Taiwan's annual Kaohsiung International Invention & Design Expo (KIDE) is a major Asian invention expo. It features over 500 entries from more than 30 countries, highlighting innovation in green technology, culture, and design.
The most recent Invention & Design EXPO took place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in December 2025, with nearly 500 exhibitors from 33 countries participating in the event. Recently, the KIDE 2025 award winners were announced - honouring the most impressive inventions presented.
One of the gold medal winners this year was a hydrogen-powered drone developed by a research team from the AGH University of Science and Technology, based in the southern historical city of Kraków - in cooperation with the local government of the nearby city of Nowy Targ and a Polish UAV company named DL Drones & Engineering.
The Polish team have proven that the future of unmanned aerial vehicles might just as well lie with hydrogen fuel - as their proprietary design of an ultra-light drone with a hybrid power source outperformed all traditional solutions, also thanks to an innovative energy and fuel recovery system. The awarded design is based on the use of ultralight PEMFC fuel cells. The key to success was a drastic reduction in the weight of the entire power system, which significantly extended the UAV's flight time.
The winning team's Professor Magdalena Dudek of AGH emphasized that the uniqueness of the design also lies in the modification of the hydrogen supply process to enable its recovery, an already patented technology. Thanks to this, the Krakow-born invention is not just a machine, but a complete, ecological ecosystem, encompassing green hydrogen production and a mobile refueling station.
The Polish scientists involved also designed an intelligent supporting infrastructure that allows for continuous monitoring and prediction of energy production capacity, depending on the station's location. A prediction system oversees every stage - from gas production, through safe storage in composite tanks, to its efficient use during flight. This comprehensive approach makes the drone from Krakow ready for deployment in a host of demanding operational conditions.
Last but not least, the AGH University of Science and Technology's hydrogen drone boasts features that open doors to the special missions and rescue sectors. Thanks to the use of fuel cells, the machine operates extremely quietly and emits no heat, making it harder to detect and ideal for monitoring sensitive areas.
The winning team, alongside experienced scientists, also included industry representatives and students from the FENEC research group, demonstrating Poland's enormous potential for collaboration between science and business. Their success in Taiwan confirms that the Małopolska region is becoming a European center for the development of cutting edge hydrogen technologies.
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Source: agh.edu.pl, kk24.info, radiokrakow.pl
