Eight Entrepreneurs in Africa Selected as Regional Finalists for Premier Social Innovation Accelerator, Held Virtually June 6-14

2023 ASME ISHOW regional finalists address issues including affordable healthcare and agricultural technology, sustainable building, energy and transportation solutions
 

NEW YORK (May 30, 2023) – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has announced the regional finalists of the 2023 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), the prestigious international accelerator of hardware-led social innovation. Eight teams of social innovators from throughout Africa will present their design prototypes and participate in an extensive design and engineering review in a virtual event beginning June 6. Three regional winners will be announced in a virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday, June 14 at 12 p.m. EST/7 p.m. EAT. Register here.

The ISHOW Kenya finalists, whose innovations address issues including affordable healthcare and agricultural technology, and sustainable construction, energy, and transportation solutions, will vie for a share of $30,000 in seed grants and technical support to help bring their design innovations to market for the benefit of underserved communities.
The regional finalists are:

• Alcoford Corporation (Lomé, Togo) for its “Dehydrated cost-effective ethanol process” – an innovative process that converts cassava and post-harvest losses into ethanol through intervention of multilevel distillation technology helping women farmers earn better
• A-Lite Uganda Limited (Mbarara, Uganda) for its “A-Lite Vein Locator” – a non-invasive medical device that uses red light to provide easy access to patients’ veins
• Carbon Zero Mobility Ltd. (Nairobi, Kenya) for its “Dominion-EV” – an electric vehicle providing sustainable transport to revolutionize the African e-mobility sector.
• ClearExhaust LLC (Doha, Qatar) for its “Smokeless exhaust tube” – a diesel engine filter capable of eliminating 100% of smoke emissions and reducing other greenhouse gases by ~30%
• Ecolife Foods (Wakiso, Uganda) for its “Ecolife iTES Cold Store” innovation – an affordable, sustainable cold room storage solution that reduces post-harvest crop loss for rural farmers in Uganda and is made of locally sourced and recycled materials
• I4Well Health Technologies (Kampala, Uganda) for its “iWell” product – a low-profile wearable device that accurately measures blood pressure
• Timao Group (Nairobi, Kenya) for its “PORESI Builder” innovation – that produces polymer-sand building materials to address Africa’s climate change and housing crisis using a modular design that enables quick-build structures ranging from homes to shops and classrooms, providing affordable and durable building solutions
• wekebere company limited (Kampala, Uganda) for its “AI-powered wearable device” – a prenatal care technology combining connected devices and data analytics to reassure and empower mothers and provide doctors with tools and information to better predict and manage pregnancy concerns.

“We are proud to offer a forum for engineering problem-solving that truly improves lives,” says ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile. “We are continually impressed by the creative talent of ASME ISHOW participants, their focus on sustainable solutions, and their passion for helping underserved communities around the world.”
 
The prestigious ASME ISHOW 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. 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. To date, ISHOW has enabled over 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 judges and facilitators include experts in research, mechanical engineering and product design, manufacturing, startup financing, supply chain, and business strategy, representing organizations including Gearbox, Philips, Villgro Africa 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.

The ISHOW Kenya virtual awards ceremony will feature a keynote address by Joseph Murabula of the Kenya Climate Innovation Center based in Nairobi.

In addition to the three regional winners, the product with the most votes in social media for each regional event will be named the “Fan Favorite,” and those 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. 
 
ASME hosted ISHOW India in Bengaluru as part of ASME Innovation Weekend India in April and will host ISHOW USA for finalists from the Americas, July 18-26. 

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 the ISHOW 2022 cohort about their experiences. Follow the journeys of ISHOW alumni including PayGo Energy, PlenOptika, Himalayan Rocket Stove, SAYeTECH and others here.
 
     @ASMEISHOW  #ISHOW23  #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. In 2020, ASME 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, and later established the holding company, Global Knowledge Solutions LLC. In 2021, ASME launched a second for-profit subsidiary, Metrix Connect LLC, an industry events and content platform to accelerate Additive Manufacturing in the engineering community. For more information, visit www.asme.org.

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About the ASME Foundation
The ASME Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, supporting an array of programs in three core pillars: engineering education, career engagement, and global development. With the goal of empowering tomorrow's technical workforce, the ASME Foundation advances equitable access both to professional opportunities and to engineering innovations that improve quality of life.  For more information, visit www.asmefoundation.org.
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