2022 Taiwan Sustainability Action Awards: 3 Teams from NCKU Won 2 Golds & 1 Silver-國立成功大學永續發展SDGs

  Sustainable action to protect the earth! Three teams from NCKU won two golds and one silver in the "2022 Taiwan Sustainability Action Awards". The award ceremony was held in the afternoon on August 12, and Yuh-Neu Chen, the vice president of NCKU, was awarded on behalf of the school. In response to the trend of super-aged society, the "NCKU USR" team developed a micro-community between the university and the local community, winning the "SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being" gold medal; “Collaborative Badlands” team assisted marginal settlement to boost local economy, winning the "SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities" gold medal; "Tainan Yongkang Fuguo Resilient Communities" team guided the community to improve disaster tolerance, winning the "SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities" silver medal. The three awarded teams of NCKU gave full play to their abilities in their professional fields, and put forward an action plan to specifically demonstrate the mission and value of the university’s social responsibility.
 
  TSAA is organized by Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy Research. Coming to its second year, TSAA held the award ceremony in conjunction with “Asia-Pacific Forum & Exposition for Sustainability” from August 12nd to August 14th, attracting more than a hundred of strategic partners from government agencies, enterprises, finance, universities, social enterprises, and NGOs participated in the grand event.
 
  According to statistics, it is estimated that Taiwan will enter a super-aged society in 2025. However, "NCKU USR" team believes that "The elderly are not individuals who live alone. While the issues of aging are closely related to everyone, the main focus of super-aged society should be targeted on how to construct a social structure that can promote the interaction and support between elderlies and young people.” Through the establishment of a "micro-community" between university research and the local community, the "NCKU USR" team enables different individuals to build a relationship, be supportive with each other, or even build a startup. If the life wisdom and skills of the elderly complement the flexibility of young people perfectly, it is likely to create a win-win situation for both. For instance, elderlies enjoy a new style of retirement life, and young people start a career locally. 
 
  The "Collaborative Badlands" team has put great efforts into assisting marginal settlement villages developing economies through the collaborative project. The team carried on with their project from three aspects: “new experience”, “new industry”, and “new information”. First, it took the advantage of the members’ major to roll out an in-depth package tour based on local characteristics. Second, it analyzed local industrial resources and social dynamics systematically to develop a cross-regional industry revitalization network and strategic actions. Last but not least, it improved the effectiveness of regional innovation by building a digital cultural and spatial database of badlands. NCKU teams are committed to turning remote villages into cooperative partners and learning areas, breaking the ivory tower, maximizing the efficiency of educational resources, and establishing a sustainable urban and rural co-learning and innovation organization.
 
  According to World Bank statistics, due to geographical factors, Taiwan ranks among the highest in the world for extreme climate and natural disaster risks. Hence, building resilient communities with disaster tolerance has gradually attracted the public's attention in recent years. The team "Tainan Yongkang Fuguo Resilient Communities" focuses on the autonomy of the people in the community, ensuring them to complete most of the tasks by themselves. Through the training programs provided by NCKU as a collaborative team, it has become the main promoter of building a resilient community. Assisting the community in risk identification and various work promotions is beneficial to guide residents how to self help and mutual aid during or after a disaster, further alleviating the difficulty for public sectors rescuing residents and maximizing the efficiency of resource investment.