Eight Entrepreneurs Selected as Regional Finalists in India for Premier Social Innovation Accelerator, Held Virtually April 26-29

   
                                                                                                                             
NEW YORK, April 20, 2021 – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has announced the regional finalists of the 2021 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), the prestigious international accelerator of hardware-led social innovation. Eight teams of social innovators from throughout India will present their design prototypes in a virtual event held April 27-29.
 
The ISHOW India finalists, whose innovations address issues including sustainable agriculture, building materials, battery technology, water safety, accessible prosthetics, and women’s hygiene, will pitch their prototypes at 7:00 p.m. IST/9:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, April 26 via web conference. Iana Aranda, director of ASME’s Engineering Global Development program, and Mahantesh Hiremath, president nominee of ASME, will welcome participants to the virtual event. (Journalists on assignment to cover the event can request login information by emailing media contact below.)
 
The finalists will vie for a share of $30,000 in seed grants and technical support to help bring their design innovations to market. An esteemed panel of judges will privately interview each finalist as part of an extensive design and engineering review and then will choose three hardware innovations as grand prize winners. The regional finalists are:
 

• Alto Precision (Bangalore, India) for its “Solar Powered Mini Rice Mill” – a decentralized, cost-effective, and sustainably powered processor compared to conventional diesel machines
• Angirus Ind Pvt. Ltd. (Udaipur, India) for its “Wricks – Reinventing Brick Industry” innovation – an environmentally sustainable, good quality, waterproof brick made from 100% recycled waste material for affordable housing solutions
• Life and Limb (P) Ltd. (Delhi, India) for its “Bionicli” innovation – a functional prosthetic hand with six grip patterns to assist wearers with more than 15% of daily living activities
• Modulus Housing (Chennai, India) for its “MediCAB - Instant Health Infrastructure” – prefabricated, pre-certified hospital blocks designed and assembled on site
• Offgrid Energy Labs (Kanpur, India) for its “ZincGel® Battery” – efficient, temperature stable, safe, and sustainable battery technology with longer life than current lithium-ion technology, ideal for stationary (renewable, grid, backup) and low-powered mobile applications
• PadCare Labs (Pune, India) for its “PadCare Sanitary Napkin Disposal and Recycling System” – a hygiene management solution that completes the loop of the menstrual hygiene economy by generating environmentally safe, recyclable output out of soiled pads
• Sand Bird (Chennai, India) for its “Magma – A Smart Electric Power Tiller” – a smart electric power tiller with ten times lower operational cost than conventional tillers
• Solinas Integrity Pvt. Ltd. (Chennai, India) for its “Endobot” – a tethered inspection robot that uses visual analysis techniques to detect, analyze and predict catastrophic defects in pipelines, preventing losses due to leaks and pilferage as well as water contamination in pipeline transport networks.

ISHOW India winners will be announced in a virtual awards ceremony on May 5, 2021 at 9:30am EST/7:00pm IST] and later shared via the ASME ISHOW website, social media, and news release. Virtual ISHOWs will be held for finalists from Africa (ISHOW Kenya), June 1- 3, and for the Americas (ISHOW USA), July 13-15. 

In addition, the product with the most votes in social media for each regional event will be named the “Fan Favorite,’’ and those three regional finalists will receive $1,000 each. Follow @ASMEishow on Twitter for more details. The fan favorite prize is made possible and in memory of Byron G. Schieber Jr. M.S., PE, Professor Emeritus QCCNY, and Ruth L. Schieber. 
 
“We are proud to offer a forum for engineering problem-solving that truly improves lives,” said ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile. “We are continually impressed by the creative talent of ASME ISHOW participants and their passion for helping underserved communities around the world.”

The prestigious global hardware accelerator is open to individuals and organizations taking physical products to market that will have a positive social and/or environmental impact and that improve the quality of life around the world. To date, ISHOW has enabled over 160 startups from more than 28 countries to solve critical quality-of-life challenges for people in underserved communities worldwide. ISHOW alumni have developed affordable devices to address issues including clean combustion, crop threshing, fetal health, food waste prevention, grain moisture meters, health diagnostics, safe drinking water, and many more that address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

“Social enterprises, now more than ever, need the support of the global impact community,” says Iana Aranda, director of ASME’s Engineering Global Development sector that houses ISHOW. “Social entrepreneurs across the world, including many ISHOW ventures, are on the frontlines of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and advancement of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. We are fiercely focused on providing these innovators with accessible platforms for capacity building, expert engagement and co-design of scaling strategies suited for the new normal. Ensuring their success through this global crisis is of paramount importance.”

ASME ISHOW annually matches up to 30 carefully selected innovators with appropriate engineering experts to ensure that the proposed hardware solutions are technologically, environmentally, culturally, and financially sustainable. ASME’s panel of judges and experts includes successful entrepreneurs, academics, engineers, designers, investors, and industry representatives from leading organizations in India, Kenya, and the United States. These subject matter experts provide technical and strategic guidance based on ISHOW’s four key pillars: customer/user knowledge, hardware validation, manufacturing optimization, and implementation strategy.

ASME is grateful to The Lemelson Foundation for its continued support of the ISHOW with a three-year strategic investment and to ISHOW implementation partners around the globe. Learn more about ISHOW’s global impact in this dynamic dashboard.
Hear from ISHOW 2020 winners about their experiences. Follow the journeys of ISHOW alumni including PayGo Energy, PlenOptika, Himalayan Rocket Stove, SAYeTECH and others here.

        @ASMEISHOW  #ISHOW21  #ThisIsHardware


About ASME
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges.  Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society.  ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education, and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. ASME recently formed the International Society of Interdisciplinary Engineers (ISIE) LLC, a new for-profit subsidiary to house business ventures that will bring new and innovative products, services, and technologies to the engineering community. For more information, visit www.asme.org.

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About the ASME Foundation
The ASME Foundation is the fundraising arm of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The Foundation supports an arc of programs addressing every stage of the engineer’s professional journey, from early inspiration and learning to career engagement and nurturing world-changing innovation. For more information, visit www.asmefoundation.org.  
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