Invention

Rather than simply recounting history as a linear narrative through lectures or displays, this experience lets players immerse themselves in a more nuanced, simulated past.

New technology coming out of Ateneo de Manila University is helping reveal the technology of the Philippines' deep past.

Lingnan University has achieved spectacular results at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva with all 13 of the inventions it entered winning awards. This remarkable success includes one Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury, five Gold Medals, three Silver Medals and four Bronze Medals. One of the projects, “FlexiBot: Make Every Parking Spot a Charging Spot”, also received an additional award, "Thailand Award for the Best International Invention and Innovation" issued by the National Research Council of Thailand, winning a total of 14 awards. The number of projects entered and awards received have more than doubled since last year, setting a new record for Lingnan, and confirming the University’s excellence in groundbreaking interdisciplinary research.

To promote equality in education and allow aspiring creators to learn about film production without physical equipment, a team from the Department of Digital Arts and Creative Industries at Lingnan University has spent two years developing CineSim, the world’s first cinematography simulation education software. CineSim enables hands-on filmmaking skills to be learnt easily using computer simulation and eliminating the need for professional studios and camera equipment. The project was supported by a subsidy of approximately HKD $800,000 from the University Grants Council (UGC), and is now freely available to all Lingnan staff and students. The team will market the software to secondary schools and the film production industry to encourage Hong Kong’s creative talents. In mid-June, the full version of CineSim was officially launched on Steam, one of the world’s largest digital game distribution platforms for PC gaming, a significant move into the international market.

These dynamically adjustable water-based lenses have many potential future uses, from classrooms and research labs to cameras and wearable gadgets.

Lingnan University has achieved a historic milestone at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, winning a record-breaking number of five awards. A total of six groundbreaking inventions from Lingnan were showcased at the exhibition, earning one Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury―the first time the University has achieved this honour―along with two Silver Medals and two Bronze Medals, making the number of Lingnan University's participating and winning projects a record high.

Lingnan University held its inaugural Technology Transfer Forum today, 28 February, at the Qianhai International Talent Hub in Shenzhen. Supported by the Innovation and Technology Fund of the Innovation and Technology Commission, the forum focused on “Building a Smart Future for Sustainability”. It brought together over 160 government officials, leading scholars, and industry pioneers from Hong Kong and Mainland China to explore the latest research and practical applications in the four cutting-edge technological areas of New Energy, New Material, New Data, and New Humanity.

This pyroclastic material—usually considered as waste—is rich in iron, enabling it to efficiently block X-rays and gamma rays.

Ateneo researchers are looking to turn milkfish skin, a common waste byproduct of the Philippine fishing industry, into an invaluable medical resource.

The mini air purifier PureAura, designed and developed by Lingnan University's Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI), has received the 2024 Good Design Award Best 100, regarded as the Oscars of Design in the East, and one the most influential design awards in the world alongside the iF Design Award, Red Dot Design Award, and IDEA Design Award. With its breakthrough design concept and practicality, PureAura has achieved a Grand Slam of prestigious design awards, and become the only innovative entry to win the highest honour from all four design awards at the same time.

A team of eight postgraduates led by Prof Dong Chengzu, Assistant Professor of Teaching of the Division of Artificial Intelligence, School of Data Science at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, won second prize in the zkWASM Hackathon held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 8 to 10 November 2024.

With the global rise in electric vehicles’ popularity, the demand for lithium-ion batteries has surged, leading to a considerable increase in discarded batteries. The issue of how to efficiently use “retired” batteries has become urgent, and to address this Prof Tang Xiaopeng, Assistant Professor of the Science Unit at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, recently published a groundbreaking research paper titled "Lifespan-based Battery Classification towards Second-life Utilisation", which won the Best Paper Award at the prestigious 2024 IEEE 25th China Conference on System Simulation Technology and its Application (CCSSTA). It was one of only four papers out of 278 submissions to receive recognition.

The device could be used in classrooms as a learning tool, and may even pave the way for more cost-effective consumer product monitoring.

An innovative project titled "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Navigation, Control, and Communication Integration Technology and Application" (the project) and led by Prof Yuan Weijie, Assistant Professor (Presidential Early Career Scholar) of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies of Lingnan University has recently received the prestigious Platinum Award for Satellite Navigation and Positioning Innovation Application in 2024 from the GNSS and LBS Association of China. This great accolade recognises Prof Yuan’s valuable contribution to advancing technological innovation in China's satellite navigation and positioning service industry. By integrating communication, navigation, and control systems, the project’s comprehensive solution augments the efficiency and precision of UAV technology in the agriculture sector, and addresses critical technical challenges faced by UAVs in smart agriculture.

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used daily in electronic appliances, and with the growing popularity of electric vehicles globally, battery safety has become a mounting concern. The development of battery monitoring and fault diagnosis technologies is therefore crucial. Prof Tang Xiaopeng, Assistant Professor of the Science Unit at Lingnan University, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, and Tongji University, has proposed a small-sample-learning-based, deep learning model to accurately predict the battery electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), making it a low-cost, very efficient and highly accurate battery assessment method. The co-authored paper "Online multi-scenario impedance spectra generation for batteries based on small-sample learning" was recently published in the prestigious international academic journal "Cell Reports Physical Science".

Researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) debuted four projects at the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival (SVIIF) 2024, focusing on healthcare, sustainability, clean energy, and biomedical research. The CityUHK teams achieved outstanding results, winning five awards, including one Semi-Grand Prix and four Gold Medals.

Lingnan University is proud to announce the appointment of illustrious physicist and Nobel laureate, Prof Samuel C.C. Ting, as Honorary Director of the Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Study (LUIAS). Prof Ting was given an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Science, honoris causa) by Lingnan University and visited the campus to host the University Assembly last year, where he lectured on his ongoing space experiments, inspiring the faculty and students alike with his dedication to scientific inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge.

Prof Sam Kwong Tak-wu, Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research) and Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence of Lingnan University, co-authored the research paper that has received the Best Paper, Chester W. Sall Memorial Awards 2024 from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. This honour was published in their monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal “IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics”. Only three Best Paper Awards are given each year, and the competition is extremely fierce.

A research team led by Lingnan University's School of Interdisciplinary Studies Assistant Professor Xiao Hang recently devised a “crystal language” that enables artificial intelligence (AI) to create new materials with desired properties (Figure 1). This groundbreaking discovery holds the potential for creating the next revolutionary semiconductor material that makes solar energy abundant and affordable, and opens possibilities for the development of novel superconductors that effortlessly transport clean electricity with zero losses. The findings of this breakthrough research have been published in the prestigious academic journal Nature Communications, which is also the first time Lingnan University scholar published a lead-author paper on the esteemed Nature series.

A significant breakthrough in developing a passive radiative cooling (PRC) material has been announced by researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The findings have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal Science titled “Hierarchically structured passive radiative cooling ceramic with high solar reflectivity.”

A pivotal breakthrough in battery technology that has profound implications for our energy future has been achieved by a joint-research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU).

A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has achieved a groundbreaking advancement in nanomaterials by successfully developing a highly efficient electrocatalyst which can enhance the generation of hydrogen significantly through electrochemical water splitting.

In this collaborative project between Newcastle University and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), the team aimed to create a sustainable, cost-effective lower limb prosthetic socket (LLPS) using natural fiber-reinforced composites. The objectives included designing a green LLPS, assessing its environmental impact, and engaging stakeholders. PALF was selected as a sustainable reinforcement and incorporated into the composite. The design was guided by a static-friction (‘stiction’) load-transfer framework, developed previously by Goh and co-workers, which explains how force is transferred from the polymer to the fibres. The project has also inspired worldwide interest in sustainable LLPS development through a press release, receiving inquiries from students at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and a group of 7th graders in the USA.

SLINTEC, Monash University Malaysia, and Newcastle University UK and Singapore teamed up for Poseidon: a patented portable water filtration device attachable to a bottle, offering clean drinking water for those lacking access.

A joint research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and collaborators recently developed a stable artificial photocatalytic system that is more efficient than natural photosynthesis. The new system mimics a natural chloroplast to convert carbon dioxide in water into methane, a valuable fuel, very efficiently using light. This is a promising discovery, which could contribute to the goal of carbon neutrality.

Doctors at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital have developed lightweight and easy-to-use Parkinson's gloves that can automatically reduce tremors, allowing patients to enjoy social life and reducing side effects from medication and risk from brain surgery.

Cancer metastasis is a major cause of cancer-related death. A research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently identified a protein that triggers the migration of liver and pancreatic cancer cells and metastasis, and is correlated with shortening the survival time of patients. The research findings were verified by in vitro and in vivo models, supported with clinical data, and are expected to provide a new potential target for cancer therapy.

Existing colour systems, such as RGB and CYMK, are all text-based and require a large range of values to represent different colours, making them difficult to compute and time-consuming to convert. Recently, researchers from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) made a breakthrough by inventing an innovative colour system, called “C235”, based on prime numbers, enabling efficient encoding and effective colour compression. It can unify existing colour systems and has the potential to be applied in various applications, like designing an energy-saving LCD system and colourizing DNA codons.

Lingnan University (LU) in Hong Kong has been putting great emphasis on research and knowledge transfer for social good. Two distinguished LU scholars’ knowledge transfer project “Personalised vocabulary learning system based on artificial intelligence techniques” , an integration of AI techniques and education, was recently awarded the Gold Medal and International Special Award at the 7th International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN) 2022, organised by the Toronto International Society of Innovation & Advanced Skills (TISIAS).

A research team co-led by materials scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has recently discovered a new mechanism to increase the strength and ductility of a high-entropy alloy, two properties which normally vary inversely with each other. The findings provide important insights for the future design of strong yet ductile high-entropy alloys and high-entropy ceramics.