Texas and Taiwan universities kicked off a conversation about spurring semiconductor and similar technologies talent cultivation through international education and academia-industry cooperation.
Austin, Texas (June 2, 2023) – The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, in partnership with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, held a summit in Austin which brought together representatives from Texas and Taiwan universities to discuss talent cultivation and academia-industry cooperation in semiconductors and similar technologies.
The Texas and Taiwan Semiconductor Talent Cultivation and Academia-Industry Cooperation Summit took place the morning of June 2 at the Barbara Jordan State Office Building in Austin, Texas. State leaders, officials, professors, and researchers of 18 universities across Texas as well as representatives of the University of Texas System, the Texas A&M University System, and the Texas Tech University System met with a delegation comprised of Dr. Mon-Chi Lio, Deputy Minister of Education, and representatives of National Taiwan University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, National Cheng Kung University, National Tsing Hua University, National Sun Yat-sen University, and National Taipei University of Technology.
Before coming to Texas, the Taiwan government invited the six universities making up the delegation to form an Academic Alliance for International Cooperation to better facilitate alliance-to-system communication on goals regarding semiconductor and similar technologies talent cultivation and innovation. These universities recently launched special semiconductor and technology colleges within their respective university structures.
The primary goals of the summit were to introduce Taiwan’s semiconductor universities to Texas university systems and to establish an academic alliance to coordinate cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and Texas universities in the semiconductor and similar technology fields.
This summit represents the continuation and evolution of a synergy that exists between Texas and Taiwan in semiconductors and technology. Texas and Taiwan have built a strategic partnership around semiconductors and technology for more than half a century. Many Taiwanese mechanical and electrical engineers worked in the Texas microelectronics industries in the latter half of the twentieth century before returning to Taiwan to establish research institutes, chip companies, or lecture in colleges, including founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Dr. Morris Chang.
This summit also echoes the policy goals laid out by the most recent “U.S. - Taiwan Education Initiative 3-year Strategic Plan” passed on March 14, 2023. The initiative calls for creating more academic alliances between universities in Taiwan and the U.S. in the fields of Engineering, Science, Medicine, Life Science and Agriculture, Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, and focuses particularly on Semiconductors, Finance, and International Communication.
The summit began with Texas education officials including Dr. Harrison Keller, Commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Chancellor John Sharp of the Texas A&M University System, Executive Vice Chancellor Archie Holmes of the University of Texas System, Dr. Mon-Chi Lio, Deputy Minister of Education, Director-General Robert Lo of TECO in Houston, State Rep. and Co-Chairman of the Taiwan-Texas Caucus Jacey Jetton, and (virtually) State Rep. Angie Chen Button giving opening remarks.
Director-General Lo spoke on how semiconductors are vital not just to Taiwan but to Texas, the United States, and the whole world. He stated that Texas can be sure a partnership with Taiwan is secure because Taiwan and the U.S. share democratic values. Deputy Minister Lio emphasized the importance of establishing streamlined communication between Taiwan’s Academic Alliance and Texas’ university systems to foster deeper and pragmatic collaboration. Dr. Keller spoke on the importance of Texas higher education strengthening its partnerships with industry and different educational institutions as well as how the Texas Legislature slated $1.4 billion for semiconductor innovation projects as part of a recent $5 billion investment in higher education. Chancellor Sharp welcomed partnership between universities in Texas and Taiwan. He also voiced support for Taiwan on the international stage and as a solid choice for collaboration in semiconductors and other fields.
University representatives presented introductions and brief overviews of their semiconductor and similar technologies courses and programs. Dr. Jenny Su introduced the Taiwan universities attending the summit and spoke on Taiwan’s world-renowned semiconductor industry. She credited Taiwan’s success in the semiconductor industry in part to Taiwan’s science and technology clusters and parks, robust public-private partnerships, and the strong academia-industry cooperation necessary for high quality talent cultivation. Texas universities representatives discussed the proposed Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE), a public-private alliance between multiple universities and around 21 companies in the semiconductor sector. TIE is an academia-industry effort headed by the University of Texas at Austin (UT) developed to spur semiconductor research, innovation, and development capacity in the Lone Star State. The Texas A&M University (TAMU) system, the University of Texas at Dallas, and Rice University also showcased the development of their semiconductor related research and programs. The industrial sectors from Texas and Taiwan will be invited as important partners in the proposed bilateral education cooperation.
An invitation-only roundtable allowed for a deeper exchange of ideas between Texans and Taiwanese. Both the Academic Alliance from Taiwan and University Systems from Texas agreed that:
- The initial focus of collaboration will be the fields of semiconductor, quantum technology, agriculture, biomedical engineering, space technology and Mandarin Language learning.
- An online working meeting will be held soon to further discuss all topics, including the possibility of signing a collective MOU between Taiwan’s Academic Alliance and the University Systems in Texas.
- It was suggested that TAMU and UT systems representatives travel to Taiwan to become better acquainted with their counterparts and potentially sign the proposed collective MOU.
The summit showed that there is great interest and enthusiasm for science and technology education collaboration on both sides. Texas’ strong support for Taiwan’s status amid geopolitical tensions was well represented and repeated throughout presentations and discussion. Many roundtable participants remarked on the excellent timing of the summit and that funding could potentially be available through the U.S. Chips and Science Act. Taiwan’s globally recognized capacity for advanced semiconductor manufacturing was identified as a major draw for establishing partnerships in research cooperation and talent cultivation. Also discussed was the hope that through in-depth bilateral cooperation and joint investment of human resources, under the framework of the US-Taiwan Education Initiative, the Taiwan-Texas (T&T) partnership and mutual democratic values will be deepened.
Group photo of attendees of the 2023 T&T Semiconductor Talent Cultivation and Academia-Industry Cooperation Summit. Front row, from the left: UT System Vice Chancellor Archie Holmes, State Rep. Jacey Jetton, TAMU System Chancellor John Sharp, Director-General Robert Lo, Director-General Yen-Yi Lee of International and Cross-strait Education, Deputy Minister Mon-Chi Lio, Commissioner Harrison Keller, National Tsing Hua University President W. John Kao, National Taiwan University Vice President Shih-Torng Ding.
Deputy Minister of Education Mon-Chi Lio (center right) with representatives of Texas universities and officials from the Taiwan Ministry of Education, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and TECO in Houston.
