Fujian cultivates links with Taiwan talent

Chen Cheng-chiang, who works at Fujian University of Technology as a teacher, participates in the sixth World Nobel Laureate Biomedical Summit and Global Biomedical Innovation Forum in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in 2019. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] 

A matchmaking conference to link Taiwan professionals with companies in Fujian province was held recently, aiming to boost cooperation between talent and capital and help Taiwan people settle in Fujian to drive scientific innovation, local authorities said.

Doctor of biomedicine Chen Cheng-chiang now works at Fujian University of Technology after graduating from a university in the United States. His project — focusing on traditional Chinese medicine — attracted attention at the event. In September 2019, Chen went to Fuzhou, the provincial capital, hoping to build a genetic bank of Chinese herbs and promote TCM.

"Fujian has rich plant resources, and it's close to Taiwan. Settling down here is good to contact more experts and collect data," Chen said.

Now his team is working with other universities to develop new medicines based on plants from Wuyi Mountain and Ali Mountain.

"With such platform to contact Fujian companies, I hope our dreams can take root and sprout," he said.

Hsu Ping-chuan, a teacher from Taiwan at Minjiang University in Fuzhou, Fujian province, experiments with his students. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] 

Hsu Ping-chuan, a teacher from Taiwan at Minjiang University in Fuzhou, said he hoped to find suitable companies to apply new anti-coronavirus materials to clothing, doorknobs and escalators, so that "people can feel more safe and secure when going out".

Hsu came to the university in 2019. The next year, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in demand for face masks across the country. Hsu was asked by a friend who runs a textile enterprise in Quanzhou, Fujian, to develop masks with good air permeability and antimicrobial properties.

Hsu, who focuses on new materials, was excited. The masks developed by his team are now produced in Quanzhou and exported overseas. He wants to introduce the material in more circumstances.

At the matchmaking event, some apparel enterprises showed interest in Hsu's team. Only through the joint efforts of companies and universities will talent come to better match the demand of industries and promote high-quality development, he said.

Pei Chun, a teacher of Fujian Medical University, gives a speech at the Straits Forum in Fuzhou in 2018. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] 

Pei Chun, a teacher at Fujian Medical University who comes from Taiwan, introduced his intelligent eldercare equipment at the event. He said the equipment has been used in five nursing homes and hopes to go into mass production.

In the past, there were a few such matchmaking events in Taiwan, and many teachers' scientific results had to be shelved, he said, adding that he believed their dreams can come true in Fujian.

The event was part of a series supported by the provincial government to introduce talent and boost cooperation by enterprises, universities and research institutes.