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A tiny incubator - A giant leap: How Lingnan University is Saving Lives and Making History
The bustling halls of Palexpo in Geneva were alive with the hum of innovation. Among the gleaming prototypes and high-tech displays, one invention stood out – not for its flashy robotics or futuristic AI, but for its quiet, life-saving promise.
The BLOOM Baby Incubator
Every year, 2.4 million newborns die within their first month – many from preventable conditions like hypothermia. Traditional incubators, costing thousands of dollars and requiring stable electricity, are out of reach for the communities that need them most.
But what if lifesaving care could be folded, carried, and powered anywhere? Designed not for hightech hospitals but for the world’s most vulnerable places – remote villages, refugee camps, and disaster zones – this innovation gives fragile newborns a fighting chance.
On 11 April, 2025, For Prof Albert Ko, Director of Lingnan’s ServiceLearning and Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI), the award is more than just validation – it is the culmination of years of heart, hustle, and humanitarian mission.
For Prof Albert Ko, Director of Lingnan’s ServiceLearning and Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI), the award is more than just validation – it is the culmination of years of heart, hustle, and humanitarian mission.
“We didn’t just build an incubator,” Prof Ko said, holding the gleaming medal. “We built hope.”
Lingnan University wasn’t an obvious contender for a global tech award. Better known for liberal arts – and more recently, AI and data science – than engineering, its emphasis has long been critical thinking over circuit boards. Yet its presence at Geneva’s invention expo sent a clear message: innovation knows no boundaries.
And this year, Lingnan didn’t just participate. It dominated.
With five awards – a Gold, two Silvers and two Bronzes – the University made history, proving that humanitarian and data-driven innovations can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s top research giants.
Other Inventions that Stole the Show beside the BLOOM
Silver Medals
• A Multi-time-scale Model for Day-ahead Forecasting of Passenger Travel-time and Destinations Distribution
Led by Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science
• Direct Air Capture Robot (DACR) System Based on Mobile Automatic Cruise Tracking Coupled with Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation and Waste Heat Recovery System
Led by Prof Li Jia,Associate Professor of School of Interdisciplinary Studies
Bronze Medals
• Decentralised Authentication of Anti-Counterfeiting QR Codes Using Vision Transformer-Based Federated Learning
Led by Prof Sam Kwong Tak-wu, Associate Vice President (Strategic Research),Acting Dean of the School of Data Science, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and J.K.Lee Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence
• EmergentSync: An Intelligent Traffic Light System with Emergency Response
Led by Prof Pan Fei, Assistant Professor of School of Interdisciplinary Studies
