Innovation translates into making life easier

Technology, solutions, design and social issues gather industries to put their best inventions forward, Lin Qi reports.

Recollecting his experience on a jury at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, in June, Li Chao finds it difficult not to share the groundbreaking ideas he came across at the event. He hails the award-winning works, yet feels regretful for those not awarded but presenting equally in innovative spirit and humanitarian issues.

The annual festival and awards are a get-together for those from the advertising and communication industries. Li and his team won a Bronze Cannes Lions award last year for their Alibaba Healthy Fonts Project.

The project is a pinyin-based keyboard input method automatically translating pinyin text into braille.

"It is free, and accessible to everyone. All you need to do is download the font and install it," says Li, a designer and the marketing and branding vice-president of Alibaba and Ant Group Macao Pass Group who initiated the development of the font in 2022.