Three entrepreneurs won places in the 2024 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Innovation Showcase (ASME ISHOW) India with technologies that store carbon in building materials, preserve food without refrigeration, and a wearable that treats urinary incontinence.
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ASME announced the regional winners of its international accelerator this week. Seven social ventures in India pitched their solutions and participated in a design and engineering review April 24 and 25 in Chennai. Three winners were selected and will receive a share of (USD) $30,000 in grants and technical support to help bring their products to market.
The 2024 ASME ISHOW India winners
CarbonCraft (Hubli, Karnataka, India) for its “CarbonCraft – Carbon emissions into building materials” – an efficient way to permanently store carbon emissions to develop tiles, aggregates, bricks, and other building materials
Periwinkle Labs Pvt. Ltd. (Bengaluru, Karnataka, India) for its “Ikshana” technology – a discreet wearable device that delivers electrical stimulation to treat urinary incontinence, which affects one in every three women over age 30. Periwinkle is a graduate of ASME IDEA LAB, an incubator for entrepreneurs in the earliest stages of ideation, design and development.
Saptkrishi Scientific Pvt. Ltd. (Bhagalpur, Bihar, India) for its “Sabjikothi” solution – a range of affordable storage that maintains freshness and extends the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables up to 30 days without chemicals, preservatives, or refrigerants, using only 20 watts of power (including solar) and a battery backup.
“Through the vision and creativity of these talented entrepreneurs and the guidance of expert mentors, ASME ISHOW and IDEA LAB are transforming groundbreaking ideas into market-ready products that improve lives,” ASME Executive Director Tom Costabile says.
Next steps
The 2024 ISHOW cohort will be invited to the annual ISHOW Bootcamp in the winter to receive a customized design and engineering review by experts curated to guide them as they scale to market. They will also have a chance to earn a second round of seed grants from ASME. They become part of the ISHOW alumni network, an international community of hardware innovators and stakeholders with exclusive access to experts and resources.
ASME ISHOW judges and facilitators include experts in research, sustainability, mechanical engineering and product design, manufacturing, startup financing, supply chain, and business strategy, representing organizations including Boeing India, Capgemini Invent, Design Direction Pvt. Ltd., IIITB Innovation Centre, NMIMS School of Design, SELCO Foundation, Uptycs, Villgro, Yostra Labs, and more. These subject matter experts provide technical and strategic guidance based on ISHOW’s five key pillars: customer/user knowledge, hardware validation, manufacturing optimization, implementation strategy, and impact.
ASME ISHOW hardware accelerator is open to individuals and organizations taking physical products to market that will have a positive social and environmental impact and that improve the quality of life around the world. ASME ISHOW annually matches up to 30 carefully selected innovators with experts to ensure the proposed hardware solutions are technologically, environmentally, culturally, and financially sustainable. To date, ISHOW has enabled more than 230 startups from more than 35 countries to solve quality-of-life challenges in 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.
Looking ahead to ASME ISHOW Kenya & USA
The application deadline is May 1 for innovators in Africa seeking consideration for ISHOW Kenya, an in-person event to be held June 19-20 in Nairobi. Applications are due June 1 for social entrepreneurs in the Americas seeking consideration for ISHOW USA, a virtual event scheduled for July 23-25. Three ventures selected at each event will join the ISHOW 2024 cohort.
In 2022, ASME launched the IDEA LAB incubator, extending the reach of the ISHOW hardware accelerator platform. With IDEA LAB, ASME moves upstream to aid budding social entrepreneurs in developing and implementing their impactful hardware concepts from the pre-prototype stage. IDEA LAB participants receive assistance and seed grants in bringing their concept to the prototyping stages of product development. Applications for IDEA LAB are open year-round and reviewed on a rolling basis.
ASME is grateful to The Lemelson Foundation for its continued support of the ISHOW with a multi-year strategic investment in the ASME and Engineering for Change ecosystem and to ISHOW implementation partners around the globe. Learn more about ISHOW’s global impact in this dynamic dashboard.
Follow the journeys of ISHOW alumni including GenH, PlenOptika, Himalayan Rocket Stove, SAYeTECH and others here.
This article is based on a press release by ASME ISHOW, and ASME is the parent organization of Engineering for Change.
