The top three winners of the Chinese mainland round of the James Dyson Award for design innovation had one thing in common this year — they were all focused on improving people's life quality.

The team that took the top spot at the awards this year, announced at a ceremony held in Shanghai on Sept 12, consisted of a trio of young innovative thinkers.

Zheng Qingyun, Lin Hongnan and Jiang Shengsheng have developed a tactile suit using innovative textiles to render high-resolution tactile sensations, designed to help those with hearing loss experience sound through touch.

It took two years to develop the VirtX full-body virtual haptic suit, said Zheng, 24, a postgraduate student at Tongji University in Shanghai, adding that it opens the door to enabling those with hearing loss to feel the world in a more immersive way.

The team that took second place designed a soft robotic rehabilitation glove called Co-jump, primarily aimed at helping people recover from stroke.