Apply: ASME ISHOW Accelerator for Innovators

For the 2023 ASME Innovation Showcase, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is now seeking applications from social entrepreneurs who are specializing in hardware innovations.

The esteemed global hardware accelerator is available to people and businesses bringing physical goods to market that will have a positive social and/or environmental effect and that enhance quality of life all over the world.

A prototype should already exist, and applicants should be interested in gaining financial and technical support as well as access to expert networks that may help them launch their product. The rigorous review process used by ISHOW provides product exposure, guidance, and technical insights to ASME ISHOW finalists. A share of $200,000 in seed funding, in-kind assistance, design services, travel stipends, and marketing and business development assets will be available to finalists.

Out of the hundreds of submissions received each year, eight finalists are selected for each of the three regional competitions. For entrepreneurs in India and the Asia Pacific region who want to be considered for ISHOW India, the application deadline is February 7. As part of ASME India Innovation Week, a weeklong schedule of events for engineering educators, students, and entrepreneurs April 1-4 in Bengaluru, ISHOW India finalist will be invited to make their presentations.

ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile commented, “We are happy to provide a venue for technical problem-solving that actually improves lives.” “The ASME ISHOW participants’ unique skill and dedication to serving underprivileged communities around the world never ceases to astound us. When we return to Bengaluru in the spring, we look forward to interacting in person with the country’s thriving engineering community.

Innovations in the Middle East and Africa must submit their applications by April 14 in order to be considered for ISHOW Kenya, a virtual event that will take place from June 6–14. Social entrepreneurs in the Americas must submit their applications by June 1 in order to be considered for ISHOW USA, which will take place in July. At each event, three businesses will be chosen to become part of the ISHOW 2023 cohort.

Iana Aranda, director of ASME’s Engineering Global Development sector, which houses ISHOW, asserts that social entrepreneurs “require the assistance of the global impact community today more than ever.” “Social entrepreneurs are in the forefront of disaster response and the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations all around the world, including several ISHOW ventures. We have a laser-like focus on giving these innovators accessible forums for capacity building, expert involvement, and co-design of scaling strategies suitable for the fast-moving markets of today. Their success must be ensured at all costs.

The 2023 ISHOW cohort will be invited to the annual ISHOW Bootcamp in the autumn where they will receive a thorough and personalized assessment of their engineering and design from professionals who have been brought in to help them as they scale to market.

Additionally, they will be eligible for a second round of ASME seed grants. They join the international community of hardware innovators and stakeholders known as the ISHOW alumni network, which has access to special resources and expertise.

ASME Up to 24 carefully chosen innovators are paired annually with the right engineering experts by ISHOW to make sure the suggested hardware solutions are financially, environmentally, culturally, and technologically viable. Successful businesspeople, academics, engineers, designers, investors, and industry executives from eminent organizations in India, Kenya, and the US make up ASME’s team of judges and experts. Based on ISHOW’s four main pillars of customer/user knowledge, hardware validation, production optimization, and implementation strategy, these subject-area experts offer technical and strategic advice.

The ISHOW hardware accelerator platform’s reach was increased earlier this year when ASME introduced the Idea Lab incubator.

With Idea Lab, ASME advances “upstream” to support aspiring social entrepreneurs in creating and putting into practice their pre-prototype social impact hardware ideas. In summer 2023, applications for the Idea Lab class of 2023–2024 will be accepted.

Across 200 companies from more than 30 nations have been given the opportunity by ISHOW to date to address significant problems with quality of life for vulnerable communities all over the world. The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals are advanced by the affordable gadgets that ISHOW alumni have created to address important challenges linked to clean combustion, crop threshing, fetal health, food waste prevention, health diagnostics, safe drinking water, and many more.

The Lemelson Foundation, as well as the ISHOW implementation partners located all over the world, have continued to support the initiative with a three-year strategic commitment, for which ASME is thankful. In this interactive dashboard, find out more about ISHOW’s global impact.

Visit this page to follow the careers of ISHOW alums PayGo Energy, PlenOptika, Himalayan Rocket Stove, SAYeTECH, and more.