The first International Sustainable Development Conference (ISDC 2020) will be held at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) from November 27 to 28, 2020. Sustainable development is a topic which NPUST has given much focus to over the years, with the results of its efforts made evident by certain important indicators. For instance, each year for the past six years, NPUST has ranked first in Taiwan on the UI GreenMetric Ranking. The same assessment placed the university sixth in all of Asia last year; while its personal best was achieved in 2014, when it ranked 3rd in the continent.

In order to promote the sustainable development of green universities, NPUST has extended an invitation to some of its closest international partners— University of Brawijay and IPB University in Indonesia, RMUTT in Thailand, and Universiti Putra, Malaysia— to convene online and discuss four avenues of cooperation.

The ISDC 2020 Preparatory Committee held its first pre-conference meeting on August 4th (2020), giving focus to two main points, including “research exchange between the conference hosts” and “preparation and planning for the International Education and Research Center”.

At the meeting, Dean Pomin Li of the NPUST Office of International Affairs Office represented the university president in extending a warm welcome to the participants. From there, Vice Dean Herlin Chien chaired the conference while the various groups provided presentations on their related research results, resources and facilities. The groups and topics of presentation included:

Group A: Disaster Prevention & Recovery, by Dr. Aurick Yudha Nagara of the University of Brawijay and Dr. Ting-Chien Chen and Dr. Li Chu Chang of NPUST.

Group B: Smart Agriculture, by the dean of the college of agriculture at IPB University, Prof. Abdul Shukor Juraimi and NPUST’s Dr. Wang Yu-Min.

Group C: Circular Economy, by Dr. Sommai Pivsa-Art, rector of RMUTT and Assistant Professor Way Long of NPUST.

Group D: Ecosystem Restoration by director of the IPB Center for Environmental Research, Prof. Hefni Effendi and College of Engineering Dean Prof. Chi-Ying Hsieh.

The presentations and discussions were lively and engaging and resulted in the following recommendations and comments:

Prof. Iskandar Z Siregar, Director of the International Affairs Office at IPB expressed hopes that the preparatory committee could propose a series of academic exchange activities which integrate the four topics of interest.

Prof. Juraimi, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at UMP, suggested that the University of Brawijaya (Indonesia) could be invited to join IPB and NPUST to cooperate on the Smart Agricultural Rice Project.

Dr. Nagara of the University of Brawijaya expressed his anticipation to engage in future cooperation on the project and Dr. Sommai, President of RMUTT voiced support for the academic exchange activities and also proposed hosting a summer camp and 2~6 month exchanges at his university next year for master’s students from NPUST.

Building on the results of this round of discussions, a second international conference on sustainable development to further discuss the establishment of the International Education and Research Center will be held on September 1st (2020).