In order to promote E-technology to Taiwan’s industries and businesses, the Industrial Development Bureau of Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) established a professional “Yellow Pages” for who’s who in Taiwan’s high-tech and service industries. The aim of such a directory is to encourage qualified high-tech companies to apply for registration, and once they have been approved, they will be able to render their experience and services to companies or industries that are in need of information technology. In 2001, when MOEA opened the entry to universities and colleges for application, TKU’s Department of Information Management (DOIM) applied and was approved subsequently. The National Cheng-Kung University and TKU were the only two universities that entered this Yellow Pages then. This year TKU was once again admitted, together with four other universities, for the fourth time in five years.

Professor Shaw Reuy-shiang, the head of the DOIM, explains that the entry to the directory is not merely in name—it, in fact, opens doors to industries and corporations to contact them for cooperation. In the past five years, his department, including professors and students, has worked on several cases already. He believes that this is a wonderful opportunity for universities to come out of the ivory tower and be involved in the real world instead.

The number of cases his department has been working on with industries and corporations is impressive. They include an E-Guide Dog System with HP, an Encyclopedia Website for Social Education for the Ministry of Education, and an Import and Export of Plants and Animal System for the Disease Prevention Bureau, among many others. Their clients range from the Civil Aeronautics Administration of the Ministry of Transportation, to National Science Council, and to island-wide petrol stations. (~ Ying-hsueh Hu )