• Jarinyagon Chantawannakul and Wai Yan Phyo Oo from the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been named the Hong Kong winner of the James Dyson Award 2026 for DUALVein, a portable Intravenous insertion learning system. By leveraging AI, the HK$3,000 device drastically undercuts expensive market alternatives to solve a global healthcare crisis, tackling the 40% failure rate of first-time IV injections [1].
• This year's runners-up include Stairio, a stairwell inspection robot, and Musec, a wearable music interaction device.
• All three inventions will progress to the international stage of the James Dyson Award, for a chance to win £30,000

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 16 September 2026 - Intravenous (IV) insertion is one of the most commonly performed clinical procedures, yet its global failure rates remain alarmingly high. Nearly 40% of first IV attempts fail, causing unnecessary bruising, pain, and repeated needle sticks for millions of patients globally. Today, Jarinyagon Chantawannakul and Wai Yan Phyo Oo from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have been crowned the national winners of the James Dyson Award 2026 for a solution that aims to end this trial-and-error approach: DUALVein, a low-cost, AI-guided near-infrared (NIR) vein-imaging device that helps nursing and medical students accurately find veins across all skin tones, even without expert supervision. Recognising the urgent need for accessible medical innovation, the James Dyson Award—which forms part of a wider commitment by Sir James Dyson to demonstrate the power of engineers to solve the world's problems—champions accessible solutions like DUALVein. The Invention DUALVein Newly-trained nurses operating without guidance achieve only a 56.28% accuracy rate in IV insertions[1]. Existing vein finders on the market have largely failed to bridge this training gap; they either offer a limited field of view with no direct guidance, or they rely on expensive optics that cost upwards of HK$15,000. To address this, the CUHK team designed DUALVein to project patients' veins directly onto the skin in real time using AI segmentation and an 850nm NIR LED array. The device illuminates the hand using two combined methods: transillumination (light passing through tissue) and reflectance (light bouncing off it). Because each mode is independently adjustable, DUALVein is uniquely equipped to work reliably across diverse anatomies and light, medium, and dark skin tones. Crucially, by utilizing AI instead of expensive optical hardware, DUALVein costs roughly HK$3,000—a fraction of the cost of current market alternatives. Furthermore, it is the only option that pairs its hardware with a built-in software platform, acting as a comprehensive self-learning tool to guide students from beginner theory straight through to physical IV practice. The inspiration for the project struck after a medical professional revealed to Jarinyagon that standard vein finders are simply too expensive for many hospitals to adopt, leaving staff to rely purely on skill built through repeated practice. In under-resourced clinics lacking enough senior nurses to supervise trainees, students receive little hands-on guidance, leading to painful trial-and-error learning directly on real patients. This sparked a rigorous two-year iterative design process to create a viable, affordable alternative. The team built four main functional prototypes, crafting non-functional testing models before finalizing each major version. These iterations underwent extensive real-world evaluation: early models were tested on 15 volunteers to validate the near-infrared principles, while later versions were evaluated by around 60 medical and nursing students from Thailand and Hong Kong. Jarinyagon said: "Winning the James Dyson Award is a powerful validation that this is a problem worth solving. This recognition gives us the crucial momentum to push DUALVein out of the lab and into the hands of the frontline nurses and under-resourced hospitals who need it most." Brian Hu, Judge for the 2026 James Dyson Award and Head of Electronics at Dyson said, "DUALVein stands out because it is a brilliant idea to leverage near-infrared technology and AI to solve a genuine, real-life clinical issue. By building multiple prototypes and continuously refining their device based on user feedback, they perfectly showcase Dyson's core engineering mindset of problem-solving through relentless design, testing, and iteration. This accessible solution has the potential to make a positive impact on the healthcare industry by improving training standards and reducing patient discomfort." DUALVein takes home £5,000 (approx. HK$53,000) from the James Dyson Award national prize to support these next steps in commercialisation, which include shifting from 3D-printed PLA to injection-molded housing to further reduce costs for mass scaling. The Runners-Up...