Tech, Innovation, and Collaboration from Berkeley to the Asia Pacific
By Yoyo Ko and Justin Lu
Here at UC Berkeley, students find themselves in a bubble where they feel obligated to have research experience, dabble in consulting clubs, and gain some level of computer science skills. We engage in all these activities to “build our career” and it’s all quite formulaic, but if the Fung Fellowship has taught us anything, it’s that the best opportunities often come from the unknown.
Right outside our comfort zone, there is a space where uncertainty meets open-mindedness that brings our experiences beyond expectations. Here’s our story about how a simple sit-in on a meeting with Taiwanese representatives turned into ongoing conversations and multinational journeys.
Last November, we had the opportunity to meet delegates from the Taiwan Reputed University Startups to Taiwan Unicorns Program (TRUST-U Program) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO).
It was an introductory meeting with no expectations, but after sharing our interest in the Asia Pacific economy and industry, it later turned into something much bigger. Dr. Ping-Hei Chen, Program Director of TRUST-U and Professor at National Taiwan University (NTU), Director Tom Yeh, Director of the Science and Technology Division of TECO, and other program managers visited Berkeley to engage with the Fung Fellowship, kickstarting connections that might fit into future collaborations.
We followed up and arranged a subsequent meeting, this time honoring Director Yeh’s invitation to visit his office in Santa Clara to learn more about TECO. As we shared our passions and these relationships and conversations developed deeper, we were given the opportunity to meet amazing people across the world during our vacations in Asia over the winter break, Yoyo in Hong Kong and Justin in Taiwan.
Yoyo:
As a Hong-Kong native growing up in the Bay Area, I have always had an affinity towards bringing the creative and innovative spirit in the Silicon Valley to the Asia Pacific region. In the heart of Hong Kong, a flourishing city of talent, lies Lingnan University, the only public liberal arts university in Hong Kong.
This past winter break, upon the invitation from Dr. Yongnan Yang of Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI), I had the opportunity to speak at the Entrepreneurship Spirit Class as a guest. At the home of the one and only Hong Kong liberal arts entrepreneurship platform, I was honored to share how my Environmental Economics and Policy background shaped my Fung Fellowship experience.
On a Thursday morning, I was welcomed warmly by Dr. Yang to a class filled with business and political science majors of both international and local backgrounds. As a social science major myself, I shared the same hesitation as them in joining the tech industry, fearing that my own skillset was not comparable to those with technical abilities.
However, I am proud to share that Fung Fellowship has made me realize that my academic background only helped me thrive in design. Learning about structural inequity and environmental justice in my major courses prepared me with an interdisciplinary thinking strategy when approaching design challenges involving younger children.
I discussed how my academic background has shaped my interactions with users in my ethnographic research and allowed me to comfortably design with empathy. My sharing turned quickly into a conversation as Dr. Yang and her students raised their own political and ethical concerns in the innovation realm. Their insights affirmed my interest in the currently growing tech economy in China. This stirred in me a greater excitement for the entrepreneurship spirit within the liberal arts community.
I was extremely humbled to offer my Fung Fellowship experience as a way to kindle passion within these future social science entrepreneurs. With Lingnan’s proximity to the Greater Bay Area of China, a booming area of startup accelerators and business parks in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, I am very excited to see the involvement of the Asia Pacific liberal arts student community with local innovators. Their future tech outbreak will be an eye-opening one that Fung Fellows are excited to witness and perhaps join in the near future.
Justin:
I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Taiwan for one week in January for vacation. Since I was already planning to visit, I reached out to Professor Yeh, asking to meet with him in Taiwan and discuss prospective collaborations with Fung Fellows.
To my surprise, he was overwhelmingly welcoming when I arrived. He took the time on a Saturday to invite me to lunch and connect me with a startup working with artificial intelligence that could potentially monitor biometrics for older patients.
As a first generation born in the US, I often feel a disconnect from my Taiwanese heritage. Therefore, learning about new technologies in Taiwan and the work culture there was both enlightening and satisfying. As Taiwan’s universities and the government drive innovation and entrepreneurship, Taiwan is gaining traction to become the Silicon Valley of Asia.
I also had the chance to connect with Congressman Jason Hsu, a strong advocate for innovation, technology, and environmental sustainability. In our discussion, we dived right into ways Fung Fellows could interact with his office, working with both policy and public health. Currently, we are in an ongoing conversation about a future collaboration.
In all of our encounters, exciting opportunities await us. The idea of working in the Asia Pacific area interests us now more than ever, thanks to the Fung Fellowship’s connections and valuable lessons. From welcoming hospitality to directing passion for entrepreneurship and innovation, it is clear that we could gain a lot of perspectives and unique experience from exploring the space abroad. We will be looking forward to the next time we return to Asia!
Yoyo Ko is a junior at the University of California, Berkeley, studying Environmental Economics and Policy. Connect with Yoyo
Justin Lu is a junior at the University of California, Berkeley, studying Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering / Computer Science. Connect with Justin
