart technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and blockchain. Discussions explored their integration and cross-disciplinary applications, aiming to create new value ecosystems and operational models. These advancements help governments and industries drive digital transformation and achieve significant progress in the field of smart technology.
Shih-Lung Chao, Director of the Department of Information Technology, Taipei City Government, who is also a university lecturer, entrepreneur, and data scientist, delivered a keynote titled Innovative Applications of Smart Cities in Taipei City Government. He emphasized the focus on open-source initiatives to achieve “co-benefit and co-creation” goals. Chao shared insights on building the Taipei City Dashboard, a data visualization platform, positioning Taipei as the world’s first government open data city and establishing the city as the “Android of the dashboard world,” setting a benchmark for open data.
Chao outlined four key development aspects: open data and APIs, open-source software and toolkits, open design standards and visual components, and the open-source community, including participation in the Taipei CodeFest. A team from Chung Yuan Christian University’s Information Management Department won second place at the 2023 Taipei CodeFest, showcasing the success of Chao’s open-source initiatives.
Kung Chen, a professor at National Chengchi University’s Department of Information Management and Deputy Director of its Fintech Research Center, also serves as the Executive Director of the Blockchain Innovation Lab. Chen shared a macro perspective on digital assets, tokenization technology, and the development and application of digital currencies and tokens. His talk covered core enterprise blockchain technologies, including privacy-enhancing methods, high-performance consensus algorithms, and smart contract tools. Chen also discussed regulatory compliance for issuing virtual currencies and highlighted asset tokenization projects in Taiwan, offering students and faculty a comprehensive understanding of digital currencies and tokenization.
Alex Chu, Associate Director at NVIDIA Taiwan, presented on the innovative applications of NVIDIA RTX for AI. This technology simulates real-world lighting environments and revolutionizes game creation through AI-powered ray tracing, reconstruction, and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). Chu also introduced NVIDIA ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine), which enables game and software developers to incorporate generative AI models into digital avatars for applications and games. By leveraging cloud and edge AI computing, NVIDIA RTX enhances gaming experiences and drives rapid progress in AI technology, yielding numerous new ideas, products, and applications.
Cheng-Wen Lee, Dean of the College of Business at Chung Yuan Christian University, highlighted the College’s efforts to cultivate STEM-ready talent from non-STEM fields. As part of the Ministry of Education’s Key Talent Development Program in Smart Innovation, the College introduced microprograms in FinTech and Business Big Data, combining cross-disciplinary demands, professional expertise, and digital skills to meet the growing industry demand for software professionals.
Notably, Chung Yuan Christian University is the fourth university in Taiwan, after National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, to collaborate with NVIDIA. The university has established the AI Application Development Joint Service Center, focusing on research, teaching, and industry-academic collaboration. In teaching, Finance Department faculty member Ming-Che Hu has obtained NVIDIA DLI (Deep Learning Institute) certification to provide specialized instruction. On the research and industry-academic fronts, the university leverages NVIDIA’s latest AI computing platforms to enhance its research capabilities and innovation.
