Lunghwa University of Science and Technology and Holtek sign Memorandum of Cooperation --- Holtek Development System Award Ceremony

May 15, 2006

Under the encouragement of the Taiwan Ministry of Education's plan to "combine academic resources with the needs of industry and development trends", the Lunghwa University of Science and Technology and Holtek Semiconductor together established an MCU development laboratory within the Unversity's department of electronics. At a formal ceremony on 24th April, the University's President, Mr. Yen Wen Fang, and Holtek's President, Mr. Gordon Gau, at the Ministry of Education, formally signed a memorandum of cooperation. A short ceremony also took place where Holtek formally donated a number of development systems for use in the laboratory.

The head of the Technology and Vocational Education Department of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Chang Kuo Bao, in the promotion of country wide Technological and Vocational education, expressed the Ministry of Education's desire to underline the importance of industry/educational cooperative ventures. This allows industrial partners to fully utilise the resources of education, while additionally allowing the teacher's research topics to be integrated with the demands of industry. Examples such as the present Holtek Innovation Competition, which allows vocational colleges, to combine both real practical experience and personal innovation in one activity. Also with the added incentive and motivation of a competition format, it is hoped to seek out outstanding personnel, an activity which will bring benefits to all three involved parties, namely those of the student population, the academic institution and industry alike.

Holtek Semiconductor's President, Mr. Gordon Gau, expressed that the company is renown in the industry for its design of high quality microcontroller devices, and that with the establishment of this microcontroller laboratory and in the supply of hardware and software equipment, a fitting environment can be setup for the development of microcontroller applications. This will help to promote the interaction of both the theoretical and the practical by the combination of the services of both academic research and industrial development. The most important objective in the establishment of this laboratory is to allow students to understand the development trends of industry and to encourage students to have the ability to create their own special subjects. To implement and encourage the Ministry of Education's concept of "combining academic resources with the needs of industry and development trends", the Ministry will, in the future, at the Lunghwa University of Science and Technology Office of Extended Education, setup training programs to supply the Northern Taiwan region with a channel for professional training.

Additionally, with the Ministry of Education as the main organiser, together with Holtek's support and with the activity undertaken jointly by the Gallant promotion company and the Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, the second Holtek Innovation Competition will take place at the University on November 18th. Divided into five groups, namely, general control, toy, metering, household appliance control and a senior high school group, a total prize award approaching 1 million NT, will be made available. Additionally, participating teachers in the competition will be awarded one of Holtek's development systems in appreciation of their efforts.

The president of the Lunghwa University of Science and Technology indicated his hopes that with this competition, a platform for the interchange of information between technical colleges for microcontroller applications will be created. He also expressed hope that the activity be downwardly mobile by taking root in encouraging high school students and teachers to locate outstanding students with special potential and together build an all win situation for the three parties involved, namely those of the students, academic institutions and industry. The Gallant promotion company president, Chen Hong Sheng, expressed his opinion that Gallant, as a professional promotional company, hopes that through this cooperative venture between Lunghwa University and Holtek Semiconductor to implement this innovation competition, will create an academic/industry cooperative mechanism, which will lead to society as a whole attaching importance to this microcontroller competition and the proper coaching of outstanding talent, in the process being able to return something to society as a whole.

At the same time, Holtek Semiconductor's president Gordon Gau, was delighted to announce the launch of the "Holtek Outstanding Talent Award" which will give in excess of 1 million Taiwan dollars in supportive funds, to which the cooperating academic institutions can apply to for Holtek MCU application projects. This "Holtek Outstanding Talent Award" was established with the intention of extending the Holtek Innovation Competition contingent creativity. According to Holtek's assistant president, Mr. Chang Chih, the "Holtek Outstanding Talent Award" funding was created to support teachers to encourage Holtek microcontroller application development. In doing so it is envisaged that Holtek's cooperative ventures with academic institutions will be strengthened, the result of which should be the increasing application of microcontrollers for use in different new areas and products.