Taiwan won 21 gold medals, 25 silvers and three bronzes at the World Genius Convention and Education Expo in Tokyo, more than any other nation.
Taiwan submitted 66 works among more than 170 entries from 12 countries, including the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, China and Thailand, Chinese Innovation and Invention Society chairman Wu Chih-yao (吳智堯), who led the Taiwanese delegation, said on Sunday.
A noteworthy winner was Yeh Hsing-chi (葉倖綺), a fourth-grader at Ne-shin Elementary School in Taichung’s Dali District (大里).
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Innovation and Invention Society
Yeh won a gold medal with her “soft hat structure,” invented under the instruction of her grandfather, Yeh Ching-hsiou (葉清秀), who won silver at the iENA Nuremberg International Trade Show 30 years ago.
Yeh Hsing-chi drew inspiration from her younger brother, who often fell and injured himself as he was learning to walk, hoping that a “soft helmet” could protect children from bruises.
Her grandfather researched similar products in Taiwan and abroad, and found that most were inadequately designed and too expensive.
The grandfather and granddaughter pair discovered that soft materials such as polyurethane and ethylene vinyl acetate are light and offer good protection.
Yeh Hsing-chi sewed together the “collision-avoidance” helmet by hand, persisting despite having to start over after making mistakes in her first efforts.
Yeh Ching-hsiou said that the helmet is not only functional, but also educational, as children can paint and decorate it.
Another win for Taiwan came from a team led by National Taiwan University chemical engineering professor Chen Hsien-yeh (陳賢燁).
They won won a gold medal for their multifunctional bone tissue repair device.
Chen said that many older Taiwanese experience joint degeneration, so the team invented a porous scaffold that can repair muscle tissue.
The scaffold, for which they obtained patents in a number of countries, provides a new option for treating cartilage and bone degeneration.
This year’s competitions were held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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