The Newton Prize recognises excellent research and innovation in support of economic development and social welfare in Newton Fund partner countries.

With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Vietnam faces challenges with unbalanced development of the regional economy and public services, pollution and lack of high value industries. New high performing metamaterials have the potential to transform telecom infrastructures and services, optical computing, solar energy and medical devices, but usage is limited by the manufacturing challenges involved.

The Newton Fund project built the first super-resolution metamaterial 3D printing system in the world, and designed and fabricated multiple shaped metamaterials characterised for multiple applications using this novel technology.

The collaboration enables 3D metamaterials to be directly printed from 3D CAD models with higher design freedom and lower cost compared to conventional photolithograpy methods. Impacts of this work can be found in the Vietnamese telecommunications and photonics industries, as well as in the energy, environment and health sectors.