Three Inventors from India Named Grand Prize Winners - Global Competition for Social Impact Hardware

Three Inventors from India Named Grand Prize Winners in Global Competition for Social Impact Hardware Innovations in Clean Combustion, Health Diagnostics, and Silk Reeling Win Share of $30,000 and Technical Support at ASME ISHOW.

NEW YORK, N.Y., 10 April, 2019—The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has named three socially-minded hardware inventors from India as regional grand prize winners of the prestigious 2019 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), held 4 April in Bengaluru, India.

The three inventors – based in Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Delhi/Ranchi, India – were selected from among eight Indian finalists who vied for a share of $30,000 in seed grants and technical support to help bring their design innovations to market. Each winner will also receive a ticket to the ISHOW Bootcamp in New York this fall, where they’ll meet six other winners who will be announced in similar competitions in Nairobi, Kenya (25 May), and Washington, D.C. (22 June).This year, ASME received 160 applications for ISHOW.

Each finalist presented the engineering design attributes of their prototypes and outlined their plans for manufacturing, marketing, and financing.

Descriptions and schematics of the eight finalists’ designs are available at https://thisishardware.org/competition/2019/india.

The 2019 regional grand prize-winning designs are:

Himalayan Rocket Stove “Eco1 Rocket Stove” (Chandigarh) – The Eco1 Rocket Stove offers clean-burning, highly efficient combustion for heating and cooking in the Himalayas and beyond. It reduces the demand for wood, scarce due to deforestation in the Himalayas, and the burden of fuel collection.

• Picture 1: From left to right - Madhukar Sharma (ASME India), Russell Collins (Himalayan Rocket Stove), Carol Dahl (The Lemelson Foundation, ASME ISHOW’s Impact Inventing sponsor), and James Creel (ASME).
• Picture 2: Russell Collins of Himalayan Rocket Stove pitches to ISHOW Judges.

MUSE Diagnostics “TAAL Digital Stethoscope” (Bengaluru) – The TAAL Digital Stethoscope is a small, hand-held device that uses cutting-edge technology to amplify clear, noise-free body sounds. The associated software application enables users to visualize, record, analyze and share these results, while their cloud platform gives users diagnostic suggestions and enables specialist referral.

• Picture 1: From left to right - Madhukar Sharma (ASME India), Gopi Katragadda (Myelin Foundry), Arvind Badrinarayanan and Sumukh Mysore (MUSE Diagnostics), and James Creel (ASME).
• Picture 2: Team Taal Digital Stethoscope discusses the hardware validation of their innovation with ISHOW judges.

Resham Sutra “Unnati Solar Silk” (Delhi and Ranchi) – Unnati Solar Silk is a solar powered machine for reeling Tassar silk yarn, which grows in the forested areas of East India. Designed for some of the poorest and most remote parts of the country, Unnati increases efficiency in reeling silk and improves quality of life, especially for rural women who are primarily responsible for this work.

• Picture 1: From left to right - Madhukar Sharma (ASME India), Kiran Malali and Ratan Vaid (Resham Sutra), Ajay Muttreja (Tecnova, retired), and James Creel (ASME).
• Picture 2: Team Resham Sutra demonstrates how their Unnati Solar Silk Reeling Machine operates to ISHOW Judges.

Pictures of all ASME ISHOW winners can be viewed here.

ASME’s panel of judges includes a group of successful entrepreneurs, academics, and founders of venture-funded startup companies including Villgro, Henkel Adhesives Technologies India, Ankur Capital, Tecnova, Osteo3d, and Myelin Foundry. The panel was most impressed by the winners’ design innovations and their abilities to scale their products to market.   

“The extraordinary solutions put forward by today’s winners will undoubtedly allow us collectively to do more, and do better,” said Said Jahanmir, president of ASME. “Their display of creativity and ingenuity fully captures the spirit of ASME’s ISHOW and exemplifies engineering problem-solving that improves lives.”

In addition to the three grand prize winners, a “fan favorite” prize of $1,000 was awarded to the finalist team that received the most votes cast in social media. Tallshortree of Bengaluru won for its “B-Hue” innovation. B-Hue is India’s first low-cost, non-invasive hemoglobin tester to help detect cases of anemia, a significant health problem facing children and adults in India. The fan favorite prize is made possible and in memory ofByron G. Schieber Jr. M.S., P.E., Professor Emeritus of Queensborough Community College of The City University of New Yorkand Ruth L. Schieber.

“ASME congratulates and thanks all our winners and finalists for serving as catalysts of progress and social good,” noted Jahanmir. “By constantly seeking to innovate and disrupt the status quo, they are making a measurable difference for people around the world today and for generations to come.” 

For more information about this year’s ISHOW participants and winners, please visit ThisIsHardware.org.

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