By Stephanie Chao, the Eye on Taiwan staff writer

Taiwan has invested NT$60 million in opening a supply chain hub that teams up with a large number of local professional organizations and schools in a collaboration to upgrade functional fashion industry on the island.

The opening of the “Functional Fashion-Based Supply Chain Hub at Oriental Institute of Technology in New Taipei City on Thursday by the Education Ministry and Taiwan Textile Research Institute and Oriental Institute of Technology is a clear indication of the government-industry attempt to minimize the gap between teaching knowhows and practical skills, education ministry officials said.

The hub will draw four schools, eight industrial associations, and 51 textile companies, including ECLAT and Far Eastern New Century Corporation, to teach and work together, they said, adding this project would help talented students to easily fit in with the industrial sector once they graduate.

The 749 square-metered hub with NT$50 million in subsidy from the Education Ministry, will have three supply chains that boast 52 textile equipments, producing digital textile printing, knitwear, and functional clothing, the officials said.

Among the machinery includes a seamless underwear machine and transfer hosiery machine, both donated by Wang Lai-cheng, manager of Quanzhou Aotu Precision Machine Co., Ltd., the Oriental Institute’s alumnus.

Stephanie Wen, a well-known figure in Taiwan’s fashion industry, award-winning designer Gioia Pan and local modeling agency Eelin Entertainment were among other celebrities and officials to celebrate the opening of the hub.

School and student-produced designs and the results of academic-industry collaboration works were also showcased at the opening event.

The establishment of the hub is expected to help train 30 seed instructors, 80 students from the Oriental Institute of Technology and 60 students from junior/senior high schools and universities each year. It would be a fresh government’s attempt to help retain local talents in the domestic textile industry.