Kaohsiung Medical University recently held its 2026 Leadership Retreat, bringing together senior administrators from across the University to reflect on KMU’s future and identify priorities for its next stage of development.
Chairman Eric K. Chen encouraged the leadership team to think ahead, work collaboratively, and amplify KMU’s collective impact. While continuing to build on its strengths in medical education, research, and healthcare, KMU must also expand its international presence and bring its values and expertise to a wider global community.
Inspired by Going Global: The Future of Taiwanese Enterprises by former Google Taiwan Managing Director Lee-Feng Chien, President Ming-Lung Yu invited participants to consider four key questions: Why must we change? Where should KMU position itself? What should we do next? And what shared vision should we take forward?
With declining birth rates, intensifying global competition for talent, and the rapid transformation of AI and biomedical industries, universities are facing a fundamentally different landscape. President Yu emphasized that KMU must look beyond Kaohsiung and Taiwan, and position itself within Asia and the world.
Moving forward, KMU will focus on four key areas — Talent, Language, AI, and Collaboration — to further internationalize its education, research, and biomedical ecosystem and create more opportunities to connect KMU with the world.
The retreat also looked further ahead, outlining a 30-year vision for KMU that encompasses strategic workforce planning, frontier research and global engagement, campus renewal and efficient management, as well as closer integration of resources across the University and its healthcare system.
Three distinguished speakers also shared insights on some of the forces reshaping higher education and society. Chair Professor Anne Wu of National Chengchi University discussed practical approaches to ESG governance and how data-driven management tools can translate sustainability into organizational value. Distinguished Research Fellow Yen-Nun Huang of Academia Sinica addressed AI risk governance, emphasizing that while AI can enhance both healthcare and education, it should never replace human responsibility in life-critical decisions or the learning process itself. Colley Hwang, Founder and Chairman of DIGITIMES, examined global AI-driven industry transformation and Taiwan’s opportunities to turn its strengths in technology, talent, and digital capabilities into new services and globally competitive models.
More than a discussion of emerging trends, the retreat was an opportunity to build a shared understanding of where KMU wants to go — and how we will get there together.
By integrating the strengths of the University and its healthcare system, and by advancing talent development, research, innovation, and international collaboration, KMU is preparing not only for the challenges of today, but for the decades ahead.
Lead Taiwan. Impact the World.
▲Kaohsiung Medical University holds its 2026 Leadership Retreat.
▲KMU Chairman Eric K. Chen (right) and President Ming-Lung Yu (left) present a commemorative gift to Chair Professor Anne Wu of National Chengchi University.
▲Distinguished Research Fellow Yen-Nun Huang of Academia Sinica shares insights on AI risk governance.
▲DIGITIMES Founder and Chairman Colley Hwang discusses global AI-driven industry transformation and Taiwan’s opportunities in the age of artificial intelligence.
▲KMU senior administrators and distinguished speakers pose for a group photo at the 2026 Leadership Retreat.