Top 5 Hong Kong finalists for the 2015 James Dyson innovation award

Since its inception in 2004, the James Dyson Award has maintained a straightforward guideline to participants: design something that solves a problem.

The charitable foundation of James Dyson, the acclaimed British inventor and entrepreneur, created the international competition as a way of challenging university students, or recent graduates, in the fields product design, industrial design and engineering to develop problem-solving ideas into commercial ventures.

“No problem is too big. The simplest solutions are the best,” Dyson said in February as the competition was opened to entries from Hong Kong and Taiwan for the first time.

Last month, a three-man judging panel led by Hong Kong Industrial Designers Society president Steve Yeung selected the top-five entries from the city. These submissions were all from participants who study at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is the city's largest government-funded tertiary academic institution by number of students.

Emily Tang, from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, won the initial local leg of the James Dyson Award for her prototype toilet design called “The Libue”, which would make it easier for Parkinson’s disease patients to use the lavatory.

The Libue design, which Tang completed in 20 weeks, was inspired by the plight of her grandfather who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011.