A new milestone in Tainan industry-academia collaboration: building a new generation of AI agricultural optoelectronics

The "2018 International Symposium on Smart Optoelectronic Agricultural Robots and the Signing Ceremony of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Zhiyuan Foundation and National Chiao Tung University" was held on the morning of yesterday (the 13th) at the Advantech International Conference Hall of the National Chiao Tung University Tainan Campus. Mayor Li Meng-yen, who was invited to attend, said that in addition to having TSMC's 3nm plant, the world's leading core semiconductor process base, Tainan, together with constructions such as the southern branches of Academia Sinica and the Industrial Technology Research Institute, and the Shalun Green Energy Science City, will certainly become a new cluster for the artificial intelligence, smart and green energy technology industries under the joint efforts of industry, government and academia.

Mayor Li Meng-yen praised National Chiao Tung University for its 8 years of deep cultivation in Tainan, and also thanked Acer founder Stan Shih and National Chiao Tung University alumni for establishing the Zhiyuan Foundation in Tainan, injecting effort into southern industry-academia collaboration and professional talent training; Mayor Li Meng-yen emphasized that the combination of optoelectronics and agricultural robots is pivotal to Taiwan's future agricultural development and industrial upgrading. Tainan has more than 90,000 hectares of agricultural land, and about 100,000 people are engaged in agriculture, but the labor shortage and population aging in rural areas are becoming increasingly severe. It is hoped that after introducing the new concept of Agriculture 4.0 and artificial intelligence technology, the problems of rural population aging and insufficient manpower can be effectively alleviated and solved, accelerating the upgrading and transformation of the agricultural industry.

President Chang Mau-chung of National Chiao Tung University said that the National Chiao Tung University Tainan Campus is located in Tainan's important agricultural production town, and it is duty-bound to develop key agricultural optoelectronics technologies. This year is the first year of characteristic research on AI optoelectronic agricultural robots. It is hoped that through cooperation with the Zhiyuan Foundation, the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau, the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre, Academia Sinica and the Council of Agriculture, and by combining domestic and international academic research institutions and industry in smart agriculture and AI robots, contributions can be made to Taiwan's future agricultural technology.