Water was the theme among the winners of the US division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) 2022. Innovations in hydropower, rainwater harvesting and a portable shower for underserved communities won the third and final regional ISHOW competition of the year. The winners will share (USD) $30,000 in seed grants and receive technical support to help bring their innovations to market.
To get here, the winners competed against five other teams of social innovators in a pool of eight finalists from the United States, Peru and Uganda. They presented their design prototypes in a virtual event held June 19-27. The winners were announced earlier today in a virtual awards ceremony that featured keynote remarks by Vidyut Mohan, co-founder and CEO of Takachar, Echoing Green Fellow, Earthshot Prize winner, and 2019 ISHOW finalist.
The 2022 ASME ISHOW USA winners are
GenH (Boston, Massachusetts, USA): “Adaptive Hydro™”– A rapidly deployable, modular hydropower system designed to electrify non-powered dams and canal heads without construction or investment in fixed infrastructure.
LivingWaters Systems (Hoboken, New Jersey, USA): “The LivingWaters System” – A portable, low-cost rainwater harvesting system to ensure refugees and off-grid families have access to renewable, clean water at their doorstep.
Wayru Perú (Lima, Peru): “Wayru Portable Shower” – Made for families without access to a public water network, the design functions without any electrical or pipe connection, is portable and multifunctional for washing hands, clothes, and showering with less than 10 liters.
“Social enterprises, now more than ever, need the support of the global impact community,” says Iana Aranda, President of Engineering for Change and Director of ASME’s Engineering Global Development sector that houses ISHOW. “Social entrepreneurs around the world, including many ISHOW ventures, are on the frontlines of crisis response and the advancement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We are aggressively focused on providing these innovators with accessible platforms for capacity building, expert engagement and co-design of scaling strategies suited for today’s dynamic markets. Ensuring their success 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 (USD) $1000. This prize is made possible and in memory of Byron G. Schieber Jr. M.S., PE, Professor Emeritus QCCNY, and Ruth L. Schieber. The 2022 ISHOW USA “Fan Favorite” winner is also one of the three winning teams, Wayru Perú.
ASME hosted ISHOW India online in May and a virtual ISHOW Kenya in June. More information on the ISHOW USA 2022 finalists can be found on the ASME ISHOW website.
The ASME ISHOW hardware accelerator is open to individuals and organizations developing physical products that will have a positive social or environmental impact and that improve the quality of life around the world. To date, ISHOW has enabled more than 200 startups from more than 30 countries to solve critical quality-of-life challenges for vulnerable populations worldwide. ISHOW alumni have developed affordable devices to address issues including clean combustion, crop threshing, fetal health, food waste prevention, health diagnostics, safe drinking water, and many more that address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
ASME ISHOW annually matches 24 carefully selected innovators with appropriate 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, the United States, and beyond. 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. Learn more about ISHOW’s global impact in this dynamic dashboard.
Hear from the ISHOW 2021 cohort about their experiences. Follow the journeys of ISHOW alumni including PayGo Energy in the video below, as well as PlenOptika, Himalayan Rocket Stove, SAYeTECH and others here.
This article was adapted from a press release by ASME ISHOW.
