HKPC Claims Prestigious World-Class Honours at “the Oscars of Innovation” Winning the R&D 100 Award and a Special Recognition Gold Award

(Hong Kong, 22 October 2021) Two home-grown innovations by the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) have been honoured by the R&D 100 Awards, widely referred to as “the Oscars of Innovation”. The award-winning “kNOw Touch – Contactless Elevator Control Panel” wins the 2021 R&D 100 Award, while “Electrically-Assisted Free Forming (EAFF) Technology – Digital Dieless Direct Manufacturing Technology for Mass Customisation of Sheet Metals” claims a Gold Award in the “Special Recognition: Market Disruptor – Services” category for its potential to shake up an existing industry.

The worldwide competition, presented by R&D World Magazine and now in its 59th year, recognises the best innovative research and development (R&D) ideas every year and honours their revolutionary contributions to science and technology. This year, HKPC’s innovations beat the fierce competition with entries from 17 countries/regions and were finally named by the judging panel of nearly 40 well-respected industry elites across the globe. HKPC wins alongside big names in the R&D field including top-notch laboratories such as the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory of the United States.

Mr Willy Lin, Chairman of HKPC, commented, “We are extremely proud that HKPC’s innovations are being recognised by the prestigious R&D 100 Awards. It is a wonderful showcase of Hong Kong’s capability in research and development and proved that local innovations are more than ready to shine at the international stage. Technological R&D is an important pillar of the new economy. HKPC will never cease to innovate and will remain focused in fostering innovations with the goal of promoting Hong Kong as a leading smart city and an international innovation and technology hub, as suggested by the National 14th Five-Year Plan.”

Mr Mohamed Butt, Executive Director of HKPC, added, “I sincerely thank our R&D team for their efforts to promote local R&D. While we keep rolling out new ideas on technological R&D, we are also working incessantly to commercialise our technologies and put them into good use in our daily lives. ‘kNOw Touch’ is a perfect example that attends to the urgent need of reducing the risk of virus spread among the community, and it has been adopted by a good number of private housing estates, shopping centres and government buildings in Hong Kong. EAFF is an exciting innovation that contributes to revolutionising sheet metal forming. With a boundless spirit of innovation, HKPC will continue to transform innovative ideas into viable R&D projects that benefit both the industry and society.”

Another HKPC innovation, “A Novel Circulating Bed Biofilm Reactor (CBBR) for Carbon Capture from Sewage”, has also been named 2021 R&D 100 Award finalist.

2021 R&D 100 Awards Innovation Details

To learn more about the 2021 R&D 100 Awards, please visit: https://www.rdworldonline.com/.

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