Membrane Biosensor Wins Convergence Innovation Competition in Asia

Team Membrane Biosensor from Yuan Ze University, Taiwan won the Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology’s (IPaT) annual Convergence Innovation Competition (CIC) held for the first time in Taipei, Taiwan, December 7, 2024. 

The winning team members were Jia-Wei Chen, Hsu-Hung Kuo, Ngoc-Ngan Dao, and Ngo-My-Uyen Nguyen. The winning team won $2,000 dollars plus each team member were given ACER laptops and other prizes. The team’s faculty sponsor was Alex Wei, dean of the Industrial Academy at Yuan Ze University.

Their innovative membrane biosensor platform offered a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective solution for disease detection, revolutionizing diagnostic systems, and enabling early intervention for improved patient outcomes and control the pandemic.

CIC is a competition recognizing student innovation and entrepreneurship responding to today’s global challenges and opportunities. Founded in 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia, CIC is organized by IPaT at the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

This year, the competition expanded globally to Asia to forge new partnerships and foster more collaborations with universities across the Asian continent. IPaT’s CIC Asia Faculty Fellows helped cultivate team projects and the students so they could showcase their innovative ideas in this competition.

“The CIC students, the competition finale, and the forum all far exceeded my expectations,” said IPaT executive director Michael Best. “All four of the student finalist projects represented the very best in people-centered technologies responding to global challenges.”

CIC Asia is distinct in how it brings teams from multiple countries together to interact and network. Most innovation competitions are single university or country.

The three remaining finalist teams each received $1,000 dollars in prize money. The CIC Asia finalist team projects and team members are shown below:

• BurnUp was a project from the students at Fulbright University Vietnam. Their project aimed to create a product that protects motorbikes' engines from water penetrating through the exhaust pipe during heavy rain and small floods. 
  
  Team members included: Võ Ngọc Đan Khuê, Trần Thanh Tùng, Trương Công Gia Hiếu, Phan Xuân Quang, Trần Nam Anh. The team’s faculty sponsor was Lan Phan, head of the center, Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Fulbright University Vietnam.
   
• GLU@U is a project from a student team at Universiti Putra Malaysia. It is a smart management system for people with abnormal sugar metabolism (i.e. diabetes). It integrates three modules: smart hardware, intelligent data management analysis + decision-making system, and medical passport care management. It uses technologies such as rtCGM, AI, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things to integrate the collection and analysis of relevant user data, the hospital-side SaaS system, and the personal health management app to form a closed loop of digital health monitoring and management inside and outside the hospital. The medical care operation and service system built by GLU@U, as well as the Internet cloud computing platform support system, constitute the full-scene, multi-dimensional operation of GLU@U's "artificial intelligence + chronic disease" intelligent monitoring and digital medical and health management. 
  
  Team members included: Jiao Fenglei, Zhang Hua, Jiang Anqi. The team’s faculty sponsor was Iskandar Ishak, associate professor of Computer Science at Universiti Putra Malaysia.
   
• Guardian Crossing is a project from a student team at Universiti Tenaga Nasional. Guardian Crossing is a safety device that leverages deep learning to enhance indicators aimed in reducing accident risk for pedestrians with limited ability when crossing the road.
  
  Team members included: Nur Zafirah binti Mohd Zaini, Wan Qistina binti Wan Izahan Zameree, Syabil Fikri bin Sabri,Muhammad Danial bin Noor Shamsudin. The team’s faculty sponsor was Nur Laila Ab Ghani, lecturer of infomatics at Universiti Tenaga Nasional.

Global Technology Strategy and Workforce Development Forum

The CIC event took place alongside the Global Technology Strategy and Workforce Development Forum which was also organized by IPaT. The forum featured panel discussions on innovation and entrepreneurship, talent development, artificial intelligence (AI), and sustainable business practices. Close to 200 leaders from industry, academia, civil society, and government across Asia attended the forum and witnessed the CIC students presentations and award ceremony.

Prominent figures from Taiwan’s industry, government, academia, and research sectors participating in the forum included Liu Cheng, vice president of Tunghai University; Chang Ruey-Shiong, former president of National Taipei University of Business; Cai Qiyan, CIO of Taiwan Mobile; Albert Weng, Chairman and CEO Assistant of Qisda Corporation; Nicole Chan, chairwoman of the Artificial Intelligence Foundation; and Kai Hua, Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft Taiwan.

The event was also co-hosted by the Lee Kuan Yew Technology Development Foundation, and the Southeast Asia Impact Alliance according to Shelton Chan, managing director for international development, Asia region, with the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The Forum was mainly three panels, one on AI and sustainability, one on workforce development, and one on innovation and entrepreneurship. Panelists were a diverse group of university leaders, industry leaders, policy innovators, and included Georgia Tech faculty and alumni.

“CIC Asia and the Global Technology Strategy and Workforce Development Forum event illustrate ways that IPaT continues to grow Georgia Tech’s global influence,” said Best. “The audience was made up of high-level movers and shakers in the Asian technology ecosystem and I think we really impressed them.”

Pictures of CIC Asia and the Forum can be viewed here.

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