Taiwan France Synergy, NCKU and UGA Launch Flagship Collaboration in Smart Medicine and Healthcare

To deepen cooperation in higher education and cutting-edge scientific research between Taiwan and France, President Meng-Ru Shen of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) led a high-level delegation to Grenoble, France's leading research hub, in April 2026 for an in-depth strategic alignment with President Yassine Lakhnech and the research team of Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA). Both sides reached a consensus on a top-down integration model, aiming to jointly construct a research ecosystem closely laligned with industry needs and societal well-being through substantive initiatives such as Dual Master's and Doctoral Degree Programs, student co-supervision mechanisms, and joint faculty appointments.

During the visit, the NCKU delegation conducted on-site visits to two iconic institutions at UGA—the Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences (GIN) and the Centre de Recherche en Santé Intégrée (CRESI) to discuss cross-disciplinary collaboration models in advanced medical imaging, neurological disease research, chronic disease management, geriatric health technology, and hypoxia-related health sciences.

Furthermore, the two universities co-hosted a "Smart Healthcare Workshop," focusing on three cutting-edge topics: Smart Medicine, Smart Sports, and Bioelectronics. The NCKU team demonstrated robust clinical innovation capabilities during the session: Assoc. Prof. Yi-Shan Tsai, Director of the Center for Clinical Innovation and Research at NCKU Hospital (NCKUH), shared how NCKUH’s medical imaging AI ecosystem successfully translates academic research into high-value clinical applications. Assoc. Prof. Kai-Lan Hsu, a physician in the Division of Sports Medicine at NCKUH, presented results integrating big data analysis across physical performance, nutrition, and psychology with precision interventions to enhance the competitive performance of elite athletes.

Prof. Peng-Chan Lin, Vice Superintendent of NCKUH, presented an innovative application of Edge AI in genomic medicine, which drastically reduces genomic analysis time from several hours to just a few minutes, enabling rapid and precise clinical genetic interpretation and testing. Meanwhile, UGA scholars also shared their latest advances in clinical decision support systems for AI, high-altitude exercise physiology, and neurotechnology biomedical devices. NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen remarked that this visit successfully brought Taiwan's smart medicine expertise onto the international stage, and looking ahead, both sides will continue to deepen cooperation to collectively address critical challenges in human health transition with a global perspective.