About Professor Yu-Jiu Wang

Yu-Jiu Wang, a former professor of the Department of Electronics Engineering at National Chiao Tung University, is now the chairman and CEO of Tron Future Tech. The key tech of this company is directly related to Professor Wang's research interest in "Radio-Frequency VLSI", which, being more precise, is applied to the Advanced Radar System. Professor Wang has started researching in the field when studying for his doctoral degree. Later seeing the industry getting mature gradually as a professor, and meanwhile seeing the needs of customers in this field. Professor Wang took the opportunity to set up the company and industrialize his research. After nine years of a teaching career, Professor Wang resolutely resigned as a faculty member and devoted himself to establishing Tron Future Tech. "It is another stage of my career," said Professor Wang.

About Tron Future Tech

Wang established “Tron Future Tech”, a new spin-off company from National Chiao Tung University (NCTU). The long term focus of Tron Future Tech Inc. is to create never-existed technologies for the well-being of all humankind based on fundamental researches, which would not be limited by disciplinary boundaries. It has come out swinging with a new AESA radar system using gallium-nitride (GaN) semiconductors. GaN is the latest and best way to deal with heat problems and to improve signal strength. Tron Future Tech started from the production of military radar, and in recent years has also begun to expand into satellite and offshore energy and other fields. Such development has made its products lower in price than the previous military products a well as increased its production. This leads to their advantages in cost while promoting the development and popularization of this technology.

Over Time: About Industrial Development

Professor Wang’s original expertise was IC design, but he thinks that the era of making earnings through IC design has passed. As a result, his company not only develops IC technology but further provides chip products with additional services and systems. Professor Wang believes that it is extremely difficult in the current industrial environment to make profits with merely a single technology. It is hard for both a pure software company and a pure hardware company to make money. Only by integrating the two, providing a complete solution to the customer, a company would have the opportunity to stand out in the market. In terms of profitability, not only can you earn more, but the added value would also increase.

Application of Radar in Offshore Energy

As a new technology’s price is reduced, applications that were previously considered difficult to implement will start to spring up. This phenomenon can also be seen in the advanced radar industry. Tron Future Tech started their business as a military radar manufacture. Because of the maturity of the technology and the reduction of costs, the scope of application has become wider and wider. In recent years, it has been committed to areas such as offshore energy. Professor Wang mentioned that offshore wind power is an emerging industry, but during the operation of wind turbines, migrating birds may be injured or even killed by the blades. Traditional radars can only stop the wind turbine as long as migratory birds appear in its detection range. However, due to the lack of ability to determine the flying height of birds, it often causes unnecessary downtime which leads to waste of costs. The radar developed by Professor Wang's team is different from traditional radars. It can overcome weather factors and increase the detection dimension. Compared with two-dimensional traditional radars, it can accurately determine the flying height of migrating birds. Thus, wind turbine stops only when the bird's flight height enters the operating range of the unit, so that the shutdown conditions of the wind turbine can be controlled more efficiently. Using this technology can increase corporate profits, and it can also contribute to sustainable development and form a win-win situation.

Step Out the Comfort Zone, Live Without Limits

Professor Wang is the very first International Physics Olympiad competitor who returns to Taiwan for teaching. Unlike those who continue to stay in the United States for their career, he gave up the opportunity to stay there and enjoy a comfortable and privileged life. People can't help but wonder what let Professor Wang choose to come back to Taiwan? "Challenge yourself," Professor said that although Taiwan's salary was not as good as that of the United States at the beginning, there are more opportunities in Taiwan to do something interesting. The cost of starting a business is relatively low, and the possible growth rate is relatively large. "If I stayed in the United States when I graduated, and then go to work until now, I will probably be a middle or high-level supervisor. But maybe my career won’t be anything more than this," said Professor Wang, but now Professor Wang is an entrepreneur. With his current achievements and salary, professor Wang is better off returning to Taiwan than staying in the United States.

Preparation for a Startup

"Do you encourage young people to start a business?" This question is a topic of concern to the fresh graduates who are about to enter the workforce. Professor Wang believes that establishing a company is not only a matter of technology development but also of being responsible for customers and employees. If not well prepared, it will affect customers, employees, and eventually affect yourself. If you want to start a business, you can first start with a small-scale business, or you can also consider other career options. You don't have to start a business at the age of 20, you can start a business at 30, at 40, or even at 50. The vast majority of successful entrepreneurs starts their companies between the ages of 35 and 45. Without a doubt,the balance of opportunities, abilities and execution is the key to success.

How to Find Your Interests

Referring to his own experience in the school days, Professor Wang encouraged us: "Take more classes, make projects and  participate in events as much as possible." He believes that interest should not be just a hobby, but to find a specialty that can cooperate in the long run, and discover the parts that can be combined from the courses, the projects, and the extracurricular activities. In addition, he also mentioned that we must never limit ourselves, that is, don’t put all the eggs in one basket. Professor Wang said: "Industrial development has always been changing, and every few years there will be a hot industry. You might think that: Wow, it’s all the rage.  But soon it declines just after your graduation.” If you are yet to find out your future interest, Professor Wang reminds us that it is necessary to have a solid foundation on mandatory courses. Facing a changing world, such basic knowledge would help us adapt to the environment more smoothly. For starting a business, Professor Wang said that he took some business and management classes during his college years, and since that time he had the habit of subscribing to business magazines. This habit has been maintained for decades. Professor Wang believes that reading business magazines can have some impact on ideas, and it is also helpful to understand basic business knowledge and opinions, which will all be a part of life.

Intention and Belief - Social Contributions

Aside from the ability to make stable profit, Professor Wang mentioned that anything that can be sustained for a long time must be helpful to this society. For enterprises will always get orders in things that are helpful to the society. In addition to getting financial remuneration, it can also support entrepreneurs to invest more effort to make our society better. This is a very positive cycle. For the entrepreneur, social contribution is the original intention and the belief that must be maintained.