Shining at iENA, Chinese teen's grassroots invention combats desertification

HOHHOT -- Using steel tubes from a local hardware store and recycled plastic bottles, Jia Mingxuan, 14, from North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, built a device that recently won the top honor at the 77th Nuremberg International Invention Exhibition (iENA) in Germany.

Jia's creation? A simple, automated planting tool designed to help new saplings survive the wind and drought encountered in his hometown.

Jia, shy and soft-spoken, wondered if his unpolished, homemade apparatus stood any chance, when seeing more than 540 sophisticated inventions from young innovators worldwide, ranging from surgical robots to brain-computer interface devices at the 2025 iENA junior competition.

One of the world's three major invention exhibitions, the iENA in Nuremberg is on par with the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, Switzerland, and the Invention & New Product Exposition in Pittsburgh, the United States.

To participate in the event held earlier this month, Jia made his first trip abroad, never imagining he could end with a gold medal.

"When the bronze and silver awards passed without my name, I thought it was over," Jia recalled. "When they called me for gold, I was stunned."

Oliver Mayer, chairman of an international expert jury assessing the inventions, said they were struck by both the teenager from rural China and his invention. He recalled Jia walking onstage in a traditional Mongolian robe to receive the medal amid warm applause in the hall.

The panel praised Jia for applying practical, locally grounded solutions to one of humanity's toughest environmental challenges. His design, they said, uses basic physical principles to solve a real-world problem -- and reflects both ingenuity and the promise of China's young scientific talent.

TAKING ROOT IN A SANDY AND WINDY LAND

Jia's idea grew from his childhood experiences in Chifeng, a key area in China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP), the world's largest afforestation project.

His family's courtyard is now surrounded by thick rows of trees planted by his grandfather decades ago. The elder often tells him that in the 1960s, Aohan Banner, their county, was nearly barren. With an annual rainfall of just 380 millimeters -- sand once covered more than three-quarters of the local terrain.

The TSFP changed the landscape. Today, roughly 40.6 percent of the county is forested, covering some 373,000 hectares. In recent years, photovoltaic projects have been paired with sand-control operations, creating new synergies between clean energy and ecological restoration.

But Jia often watched newly planted saplings struggle to survive. Watering them manually was slow and costly -- and sometimes impossible in remote, wind-beaten plots. He wondered whether he could design something to help the trees take root properly.

AN IDEA THAT BEGAN IN THE KITCHEN

Opportunity knocked in March this year when Jia's junior-high science teacher assigned the class the task of proposing their own invention topics.

The spark for Jia came in an unlikely place -- his family kitchen. One evening, he noticed steam condensing into droplets on the tiled wall. A physics lesson resurfaced in his mind and he asked himself: "Could I use the same principle to collect water for saplings?"

Back at school, Jia began sketching a device that captures condensation from the air and channels it directly to a tree's root zone.

His hand-made device utilizes the principle of dew formation -- a wind cap on top of the steel tube is used as the power source enabling air to circulate inside. Without linking to any external water sources, the temperature difference between the ground surface and the underground environment allows water vapor in the air to condense into small droplets, which end up seeping into the root zone of the tree.

Jia boards on campus and had to travel 30 km to his home to test his prototypes. Sometimes he woke at 4 a.m., rushing home to unearth the steel-pipe assembly, buried two meters deep -- to check moisture readings before racing back to catch up with his normal class schedules.

A COMMUNITY INSPIRED BY YOUTH

Jia's award has electrified his hometown. One of the proudest observers is Chen Xuexun, who has spent 34 years fighting desertification.

"Decades of work taught us that we cannot win this battle by manpower alone," Chen said. "We need new ideas and young people like Jia. I'm truly moved and proud."

In a country aiming to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and which pursues its green ambitions with resolve, this teen's story is especially inspiring.

Aohan Banner, now a national demonstration zone for tech-driven afforestation, has adopted tools including Beidou-based monitoring systems and precision planting methods. In 2024, nearly 80 percent of new planting there was managed via digital accuracy -- dramatically improving sapling survival rates.

For Jia, the medal is only a beginning.

"This award is a new starting point," he said. "I need to study harder. Only with a solid foundation can I invent better things."

He is already working with a research team from east China's Shanghai to refine his device. His goal is clear -- to turn a kitchen-sparked idea into a practical tool in China's ongoing fight against desertification.