(Right to Left) Dr. John Chen, vice president and director, Display Technology Center, ITRI; Dr. CC Ho, vice president, NCKU; Dr. HP Shieh, vice president, NCTU; Mike Splinter, chairman and CEO, Applied Material; Dr. ST Lee, president, NTU; Dr. Felix Gwo, vice president, R&D office, NTHU and Erix Yu, vice president and Taiwan country general manager, Applied Materials.

In a ceremony this week, Applied Materials signed a Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) with each of the four leading Taiwanese universities and Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) all in an effort to promote increased collaboration between industry and academia. In addition to accelerating technology innovation, the MOUs are expected to expand Taiwan’s talent pool by helping to prepare students for the high-tech challenges of the future.

The parties involved in the MOUs with Applied are the National Taiwan University (NTU), National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and ITRI’s Display Technology Center.

As part of the MOUs, faculty, scholars and administrators will have the opportunity to visit and collaborate with Applied Materials on educational and research projects. Exchange programs will be set up for the education and training of graduate and postgraduate students. Information will be shared in joint conferences, symposia, workshops and other meetings on scientific topics of mutual interest.

In addition to providing research grants, Applied Materials is also offering access to our R&D resources and advanced facilities, such as the world-renowned Maydan Technology Center to help with Taiwan’s semiconductor research activities. Outstanding students from the four universities will be able to participate in Applied Materials’ New College Graduates employment program.