XMUM wins 12 medals at 2026 SEA-CICSIC innovation contest

SINGAPORE, 27 JULY 2026 —

Twelve student teams from Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM) won 12 medals at the 2026 Southeast Asia Division of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition (SEA-CICSIC), taking two golds, five silvers and five bronzes.

Since its launch in 2015, the global contest has received 24.95 million project submissions and 102.18 million participant entries. The international track, introduced in 2017, has since attracted more than 50,000 projects from more than 150 countries and regions, the organisers said.

XMUM’s two gold medals were awarded to postgraduate teams. T-Shield is a bidirectional self-powered active-disinfecting face mask that neutralises pathogens during both inhalation and exhalation. The reusable system uses replaceable biodegradable filter cartridges to cut long-term costs and medical waste, targeting hospitals, laboratories and industrial buyers in the fast-growing personal protective equipment market.

NeuraGO, an undergraduate entry, is a multimodal brain-computer interface wheelchair controlled by EEG, EMG and SSVEP signals. It uses a Muse headband and radar monitoring to brake automatically when fatigue or stress is detected. An AI companion and smart-home integration aim to restore autonomy for users with severe mobility loss.

Five silver prizes were awarded across postgraduate and undergraduate categories. RootIQ AgriBiologics combines geospatial AI and microbial consortia to cut fertiliser waste and restore soil health for paddy, plantation and smallholder farmers. The system won the Hult Prize Malaysia 2026 and reached the global Top 60 from 15,000 student startups, according to the organisers.

GBC-3 is a closed-loop agricultural system that integrates grain planting, bacterial conversion and biomass energy production without competing for food or relying on fossil fuels. DuriAce applies image recognition, 3D contouring and gas sensing to grade and price durians without damage. MindSight AI offers VR-based mental healthcare using eye-tracking and reinforcement learning.

Tospine won silver for an intelligent posture-correction system that fuses flexible sensing, edge computing and multi-sensor fusion to deliver offline, privacy-compliant monitoring.

Five undergraduate teams claimed bronze. HerWell is a maternal mental-health platform using EPDS screening, real-time monitoring and a WeChat mini-program to deliver closed-loop care for 10–12 million perinatal women in China. EcoSphere Pod is a smart aquaponics module for homes and schools that integrates fish tanks, hydroponics and AI analytics.

Rubbrain automates rubber tapping with ±0.1 mm precision, boosting latex yield by more than 15% and extending tree lifespan by more than five years. i-BIS converts invasive Suckermouth Catfish into pharmaceutical-grade chitosan and organic fertiliser, tapping a US$2.20 billion market growing at 10.2% annually.

PrintFlow-X, an affordable smart-manufacturing platform, is designed to lower automation costs for Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises and educational institutions by an estimated 76% through modular robotics and machine vision.

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