Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award & 3M-IvP Innovators Award
25 September 2026
From real world problems to real world solutions đź’ˇ
Over two years, our Junior Inventors’ Cluster (JIC) students have been exploring how innovation can make a difference to the community. This year, Kho Wei-En (303) and Anya Saha (313) from Team EcoSmart Detector have taken their idea one step further, earning the Commendation Award in the Student Section of the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award, a national competition that celebrates young innovators and their inventions.
Our project, the EcoSmart Detector, was developed with the goal of detecting plant diseases for plants in indoor vertical farms. With plants being densely packed together, it is easy for diseases to spread quickly. After 2 years of trial and error, we managed to develop a working prototype of a gas detector that can detect plant diseases in plants. Our hope is to support Singapore’s 20 by 35 goals by reducing crop loss and damage in plants in vertical farms through early detection. Our journey would not have been the same without the guidance and support from our JIC teachers, mentors and friends. During our final judging round of the 3M-IvP awards, we faced technical difficulties with sound systems and projections. I’m glad that my teammate and I kept our cool and handled the presentation and questions with confidence. Overall, our journey in JIC has pushed us to be more open-minded, spontaneous and resilient.— Kho Wei-En (303)
This adds to their Innovation Impact Award at the 3M-IvP Awards Ceremony, which they received earlier this year.
Our journey would not have been the same without the guidance and support from our JIC teachers, mentors and friends. During our final judging round, we faced technical difficulties with sound systems and projections. I’m glad that my teammate and I kept our cool and handled the presentation and questions with confidence. Through our journey in JIC, we have grown to be more open-minded, spontaneous and resilient.— Koh Wei-en (303) and Anya Saha (313)
Through their journey, Wei-En and Anya have shown how curiosity, creativity and a willingness to tackle real world challenges can turn ideas into meaningful innovations.
We look forward to seeing where their ideas take them next! ✨