Singapore takes five of top 12 spots at WSJ Asian Innovation Awards

A light artificial kidney (left) that provides constant dialysis for patients with kidney failure, and a baby breath monitor that tracks the breathing patterns of infants when they are sound asleep; these are some Singaporean inventions that made it to the summit of The Wall Street Journal’s Asian Innovation Awards.

These products are the brainchild of Excelpoint Systems and Awak Technologies respectively.

The Awards, organized in partnership with Credit Suisse, aims to find and recognize up-and-coming innovations in Asia. Entries may come from individuals, small businesses, large corporations or academia. All 12 innovators will be featured on The Wall Street Journal, out of which three will win the gold, silver and bronze awards and one will clinch the Credit Suisse Technopreneur of the Year Award.

Last year’s gold award winner was Tata Chemicals’ Swach water purifier which is aimed at households without electricity.

Other Singaporean innovations making this year’s shortlist include the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology’s IBN MicroKit, which is a portable disease detection system; Optiqua Technologies’ EventLab, which detects water contamination; and the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering’s artificial cell membranes, which aid in drug development and disease research.

Image: Awak Technologies