National Taichung University of Science and Technology

The National Taichung University of Science and Technology was founded in 1919; it was originally named the National Taichung School of Commerce. After periods of development, upgrades, and systemic reforms, the current National Taichung University of Science and Technology was formed by the merging and renaming of the National Taichung Institute of Technology and National Taichung Nursing College. The university currently consists of six colleges and is a century-old comprehensive university that practices two mottoes: realize innovative service and cultivate multidisciplinary talents. The Department of Commercial Design of the National Taichung University of Science and Technology was established in 1979; it is a department under the College of Design. With Integrated Marketing Communications as the development orientation, the department molds students into design talents who are skilled and morally upright. The department has three ongoing missions: impart professional knowledge and skills related to commercial design; combine theories and practices to meet the trends and integrated design needs of the job market; and focus on the training and cultivation of students’ knowledge, skills, and professional ethics. Accordingly, the Place-making Design Lab is a cross-disciplinary integrated design center established based on the aforementioned purposes. The Lab’s core philosophy comprises cultural exploration, design refinement, and local common good. The Lab is rooted in the local culture, but branches out for in-depth exploration of cultural deposits, the convergence and integration of culture and design, and the transformation of these elements into commercial value. All these measures serve to enhance students’ workplace skills, to enrich students’ aesthetic perceptiveness, to integrate design research and co-creation thinking, and to inject creative energy into the local community.