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HONG KONG, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) became champion in the Engineering Medical Innovation Global Competition, the world's first medical innovation challenge, with an award presentation ceremony held here Saturday.
Launched by CUHK, the competition aimed to promote the research and development of medical engineering and draw more talents to the field. University students from around the world were invited to design and develop clinically-driven and patient-centered technology innovations for the future of medicine and healthcare.
Out of the 40 submissions, 27 finalist teams from Canada, Britain, the United States, Switzerland, the Chinese Mainland, Singapore, South Korea, China's Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and China's Hong Kong were shortlisted and gathered at CUHK for the final contest from Aug. 18 to 19.
Prof. Joseph Sung, vice-chancellor and president of CUHK, said that the application of innovation technology in medical services has become a global trend. The launching of the competition helped to gather young talents from around the world and inspires innovative ideas on medical technologies for the sake of patients.
Participants of the competition must compete as part of a team and interdisciplinary teams with members from various engineering, science and other disciplines are encouraged. The scope of competition includes health screening and diagnostic devices, medical monitoring devices, non-implantable therapeutic devices and implantable therapeutic devices.
Submissions are screened by an international judging panel and there are six evaluation criteria, including clinical need, novelty, technical merit, demonstration of technical feasibility, clinical feasibility and translational readiness, and IP potential and business model.
The Gold Award went to a team formed by students from CUHK Mechanical and Automated Engineering and Surgery for their project on "Surgical Robotic System for Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection".
National University of Singapore's "EsoGlove: A Soft and Wearable Robotic Glove for Assistance and Rehabilitation of Hand-Impaired Patients" and ETH Zurich's "Assistive System for Intravitreal Therapy" won Silver Awards.
