Written by: Chen Hong-Jun, Student of the Academy
Alumnus Zhang Shiting, who graduated from the Department of Education at our university, is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Impact Hub Taipei. He is responsible for international partnership development and research on social innovation trends. The coworking space provided by Impact Hub Taipei for social innovators seems to share a similar spirit with the College of Holistic Education. Through various incubation and acceleration programs, it nurtures young people with aspirations. This aligns well with the vision of the Honors College, which is to cultivate talents who will lead future societal trends. Therefore, on December 6th, during the College Day lecture, I invited him to share with us the topic "Spaces and Communities That Launch Dreams."
At the beginning of his lecture, Chief Operating Officer Zhang posed some thought-provoking questions for us to consider: "What is the definition of success?" "What is your ideal life?" "What is the meaning of human existence?" After pausing for a moment, he shared that there is no standard answer to these questions, but he encouraged everyone to keep these questions in their hearts and take time to reflect on them. Perhaps these questions have lingered in everyone's mind at some point, but I believe that through the process of exploration and trial and error, the answers in each person's heart will become clearer, even evolving into a guiding light throughout their lives.
"Why did you study at NTNU but not become a teacher?" Alumni Zhang Shiting confessed that this is the question he is most frequently asked. He once worked in human resources for a top 100 multinational corporation, and he would always casually respond, "Human resources is also part of education; it's just that the target audience is employees." However, Zhang, the COO, believes that his journey has always been one of exploration and trial and error. He once thought that working for a top multinational corporation was the success he had always dreamed of, but little did he know that he would later embark on the irreversible path of entrepreneurship and bring Impact Hub to Taiwan.
Finally, COO Zhang Shiting shared how Impact Hub Taipei practices the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through services such as "Revitalizing Old Buildings and Space Operations," "Social Innovation Acceleration and Incubation," "SDGs Innovation Education and Curating," and "Global Community Networks and Programs." Throughout the process, I saw how the realization of a project comes from the accumulation of small steps. The success of entrepreneurship is also built on a very challenging path, but strong partnerships will always drive you forward. Before concluding the lecture, he emphasized the importance of partnerships, saying, "One can go fast alone, but a group can go far together."
