Entrepreneurs from India Selected as Regional Winners by Hardware-led Social Innovation Accelerator

 
                                                                                                                             
NEW YORK, May 5, 2021 – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has announced the regional winners of the 2021 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), the prestigious international accelerator of hardware-led social innovation. Eight finalist teams of social innovators from throughout India presented their design prototypes in a virtual event held April 27-29. Three entrepreneurs emerged as regional winners who will share $30,000(USD) in seed grants and receive technical support to help bring their design innovations to market. They were announced earlier today in a virtual awards ceremony that featured keynote remarks by Ramana Gogula, vice president of clean technology innovation for Stanley Black & Decker.
 
The 2021 ASME ISHOW India winners are:
 

• 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
• 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.

“Social enterprises, now more than ever, need the support of the global impact community. Our hearts go out to those ISHOW India participants and their families who have been impacted personally by the current surge of the pandemic in their country,” 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.”

In addition to the three grand prize winners, the product with the most votes in social media for each regional event is named the “Fan Favorite,’’ and receives $1,000 (USD). 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. The 2021 ISHOW India “Fan Favorite” winner is PadCare Labs.
 
More information on the ISHOW India 2021 finalists can be found on the ASME ISHOW website. Virtual ISHOWs will be held for finalists from Africa (ISHOW Kenya), June 1-3, and for the Americas (ISHOW USA), July 13-15. 
 
“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, health diagnostics, safe drinking water, and many more that address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

ASME ISHOW annually matches up to 30 carefully selected innovators with curated industry 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 other ISHOW alumni including PayGo Energy, PlenOptika, Himalayan Rocket Stove, SAYeTECH and others here.

      

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.

    

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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Monica Shovlin
MCShovlin Communications LLC (for ASME)
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