Craig Pepples (fourth right, second row), chief executive officer of Global Sources, Zhou Li (third right, second row), editorial board member of China Daily Group and publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Asia-Pacific, and winners of the China Daily Innovation Awards 2017 attend the awards ceremony during the Global Sources Electronics show at AsiaWorld-Expo on Friday. Parker zheng / China Daily

China Daily Innovation Awards honor firms which make the most promising use of technology

Artificial intelligence may still sound like a distant concept but Shenzhen startup Micronature wants to put AI right inside your home, to control the room temperature.

Its AI-enhanced thermostat can control the air conditioner in the room and at the same time learn the preference of users to automatically set the temperature at the most comfortable level.

Unlike most thermostats controlled by smartphone apps, Micronature's uses machine-learning technology to select a temperature for users, according to Xie Yi, product manager at the company.

"We are focusing on using AI to achieve a higher comfort level in our environment. Consumption upgrade is the trend, and consumers are having higher exceptions and requirements regarding the indoor environment," Xie said.

Micronature was among the nine innovators that received the China Daily Innovation Awards 2017 at the Global Sources Electronics show in Hong Kong's AsiaWorld-Expo exhibition center on Friday.

The fourth innovation awards come amid China's reiterated determination to use innovation as the primary force in driving further development of the country.

Awards for the Most Promising Electronic Gadgets went to Liberty+ by Anker Technology, Scalescan by Egmemory Group, XimNeon by Ximmerse , Gesture Sensing Full Display by Maxus Technologies, Aibuds by Misway Technology (Shenzhen) and the AI enhanced thermostat by Shenzhen Micronature Innovation Technology.

Dot Incorporation, Mega Unit Technology and Sybo Tech Singapore were the three winners in the Most Promising Startups category.

Craig Pepples, chief executive officer of Global Sources, said in his speech at the ceremony that the awards will put the spotlight on some of most creative new electronic gadgets and companies.

"By recognizing outstanding products and companies, we endeavor to promote ideas that help improve people's lives," Pepples said.

Zhou Li, editorial board member of China Daily Group and publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Asia Pacific, also stressed the significance of innovation in an era when China strives to transform itself from a manufacturing power to an innovation powerhouse.

Outstanding startups

Hong Kong's own innovative company Mega Unit Technology was one of the winners in the startup category.

With Speednite, a lighting system controlled by head motion, the company aims to keep cyclists around the world safe on the road. The device, guided by a head-motion sensor, gives out a lighting indication to express the intention of the cyclist, such as turning left or right.

"Making a prototype that works is the easy part, but to go into mass manufacturing means a lot of tuning to be done," said Kim Luk, chief executive officer of Mega Unit Technology.

The company is currently fine-tuning its product to prepare for mass production.

With its manufacturing based in Shenzhen, the startup seeks stronger ties with suppliers, and considers setting up an office in the city to allow closer control of its manufacturing process, Luk said.

Another startup winner is South Korean company Dot Incorporation which attempts to use technology to improve life of the underprivileged.

Its tactile smartwatch named Dot, developed for the blind and visually impaired, uses the dial to display braille characters. Paired with a smartphone, the watch can show notifications and messages from the phone for users to "read".

Dot Incorporation has also launched an electronic reader for blind people which lets users learn and create tactile contents.

Sybo Tech Singapore adds a playful touch to the batch of winners in the startup category.

Its colorful Pebby ball, a smart toy for pets, can monitor and track the activity of pets with a built-in camera, while it plays around with them. Owners will be able to watch live-streaming video and receive information about their pets on their smartphones.

Most sales are achieved through online platforms but the company hopes to expand its offline presence around the world.

"Offline distribution is definitely still important because consumers still want to come to stores and try the products," said V. Thinesh, head of sales of the company.

Promising gadgets

The six Most Promising Electronic Gadgets include Aibuds, an in-ear translator developed by Misway Technology (Shenzhen) to help tourists travelling abroad.

Pairing the wireless earbuds with the smartphone, one can talk directly to the phone, and in roughly two seconds a translation will be transmitted into the ears of the other through earbuds.

"We hope to use Aibuds to facilitate communication, and also keep people safe when they travel abroad," said Sonic Chen, chief executive officer and founder of the company.

Another winning gadget is the wireless earphone Liberty+ produced by Shenzhen-based Anker Technology.

The tech startup is most popular for its portable battery, cables and chargers. In Amazon's European, United States and Japanese markets its mobile phone accessories are most-sold among all accessory firms.

"After Apple released the AirPods, we saw increasing demand for wireless earbuds which are more convenient and fit better than traditional earphones or Bluetooth headphones," said Romeo Luo, regional head of Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand in Anker.

The earphone, with a market price of $129, is relatively cheaper than Apple's AirPods priced at $159.

Luo thinks sound quality and comfort give Liberty+ an extra edge. The wireless earphone just raised some $2.8 million from over 25,000 backers on funding platform Kickstarter in August.

Low cost is the trend of consumer electronics, as seen by two other winners in the Most Promising Electronic Gadgets category - 3D scanner Scalescan from Egmemory Group and Virtual Reality (VR) controller XimNeon made by Guangdong Virtual Reality Technology.

While most 3D scanners sell at about 7,000 yuan ($1,057), which is out of the reach of many individuals, the low-cost 3D scanner produced by Egmemory Group costs just around 1,000 yuan.

Functionalities have not been sacrificed to cut costs. Scalescan can scan a model within two minutes when connected with an app in a mobile phone, a big step forward from the 10 to 20 minutes of other major players in the market.

In addition, texture and color can be delicately captured in the scanning process. The 3D models can be easily shared on WeChat when done.

A spokesperson from Egmemory said the scanner can be widely adopted by e-commerce sellers such as on Alibaba's Taobao, as potential buyers can shrink and rotate the models to have a vivid, 360-degree view.

As VR games fast catch on among youngsters and hardcore game fans, most of VR headsets and controllers are not necessarily price-friendly.

Guangzhou-based Ximmerse comes with a wireless, low-powered mobile VR kit "XimNeon" that offers an external stereo camera, two motion controllers and an LED marker but sells at $120.

Tommy Lim, marketing specialist of Ximmerse, said they are very keen to bring the price to less than $100 within half a year. "It's a very price-sensitive market, we should take care of the affordability of buyers to let more players enjoy the VR games," said Lim.

Maxus Technologies was a Most Promising Electronic Gadget winner for its gesture-sensing solutions, which provide a new idea for digital marketing and advertising.

Richard Mou Qingqi, marketing director of Maxus, gave a demonstration to China Daily in front of an interactive display screen. With a simple flip of hands, the advertising board shifts to new pages as instructed by the hand gesture.

"The traditional advertising is one-way communication that customers passively receive the message of marketers; augmented by technologies such as gesture sensing, customers could be more actively involved, marketers could also collect the data of potential buyers' gestures to identity the more popular products," said Mou.

"I think the future of consumer electronics lie in gesture-sensing and voice-recognition, these are the most natural and primal ways of communication. We have been using mice, keyboards and cables due to technology restrictions in the past, but now, with all the innovations, we can go back to the most basic," Mou concludes.

Contact the writers at iris@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 10/21/2017 page10)