GIPO 30th Anniversary: Inheritance of the Old and Treasure of the Future

  • 2022-12-10
  • Tzu-Yu Chen
(December 10, 2022, Barry Lam Hall, National Taiwan University)
By Ching Chien
The GIPO 30th Anniversary Celebration was held on a Saturday afternoon on December 10th, 2022, at the Barry Lam Hall, NTU. The event includes a series of seminars, and a dinner inviting all GIPO alumni to join and celebrate.
The seminars were presided by the Chairman of GIPO Prof. Yuh-Renn Wu, and began with a talk given by Prof. Way-Seen Wang and Prof. C. C. (Chih-Chung) Yang, giving us a brief history on the founding and development of GIPO.
GIPO, the Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics, was once the former Division of Optoelectronics of the Graduate Institute of Electrical Engineering. Back at the time of founding, optoelectronics technology was officially listed by the government as one of the key enabling technologies, and in response many universities in Taiwan founded institutes and departments in related fields of optoelectronics, and it was also around this time that the Division of Optoelectronics branched off from the Graduate Institute of Electrical Engineering and formed the Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics today. From the day of founding in 1992, GIPO’s contributions encompass a wide range of fields including semiconductor, display technology, photonics, optical communication, and solar energy, with alumni working across many professions exhibiting exceptional competence and leadership.
Then following, Director General Jang-Hwa Leu of Administration for Digital Industries (also a distinguished alumnus of GIPO) gave a brief talk on the current trends of the digital industry scene. Director General Leu observed that with the growth of the economy surrounding and relying on digital technology brings about the increase in both the demands and supplies of digital electronics products, creating many market opportunities. The main goal of Project RISE is to ensure that appropriate digital technology is applied to each field and profession, increasing efficiency and productivity. Director General Leu concluded that the three future directions of digital technology are decentralization, software defined, and vertical application.
Dr. Yun-Li Li, a previous faculty member of GIPO, founder and CEO of PlayNitride, has accomplished remarkable achievements in MicroLED developments. Today, Dr. Li shared with us the many challenges he faced and experienced throughout his career. On the technical side, other than reducing the size of conventional LED into Micro LED, the constant budget concern forces the production line to constantly review its processes to save costs where possible. On the business side, to investors, time is of the essence, the projected production schedule must satisfy investment expectations, so as to ensure that the flow of funds is unhindered. Other than the aforementioned points, how to apply the new technology to the current market is also a great challenge. To entrepreneurs, remaining competitive will always be a constant concern. At this point, Dr. Li expresses that only by continuously investing new talents and building higher and higher foundations for them can this be achieved.
The second half is hosted by the Vice Chairman Prof. I-Chun Cheng and Prof. Jui-Che Tsai, inviting Dr. Cheng-Yen Chen (CEO, Johein Technology), Dr. Chen-Hung Lin (General Manager, Topview Optronics), Dr. Tzu-Huan Cheng (General Manager, LiveStrong Optoelectronics), Dr. I-Chung Chiu (Assist Manager, PlayNitride), Warren Hsiao (Global Commodity Manager, Google), and I-Lin Lu (Hardware Power Engineer, Google). The topic ranges across academic and professional career to life choices. Through the Slido platform, the audience were free to interact with the speakers, who answered questions ranging from annual pay, property purchase, to spouse finding and having children. The speakers all have very different backgrounds. Their diverse life experiences and views each provide insightful inspiration to the current students.
The seminars ended on a good note. The dinner banquet was held at La Maree. For many, it is a chance for professors and students to finally meet again after many years. At the banquet, the main singer of the band is also an alumnus (and TSMC engineer). Photos of their previous lab research days were displayed, and memories re-lived once more. New connections were made, old connections restrengthened, leaving an ambience of new collections of precious memories.
GIPO 30th Anniversary Seminar and the seminar reception area The group photo wall outside the seminar venue
Prof. Way-Seen Wang on the history of the Division of Optoelectronics Prof. C. C. (Chih-Chung) Yang on the development of GIPO
Lives and careers of GIPO alumni The banquet band