Technology and Innovation　Shaping Future Generations

　　“Far Eastern Y. Z. Hsu Science & Technology Memorial Foundation,” established under the Far Eastern Group in 2001, was the first private foundation supervised by the National Science Council of the Executive Yuan.  Committed to fostering “technological innovation,” the Foundation has been actively promoting developments of technologies and encouraging talents by sponsoring the annual “Y. Z. Hsu Science Award” with focus on emerging key technologies through rigorous and impartial evaluations, which has gained prestige and recognition in the scientific research field and turned into a remarkable honor for scientists.

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　　Far Eastern Group started its establishment by producing people’s livelihood textile, after more than 70 years of innovative operations, it has now developed into a comprehensive conglomerate comprising various industries including food, clothing, residence, transport, education, and recreation.  Chairman Douglas Hsu believes that the innovative mindset and the application of new technologies are the reason why the Far Eastern Group has been growing consistently, which is also the special quality demonstrated by its founder, Mr. Y. Z. Hsu, “Mr. Yu-ziang always thinks about how to innovate, therefore bringing the Group to such scale.” expressed by Mr. Douglas Hsu.

　　During the past three years, under the impact of coronavirus pandemic worldwide, all industries and people’s health were greatly affected.  Fortunately, the advancements in medical technologies and the efforts made by the scientists to develop various vaccines and treatments, each nation has been able to turn around from the pandemic impact.  While entering the post-pandemic era, the world is still facing many challenges, including: inflation, Ukraine-Russia War, trade struggle, and industrial competitions, etc.  Mr. Douglas Hsu thinks: “Technology is the driving force toward the future world, not as a means of building walls to block it.”

　　When establishing the Far Eastern Y. Z. Hsu Science and Technology Memorial Foundation in 2001, aside from commemorating the innovative spirit of Mr. Y. Z. Hsu, also with the hope to contribute to the scientific and technological developments, it was registered as the first private foundation supervised by the National Science Council of the Executive Yuan focusing on technological innovation affairs.  During 20 years, the Foundation continues to invest resources to sponsor various science and technology events, among which is the most well-known “Y. Z. Hsu Science Award” which presents each year the “Y. Z. Hsu Scientific Paper Award,” “Y. Z. Hsu Scientific Innovation Award” and other important awards, promoting key technologies including nanotechnology, ICT, optoelectronics, bio-medical and green technologies, has been attracting many contestants, and has until now appraised 440 plus outstanding talents.

　　To establish credibility, “The Foundation enlisted heavy-weight scholars across from different fields.” expressed by Douglas Hsu, inviting Academicians of Academia Sinica and presidents of universities to serve as Jurors of the Judging Panel to proceed with a thorough evaluating process, which includes many panel discussions, outsourcing peer evaluation of outside experts, and final voting to ensure fair and rigorous selection process, therefore, all the winners of the intense competitions are among the best talents in their respective fields.

　　Each year when holding the “Y. Z. Hsu Science Award” Ceremony, the Foundation also invites families and friends of the recipients to step on stage to share their honor and joy.  Douglas Hsu said: “Award recipients all cherish very much this encouragement, not only because it is not an easy task to win, but more importantly there is still not enough stage provided to the science and technology talents from the industry.”  He hopes that Y. Z. Hsu Science and Technology Memorial Foundation can set an example for others to follow, allow government and private sectors to collaborate closely, and more systematically in supporting the cultivation and development of science and technology talents.

 

Cultivating Young Seeds of Technology Is Key for the Future

　　The evaluation criteria of Y. Z. Hsu Science Award are extremely meticulous.  Most previous recipients have accumulated more than a decade of researches to gain recognition of the Judging Panel.  Therefore, sometimes there were no winners during past awards.  “Applicants must present research result that demonstrated a certain standard so as to be awarded by the Foundation,” said by Douglas Hsu.  In terms of outstanding research achievements, Y. Z. Hsu Science Award is not hesitant to praise young talents of scientific research.  According to the statistics of the Foundation, many outstanding assistant professors, associate professors, and even PhD students, have been awarded with unanimous consensus from the Judging Panel because of their new innovative research accomplishments with very high academic value.

　　Furthermore, the Foundation had been reaching out to senior high school students by sponsoring for 14 consecutive years the “Y. Z. Hsu Cup – Taiwan Young Physicists’ Tournament,” introducing International Young Physicists’ Tournament, IYPT, to engage in English debates on physics-related topics, so as to cultivate foreign language capability, logical thinking, and team spirit, and paid in full to support outstanding students teaming up to participate in IYPT contests abroad.  These senior high school students have been registering excellent performances, won Gold Medal of IYPT in 2016, and Silver Medal this year.  More importantly, Taiwan’s high school students are inspired to expand their global vision, making the Foundation proud of its years of efforts.  In recent years, the Foundation has also sponsored “Y. Z. Hsu Innovation Forum” by inviting previous winners of Y. Z. Hsu Science Award to engage in exchanges and dialogues with the young generation, share their learning processes and new scientific knowledge, which are well received by top senior high schools of each county and city, and currently have been co-sponsoring such events with Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School, Taipei First Girls High School, and National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park.

 

Innovation Must Keep up with Time  Explore More Possibilities

　　During the past 20 years, Y. Z. Hsu Science and Technology Memorial Foundation has been growing alongside with the Far Eastern Group.  Under the support and encouragement from different fields, the Foundation has accumulated remarkable CSR achievements.  At this 20th founding anniversary, Mr. Douglas Hsu holds profound expectations that “In comparison with various CSR endeavors of the Far Eastern Group, this Foundation is still very young, and can do much more and perform better.”

　　Mr. Douglas Hsu expresses that innovation must keep up with the time, needs to explore deeper and wider.  Take technological innovation for example, we have to add digital transformation to lead us march toward a better tomorrow with brighter perspectives.  Therefore, the popular topics such as AI and Metaverse are worth of our attention.  Also he will continue to think about how to expand and promote industry-academia cooperation through resources of Y. Z. Hsu Science and Technology Memorial Foundation, to better merge scientific research fields and industrial needs. （本文轉載自2022年9月號「科學人雜誌」專訪遠東集團徐旭東董事長）

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