A delegation from Hong Kong has won a record number of prizes and gold medals at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions 2023, including two Grand Awards, eight Special Awards and about 30 Gold Medals with Congratulations of Jury.

A new lens to slow the progression of myopia in children developed by Polytechnic University (PolyU) won two awards.

“It’s amazing because I think the judges realised the impact and they appreciate how we can make the research go into our daily lives,” said Professor Benny Cheung, who led the research team behind the lens.

Cheung told reporters that the glasses cost around HK$3,000-HK$4,000 and to make them cheaper through mass production, manufacturing facilities may need to be established in another part of the Greater Bay Area.

A surveillance camera developed by PolyU also won two awards. It was used in China’s first Mars exploration mission in 2021, to monitor the landing status and deployment of the Mars rover.

Professor KL Yung, who led the research team involved, said the technology has potential applications in civilian settings as well.

“One of them includes a surgery robot we developed in 2016. The environment inside the human body is very harsh because of its humidity. So we apply the technology developed for the harsh environment in space to put it inside human beings in order to have much clearer pictures during surgery,” he told reporters.

“The other thing we developed is a robot for the [Water Supplies Department] to go through inside of pipes in order to inspect and repair the pipes.”