Inventions

A team of materials researchers from India, Thailand, Malaysia, China and UK has successfully produced a fibre reinforced polymer composite material using natural fibres from the coconut stalk.

Malaysian and UK medical device and composite materials experts have partnered up to research into using natural fibres for prosthetic limb technology to lower the cost of the prosthesis

199 Gold, 188 Silver and 56 Bronze were awarded

The theme of MTE 2022 is "Embracing the New Norm and Moving to New Frontiers," and this prestigious event is expected to attract over 10,000 online visitors from all over the world via its virtual exhibition platform.

Scientists demonstrate an optical trapping technique using nanotextured black silicon that can efficiently trap polymer chains. By adjusting the laser intensity, these “optical tweezers” can control the florescence color emitted through a local concentration of a perylene-modified polymer solution. From a low intensity blue to high intensity orange, this reversible and fully remote technology can almost reach the entire RGB spectrum.

A surprising tree-inspired discovery is helping scientists design surfaces that encourage different liquids to move in varying directions.

Abdus Suttar Khan (c. 1941 – 31 January 2008) was a Bangladeshi engineer who spent a significant part of his career conducting aerospace research with NASA, United Technology and Alstom

Inspired by the ‘Game of Life’ SUTD researchers are applying cellular automation to efficiently model phase change materials with multiple optical phases for next-generation photonics devices.

ITEX 2021 is back with a line-up of innovative inventions as the region’s top inventors vie for investor attention to commercialise their products

A new saliva-based COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) technology co-developed by the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre and the National University of Singapore shows promise in early clinical testing, outperforming existing ARTs and delivering results in minutes, with nearly comparable sensitivity to the gold standard Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test.

Creating a broader and more dynamic marketplace for Inventions and Innovations

Giants in History: Indian organic chemist Asima Chatterjee (1917 to 2006) studied the medicinal properties of plant products, especially compounds known as vinca alkaloids.

Giants in History: A Japanese surgeon, Tetsuzo Akutsu (20 August 1922 – 9 August 2007) built the first artificial heart capable of keeping an animal alive.

Giants in History: Maqsudul Alam (14 December 1954 – 20 December 2014) was a biologist from Bangladesh who is renowned for his research on genome sequencing.

Set the stage for a path to recovery through innovations

Giants in History: Fe Villanueva del Mundo (27 November 1911 – 6 August 2011) was a Filipina paediatrician who founded the Philippines’ first paediatric hospital. She graduated top of her class at the University of the Philippines, and in 1936 became the first female student to attend Harvard Medical School.

EdUHK audiology experts have found improved ways to test the hearing of the young and elderly through technological innovation.

Giants in History: Tsai-Fan Yu (1911 – 2 March 2007) was a Chinese-American physician and researcher who was the first female full professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Giants in History: Wu Lien-teh (10 March 1879 – 21 January 1960) was a Malaysian-born doctor who invented a mask that effectively suppressed disease transmission.

Novel design of brain chip implant allows for measuring neuronal activity while simultaneously delivering drugs to the implant site

Giants in History: Rajeshwari Chatterjee (24 January 1922 – 3 September 2010) was the first female engineer from Karnataka in India. Chatterjee earned a Master’s degree and doctoral degree from the University of Michigan on a scholarship awarded by the Delhi government

The Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI) of Lingnan University (LU) in Hong Kong has developed the CREW Wheelchair Control System which intelligently predicts a carer’s intentions so as to better control a wheelchair, improving the safety of both wheelchair users and carers. The research team recently won the Gold award at the international MUSE Design Awards, and has already filed patent applications in Hong Kong and Mainland for this ground-breaking system.

As part of its aim to improve business and government agency efficiencies through the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), a research and development institute of the Department of Science and Technology, has signed a 3-year partnership with Bizooku Philippines on 27 August 2021.

Researchers at the National Dental Research Institute Singapore (NDRIS) have developed a novel device that aims to limit the spread of aerosols generated during dental procedures, thereby lowering the risk of COVID-19 crosscontamination in the dental setting.

Inspired by a kind of tree leaf, scientists at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) discovered that the spreading direction of different liquids deposited on the same surface can be steered, solving a challenge that has remained for over two centuries. This breakthrough could ignite a new wave of using 3D surface structures for intelligent liquid manipulation with profound implications for various scientific and industrial applications, such as fluidics design and heat transfer enhancement.

Similar to a magnet that always has both south and north poles, a kind of special quasiparticles in condensed matter called “Weyl Fermions” always appear in pairs with opposite chirality. There had been no experimental report that unpaired Weyl points exist in condensed matter until recently, a City University of Hong Kong (CityU) physicist observed the first unpaired singular Weyl magnetic monopole in a specific kind of single crystalline solid.

Magnetic patterns in meteorites, Treating mitochondrial diseases, underwater sensors and a broad COVID-19 vaccine in the September Editor's Choice. Plus, what's it like to communicate vaccine research in a pandemic and Asia Research News 2022.

Scientists in Korea make hand-drawn and flexible pressure sensors that can control a phone from underwater.

A tiny device incorporates a compound made from starch and baking soda to harvest energy from movement.

The Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies (APIAS) of Lingnan University (LU) in Hong Kong recently organised a STEM-design competition for secondary school students to develop gerontechnology products tailor-made for rural elders to improve their quality of life. Pui Shing Catholic Secondary School students’ “smart shopping cart”, equipped with an infrared-based, automatic motion-tracking system that helps seniors transport a large amount of goods with less effort, won the Overall Championship Award and the Age-friendly Innovation Award.