Malaysian Students Have Won The James Dyson Award Three Years In A Row, Who’s Next?
The James Dyson Award 2026 is now open for submissions — and Malaysia walks into the new cycle on the back of a quiet but remarkable streak: Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) has produced three Malaysian national winners.
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When Ong Jing Rou, Natalie Tham Li Thing, and Ng Wen Kai submitted their idea to the James Dyson Award last year, they weren’t pitching a sleek app or a futuristic gadget.
They were pitching a drain filter made from palm oil fibre.
It won.
Not just nationally — UNBLOK, as the invention is called, made it into the global Top 20 out of more than 2,100 entries from across 28 countries.
The three students from Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) in Kuala Lumpur had taken one of Malaysia’s most abundant agricultural byproducts and turned it into a low-cost household tool that prevents pipe blockages and reduces water pollution.
It was the third year a team from APU had taken home Malaysia’s national title.
What Does APU Know That Other Universities Don’t?
In 2020, it was KUNO — a sustainable cooling fridge. In 2021, WaterPod — a seawater desalination pod built without compromise.
In 2023, Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) SOAPY — an educational handwashing toy designed to teach children proper hygiene — broke APU’s streak with a deserved national win.
But APU came straight back in 2024 with Brikoole, quietly dropping indoor temperatures by 6°C without consuming a single watt of external energy.
Then came UNBLOK in 2025.
Different problems, different solutions and a consistency that, even with the occasional interruption, no other Malaysian university has come close to matching.
That kind of track record doesn’t happen by accident.
While the James Dyson Award draws entries from design and engineering students across 28 countries and regions, APU has quietly built a presence that puts it in rare company — and raises an obvious question for every other university in Malaysia: what are they doing differently?
The Winning Formula Isn’t What You’d Expect
Look at the global winners across recent years, and a pattern emerges — and it isn’t about complexity or cutting-edge technology.
OnCue, the 2025 global Medical winner, is a keyboard.
A smart one, yes — it uses haptic and visual cues to help people with Parkinson’s manage motor symptoms — but at its core, it is a keyboard.
WaterSense, the 2025 Sustainability winner, monitors water quality in rivers and lakes in real time.
Brikoole, Malaysia’s 2024 national winner, cools a room using airflow and evaporation — no plug required.
The less flashy the idea, the more likely it is to win; that appears to be the quiet philosophy behind what the James Dyson Award rewards — not moonshots, but solutions that are practical, considered, and built around a problem that actually exists.
Sir James Dyson himself put it plainly: “I established the James Dyson Award to encourage young ‘doers’ in life who are focused on solving the problems they see in the world, not grandstanding about them.”
Palm Oil Waste, Meet Global Stage
UNBLOK is worth examining a little more closely — because what the APU team did with it goes beyond good engineering.
Palm oil is one of Malaysia’s most economically significant and environmentally scrutinised industries.
The fibre left over from its processing is abundant, cheap, and largely considered waste.
The UNBLOK team looked at that waste and saw a filter — biodegradable, modular, and effective at trapping the fats, oils, and grease that clog household pipes and eventually pollute waterways.
It is, in design terms, a circular solution.
It turns an agricultural liability into a household asset. That kind of thinking — local material, global problem, elegant answer — is precisely what lands on international shortlists.
“Simple, everyday innovations can create meaningful global impact,” the team said after their win.
What’s At Stake In 2026
The James Dyson Award is now open for submissions, with a deadline of 15 July.
Current university students and recent graduates in design and engineering subjects across 28 countries and regions are eligible to enter.
National winners receive RM27,160. Should an entry progress to the global stage and catch Sir James Dyson’s eye, that figure climbs to RM162,999 — nearly six times more, and a platform that past winners say opened doors far beyond the prize money itself.
“The Award validated our mission globally and opened doors to lots of new partnerships, pilots, and conversations across Europe and beyond,” said Filip Budny, the Polish PhD candidate whose water monitoring device WaterSense took the 2025 Sustainability prize.
For young engineers in Malaysia, the bar has been set — three times over, by their peers down the road in Kuala Lumpur.
The question for 2026 is who picks it up next.
READ MORE: Malaysian Students Win RM27,800 Turning Kitchen Nightmares Into Palm Fiber Environmental Solutions
READ MORE: Drinkable Ocean Water? It’s Now Possible Thanks To A Device Made By These M’sian Students
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