The results of the "2025 5th Sustainable Living Lab Award" were announced on 6/14 (Saturday), an award hosted by the CTCI Foundation and the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy. National Formosa University's "Shanghu Cloud" project entered two teams in the competition, winning 2 Honorable Mentions and 1 "Most Popular Award," demonstrating strong application capabilities combining AI technology with agricultural innovation and craft revitalization, and reflecting NFU's active achievements in promoting local sustainability initiatives.
The "Sustainable Living Lab Award" uses "real-life settings" as its testing ground, encouraging teams of college and university students to translate knowledge into action and propose solutions to major issues such as climate change, the circular economy, and net-zero transformation. The competition attracted 120 teams from 61 schools across 14 countries. After a two-stage evaluation process consisting of preliminary review and final review, proposals were comprehensively assessed based on originality, feasibility, impact, and implementation planning.
NFU's "Shanghu Cloud" project, guided by Lin Cheng-Min, Executive Director of the Office of Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility, formed two teams — the "Shanghu Cloud Student Team" and "Team Goblins United" — to enter the competition. Both teams advanced to the finalist list, demonstrating a high level of practical execution and local connection, while concretely responding to international sustainability issues.
The Shanghu Cloud Student Team was formed through cross-disciplinary collaboration between students from NFU's Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering and Department of Multimedia Design. Their proposal, "Shanghu Cloud Helps Advance Yunlin's Agricultural Development," received an Honorable Mention, and also won the "Most Popular Award" with the highest number of votes in peer evaluation among the 20 finalist teams.
The Shanghu Cloud Student Team developed the open-source "Shanghu Cloud Production-Sales Platform," helping local small-scale farmers strengthen their sustainable competitiveness. The platform includes modules for both production and sales, and has established a physical distribution channel at a local restaurant, combining smart agriculture with an O2O (online-to-offline) marketing model to promote direct interaction between farmers and consumers. Yu Chia-Hao, captain of the Shanghu Cloud Student Team, stated that through this competition, the team was able to observe other schools' local innovation and sustainable product planning, drawing lessons from their experiences and motivating themselves to continue improving the Shanghu Cloud platform.
NFU's other Honorable Mention-winning team, "Team Goblins United," was formed by students from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, the Department of Electronic Engineering, and the Department of Information Management. Under the theme "Sustainable Craft AI-Empowered Lab," the team established an agricultural waste recycling station in Zimao Community, Yuanchang Township, Yunlin County, recycling corn husks and combining them with voice-activated LED technology to develop a small night light product featuring AI voice control functionality. The team also assisted craft artisans in setting up at the Aesthetics Hall of Dounan's Tarimu Cultural Park, promoting the commercialization of sustainable local materials and infusing traditional craftsmanship with digital innovation and sustainable value.
Fan Chih-Yun, captain of Team Goblins United, spoke especially about the growth she experienced through the competition's training in planning and presentation, sharing, "Through this large-scale competition, we gained tremendous growth in event planning and execution, as well as in oral presentation and communication skills."
NFU President Chang Hsin-Liang stated that NFU has integrated social responsibility practice courses into its curriculum from the moment students enroll, cultivating T-shaped talent who combine professional skills with social awareness. The Shanghu Cloud team is also core led by first- and second-year students, and this competition reflects not only NFU's successful integration of learning and application, but also demonstrates young students' high level of proactive engagement with sustainability issues.
Article and photos provided by: Office of Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility
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| NFU's Shanghu Cloud team drives agricultural transformation through AI and sustainable innovation, earning recognition with the "Sustainable Living Lab Award." | |