NCKU Collaborates with Taiwan Institute of Sports Science to Cultivate Key Talent in Sports Technology

To support Taiwanese athletes in achieving outstanding results in international competitions and promote nationwide sports for health, the government has actively promoted the "Taiwan Sports × Technology Action" program in recent years. By collecting big data and conducting scientific analysis, technology is applied to various sports disciplines with the aim of integrating virtual and real elements and promoting the development of the smart sports technology industry. National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and the Taiwan Institute of Sports Science (TISS) signed a cooperation agreement today to jointly promote faculty exchange, scientific research collaboration, equipment sharing, and talent cultivation in sports technology. This collaboration aims to actively respond to the national development policy on sports science. The signing ceremony was attended by NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen and TISS Chairman and President of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Cheng-Wen Wu, representing both parties.

President Sheng stated that NCKU bears the social responsibility of driving the future development of the country. In 2021, after a hiatus of 40 years, NCKU once again hosted the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games, aiming to integrate intelligent elements into sports technology, open up new perspectives for the sports technology industry, and move towards the future of sports, integrating sports events into daily life. He also shared dialogues with award-winning athletes from the games, allowing him to understand the deficiencies that traditional training may cause to athletes. Therefore, he hopes to effectively assist athletes in their physical and mental performance through the combination of sports science and sports medicine.
 
President Shen emphasized that NCKU is a stronghold of academic research in southern Taiwan, not only possessing excellent faculty but also having complete disciplinary training and verification fields required for sports science, including key departments such as the Institute of Physical Education, Health & Leisure Studies, Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Department of Psychology, Department of Medicine, and Department of Life Sciences. As a key base for the country's development of science and technology research, NCKU has an indispensable role in cultivating talent in sports science. President Shen pointed out that the development of sports science itself has strong characteristics of interdisciplinary integration, which aligns perfectly with NCKU's promotion of interdisciplinary research. With NCKU's and TISS's geographical advantages in Tainan and Kaohsiung, respectively, the interaction between the two sides will be closer, and it is hoped that the synergy effect of 1+1 being greater than 2 can be achieved, making both parties the dual engines of sports science development in southern Taiwan, driving the development of the national sports technology industry and supporting the accumulation of national intellectual governance capacity.

Chairman Wu stated that TISS is a research institution that began planning and promoting in 2023 and officially operated in 2024. Through data collection, precise analysis, and the application of technological tools, TISS assists professional athletes in improving their sports performance and preventing sports injuries. In the process of research and development, athletes will not be disturbed but will be provided with feasible tools and solutions. Chairman Wu said that the research in sports technology is not only limited to professional athletes but also needs to be expanded to a wider range of sports and leisure populations to create a market scale for sports. It is necessary for technology companies to invest together, convert them into technological products and tools, connect more systematically managed analysis, and benefit more sports populations.
 
Chairman Wu further praised NCKU and National Tsing Hua University as the only two universities in Taiwan currently with established sports technology centers. NCKU's Chung Cheng Gym is the first intelligent sports venue equipped with 5G devices and has outstanding faculty and teaching talent. Therefore, Chairman Wu is extremely happy to cooperate with NCKU for the first time. He emphasized that in the fields of sports medicine and sports technology, NCKU has always shown excellence and leadership, and this cooperation will further deepen the exchange and development between the two sides in these fields.

NCKU actively fulfills its social responsibility as a university, fully supporting the national development of sports science, with high-quality performance in talent cultivation and future technological research and development. In 2023, NCKU established the interdisciplinary Smart Sports Technology Research Center, built a cooperation platform for sports science, and initiated the "Sustainable Interdisciplinary Integration Project" to gather internal research and development capabilities, promote in-depth interdisciplinary cooperation, enhance the transformation and application of scientific research results, and fulfill the university's mission of academic excellence, industrial development, social responsibility, and international connections.

The signing of the cooperation agreement marks the milestone of cooperation between the two parties. In the future, efforts will continue to promote faculty cooperation, joint scientific research and technology development, collaborative use of experimental fields and equipment, etc., to further leverage the advantages of both parties, nurture professional talents in sports science, and inject new research and development momentum.