Orbis Future Vision Leaders 2025/26 Concludes with Record Student Participation

HONG KONG SAR – The Grand Final and Award Ceremony of Orbis Future Vision Leaders 2025/26 concluded at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, celebrating the achievements of over 300 students from 10 tertiary institutions across Hong Kong. The program, organized by the global eye health NGO Orbis, challenges undergraduates to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world community projects aimed at preventing avoidable blindness.

According to a press release distributed by Media OutReach Newswire on 19 August 2026, the initiative mobilized students from The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Lingnan University, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, and City University of Hong Kong.

Mary Lau, Executive Director of Orbis Hong Kong, praised the student cohorts for independently connecting with over 25 community partners. Through these grassroots collaborations, student teams designed and executed interactive eye advocacy initiatives—including vision screenings, clinical escape rooms, AR eye disease simulations, and braille decoding workshops—directly reaching more than 2,200 citizens.

Three Core Tracks Drive Social Innovation

The Future Vision Leaders campaign spans three distinct tracks, each designed to foster different skill sets:

  • Heal the Future: Infusing medical blindness prevention with psychological empathy and public health outreach.
  • Educator 2.0: Deep-diving into campus eye care education and fostering inclusive values in schools.
  • Visionary Start-up: Exploring social enterprise models to deliver sustainable accessibility solutions.

To bolster the commercial viability and social impact of the Visionary Start-up track, Orbis engaged prominent corporate mentors—including Climate Incubator, Education for Good, HK Decoman Technology, Pet Space Group Limited, SOFE COFFEE, and V Cycle—to guide youth teams in market strategy and operational planning.

Distinguished Judging Panel and Award Winners

The Grand Final Judging Panel comprised Mary Lau (Executive Director, Orbis Hong Kong), Dr. Vincent Lee Yau-wing (Orbis Volunteer Ophthalmologist & Specialist in Ophthalmology), Sharon Wang (Investment Manager, Beyond Ventures), Francis Ngai (Founder & CEO, Social Ventures Hong Kong), and Julie Ma (Principal, St. Stephen’s College). The panel evaluated projects across all three tracks, recognizing both overall champions and special category winners.

Heal the Future

  • Overall Champion: The University of Hong Kong, for AEyeChatbot and AEyeScreen Helper web tools—AI/AR innovations that connected with over 1,000 users and boosted literacy.
  • Vision for the Community Award: Hong Kong Metropolitan University, for a Braille workshop, AR senior simulations, and a nursing escape room to drive community blind awareness.
  • Medical In Sight Award: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, for bilingual workshops and tailored eye screenings that evaluated over 110 ethnic minority seniors and empowered their caregivers.
  • Innovative Perspectives in Technology Award: The University of Hong Kong, for the same AI/AR tools as the overall champion.
  • Inclusivity for the Visually Impaired Community Award: The University of Hong Kong, for a blindfolded running workshop alongside a visually impaired athlete to build critical empathy with medical students.

Educator 2.0

  • Overall Champion: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, for a project combining visual simulation and tactile painting to foster inclusive values among children.
  • Color Adventures Award: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, for an interactive Inside Out themed workshop featuring Stroop tests, paper folding, and drawing sessions to teach primary school students about eye structures, color blindness, and the connection between emotions and colors.
  • Eye Health Mission Award: Lingnan University and The Education University of Hong Kong, for organizing the zero-budget 'Sight-athlon' carnival for primary students using AR eye simulations and Braille decoding.
  • The Unseen World Award: Lingnan University, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Baptist University, for a low-cost simulation workshop using DIY glasses to let school children experience glaucoma and color blindness.
  • Defeating VisionMonsters Award: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, for a color-blindness simulation glasses painting workshop to foster youth STEAM literacy and active prevention awareness.

Visionary Start-up

  • Overall Champion: The University of Hong Kong, for an offline digital twin navigation system assisting visually impaired elderly residents in GPS dead zones such as MTR stations.
  • Joyful Journeys to Wellness Award: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, for developing ZIP, a gamified walking app utilizing commission-based models to promote low-carbon urban wellness.
  • Tech Solutions for Challenges Award: The University of Hong Kong, for GUIDO, an AI-powered 3D SLAM navigation device mitigating urban transit barriers via a Device-as-a-Service framework.
  • Co-Creating Community Award: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, for an ecosystem connector program that bridges schools and NGOs while empowering visually impaired individuals as instructors.
  • Visual Arts Unleashed Award: Hong Kong Metropolitan University, for establishing a tactile 3D art ecosystem allowing visually impaired individuals to independently create and experience gallery exhibits.

Launch of 2026/27 Campaign

A formal lighting ceremony led by the overall track champions, Orbis Executive Director Mary Lau, and academic representatives marked the official launch of the 2026/27 Future Vision Leaders Campaign. Interested schools, academic faculties, and community institutions can submit inquiries for co-curricular partnerships to student.hk@orbis.org.

The 2025/26 edition demonstrated the power of cross-disciplinary collaboration, with students from medicine, engineering, education, and business working side-by-side to create tangible impact in the community. As Orbis looks ahead to the next cycle, the organization aims to build on this momentum to expand its reach and deepen its engagement with Hong Kong’s youth.