FLASS Wins seven awards at Silicon Valley International Invention Festival 2025
The four Gold Medals and three Silver Medals won by EdUHK at the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival 2025. Among these, three Gold and two Silver were awarded to FLASS scholars.
FLASS inventors won seven awards, including two Special Prizes – the WIPO National Award for Inventors and the Prize of the China Association of Inventions, along with three Gold Medals and two Silver Medal, at the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival (SVIIF) held in California, United States from 8 to 10 August.
The project titled “Novel Biomaterials Used for Dendritic Cell Vaccine for Cancer Immunotherapy” led by Professor Ken Yung Kin-lam, Chair Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at the Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES), received the WIPO National Award for Inventors. Another winning project “Nanopore Sensing for Rapid Screening of Epigenetic Disruptors in Food, Healthcare Products, Consumer Goods and Environmental Matrices” led by Professor Rudolf Wu Shiu-sun, Advisor (Environmental Science) at SES, received the Prize of the China Association of Inventions. Both projects also earned individual Gold Medals.
Professor Ken Yung’s project “Novel Biomaterials Used for Dendritic Cell Vaccine for Cancer Immunotherapy” wins the WIPO National Award for Inventors and a Gold Medal.
Professor Rudolf Wu’s project “Nanopore Sensing for Rapid Screening of Epigenetic Disruptors in Food, Healthcare Products, Consumer Goods and Environmental Matrices” wins the Prize of the China Association of Inventions and a Gold Medal.
A further Gold Medal was awarded to Professor Philip Yu Leung-ho of the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology (MIT) for his invention “Automatic Multi-modal Deep Learning Analysis System”. Dr Fu Hong, Associate Professor at MIT, received a Silver Medal with her invention “Dynamic SyncAnUp: Eye-Body Coordination Capture for Elite Sports Performance”. “YoChatGPT!: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative AI”, an invention by Dr Fridolin Ting Sze-thou, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology, also received a Silver Medal. In addition to these seven awards for FLASS scholars, EdUHK received one more Gold Medal and one Silver Medals at the festival.
Professor Philip Yu’s project “Automatic Multi-modal Deep Learning Analysis System” wins a Gold Medal.
Dr Fu Hong’s project “Dynamic SyncAnUp: Eye-Body Coordination Capture for Elite Sports Performance” wins a Silver Medal.
Dr Fridolin Ting Sze-thou’s project “YoChatGPT!: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative AI” wins a Silver Medal.
EdUHK Vice President (Research and Development) Professor Chetwyn Chan Che-hin, congratulated the research teams, saying: “These accolades reflect the University’s creativity and dedication, and highlight our unwavering commitment to fostering a vibrant culture of innovation and collaboration. We are immensely proud of this achievement and remain committed to advancing the future of innovation and knowledge transfer.”
During the exposition, the University’s Knowledge Transfer Sub-office presented EdUHK’s latest research achievements to Mr Cheung Doi-ching, Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, covering areas such as Artificial Intelligence, biomaterials, neuroscience, sports sciences and educational technologies. The EdUHK delegation also connected with exhibitors from across the globe and technology companies from Silicon Valley.
SVIIF, recognised as the largest innovation exposition in the United States, provides inventors worldwide with a unique platform to showcase their work and explore new opportunities for marketing their ideas and products. This year’s event attracted 400 inventors from more than 25 countries and regions, with 250 projects highlighting its global significance.
List of FLASS awarded projects:
| Project name | Principal Investigator | Abstract | Awards |
| Novel Biomaterials Used for Dendritic Cell Vaccine for Cancer Immunotherapy | Professor Ken Yung Kin-lam, Chair Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at Department of Science and Environmental Studies |
Traditional cancer treatments often rely on cytotoxic agents. The invention enhances dendritic cell maturation using silica nanomatrices, offering a safe & biocompatible approach to improve treatment efficiency, effectiveness and survival rates. |
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| Nanopore Sensing for Rapid Screening of Epigenetic Disruptors in Food, Healthcare Products, Consumer Goods and Environmental Matrices | Professor Rudolf Wu Shiu-sun, Advisor (Environmental Science) at Department of Science and Environmental Studies | A cost-effective technique was developed for rapid quantification of epigenetic changes associated with expression of genes related to reproduction, development and growth. Based on which, derived a quantitative index representing epigenetic risks posed by all chemicals in the sample. |
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| Automatic Multi-modal Deep Learning Analysis System | Professor Philip Yu Leung-ho, Professor at Department of Mathematics and Information Technology | Reliable datasets are crucial for AI training, but evaluating ground-truth descriptions is error-prone. The invention automates this, offering quality, domain-specific feedback that improves AI model performance, effectiveness and quality control. | Gold Medal |
| Dynamic SyncAnUp: Eye-Body Coordination Capture for Elite Sports Performance | Dr Fu Hong, Associate Professor at Department of Mathematics and Information Technology | A unified system advances computer vision and synthesise contactless 3D joint tracking, AI and gaze clustering to offer personalised visual analysis, optimising athletic skills and training standards across sports. | Silver Medal |
| YoChatGPT!: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative AI |
Dr Fridolin Ting Sze-thou, Senior Lecturer at Department of Mathematics and Information Technology |
YoChatGPT! is a context-aware collaborative virtual platform engaging multiple users with dynamic AI. It revolutionises advisory, business productivity and education through intelligent features, all within a secure environment. | Silver Medal |
Please refer to the full press release for more details.
