Hong Kong innovators have won the top prize, eight special awards and 35 medals at a major international invention competition in Silicon Valley, with a solar-powered fertiliser production system claiming the event’s highest honour.

The city’s delegation secured 22 gold and 13 silver medals at the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival (SVIIF), which concluded at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California on Sunday.

Amonova’s regenerative, solar-powered air-to-fertiliser production platform won the festival’s Grand Prix, as well as a special prize from the China Association of Inventions.

The technology uses air, water and renewable energy to produce nitrogen fertiliser locally, reducing farms’ reliance on large production plants and international supply chains.

Simson Wu, founder of Amonova, said the system effectively shrank a large fertiliser plant into a small machine that could be used directly on farms.

“It allows every farmer to regain control over the production of fertiliser,” he said.