Suranaree University of Technology Visits NCKU to Deepen Collaboration in Biomedical Engineering-國立成功大學永續發展SDGs

At the invitation of Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, a five-member delegation from Suranaree University of Technology (SUT), led by President Anan Tongraar, visited National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) on June 5, 2025. The visit focused on potential collaboration in biomedical engineering and included a tour of NCKU’s College of Medicine and the Medical Device Innovation Center.


NCKU Vice President Yung-Chun Lee warmly welcomed the delegation and reaffirmed the long-standing partnership between the 2 universities. He expressed the hope that future collaboration would be further deepened through student exchange and joint research projects. He also introduced NCKU’s Innovation Headquarters, which encourages faculty and students to bring research results to the market, highlighting this as a promising direction for future cooperation.


President Anan Tongraar thanked NCKU for the warm hospitality and recalled the 2024 visit to SUT by Professor Fong-chin Su from the Medical Device Innovation Center, during which the idea of collaboration in biomedical engineering was first discussed. During the meeting, President Tongraar proposed initiating the Pilot Project as a starting point for cooperation. He cited Thailand’s aging population as an example of a pressing societal issue, noting that by combining the healthcare and engineering resources of both universities, more locally adaptive solutions could be developed effectively. Vice President Mullika Sungsanit also emphasized SUT’s active investment in medical device research and expressed a desire to learn from NCKU’s expertise in this field. Director of the Center for International Affairs, Wipawee Usaha, reiterated SUT’s strategic goal of becoming an entrepreneurial university and voiced strong interest in expanding impactful collaboration with NCKU.


During the meeting, NCKU Vice President for International Affairs Sun-Yuan Hsieh provided an overview of the university’s development and reviewed past collaborations between the 2 institutions. NCKU and SUT signed a university-level Memorandum of Understanding and a student exchange agreement in 2010, laying a foundation for ongoing cooperation. In recent years, SUT has actively participated in NCKU-hosted international events, such as the conference organized by the Medical Device Innovation Center and the SATU General Assembly. Vice President Hsieh expressed gratitude for this continued engagement and proposed launching a dual-degree program in biomedical engineering, as well as conducting faculty exchanges and joint research.


Professor Fong-chin Su shared the center’s recent innovations in forward-looking medical technologies, explaining how the center works closely with NCKU Hospital and various colleges to promote digital healthcare solutions through international and industry collaboration. He noted that in the past two and a half years, NCKU has signed dual-degree agreements with 4 Thai universities in the field of biomedical engineering. He suggested that if SUT intends to enter this domain, talent cultivation should be the starting point. After the meeting, Professor Su led the delegation on a guided tour of the College of Medicine and the Medical Device Innovation Center, where more detailed discussions took place.


The SUT delegation included President Anan Tongraar, Vice President for Engagement, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Mullika Sungsanit, Director of the Center for International Affairs Wipawee Usaha, Dean of the School of Engineering Pornsiri Jongkol, and Dean of the School of Digital Art and Science Thara Angskun. The visit was accompanied by Dr. Chi-Si Ou, Second Secretary from the Department of International and Cross-Strait Education at Taiwan’s Ministry of Education.


Representing NCKU were Vice President Yung-Chun Lee, Vice President for International Affairs Sun-Yuan Hsieh, Professor Fong-chin Su, Professor Kuo-Sheng Cheng from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Professor Chun Hei Antonio Cheung from the College of Medicine’s International Affairs Committee, Deputy Director of the Division of International Relations Ya-Tsui Hsieh, and staff members Yu-Wen Fu and Po-Hung Chiu.


Suranaree University of Technology is located in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeastern Thailand. Established in 1990 and fully operational since 1993, the university’s top 3 research output areas from 2019 to 2025 have been energy (46.7%), environmental science (40.0%), chemical engineering (26.7%), and chemistry (26.7%).