Eight Entrepreneurs Selected as Regional Finalists in Africa for Premier Social Innovation Accelerator
Sustainable Agriculture, Green Construction, Medical Diagnostics and Treatment Devices, and Reliable Water Supply Among Causes Tackled by 2021 ASME ISHOW Regional Finalists
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has announced the regional finalists of the 2021 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), the premier international accelerator of hardware-led social innovation. Eight social innovators from Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda will present their design prototypes in a virtual event held June 1-3.
The ISHOW Kenya finalists, whose innovations address issues including sustainable agriculture, green construction, medical diagnostics and treatment devices, and reliable water supply, will pitch their prototypes at 7 p.m. East Africa Time/noon Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, June 1 via web conference. ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile will welcome participants to the virtual event. (Journalists on assignment to cover the event can request login information by emailing media contact below.)
The finalists will vie for a share of $30,000 in seed grants and technical support to help bring their design innovations to market. An esteemed panel of judges will privately interview each finalist as part of an extensive design and engineering review and then will choose three hardware innovations as grand prize winners. The regional finalists are:
- MeDevice Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya) for its “AfriVent” solution—a fully featured, lower cost ventilator, pulse oximeter, and other accessory devices with telemetry for remote access, as well as connectivity for data collection capability, to treat respiratory illnesses including COVID-19
- Aqualoo Technologies (Nairobi, Kenya) for its “Concrete Foam Generator”—a device that makes Air Crete, a mixture of cement, water and foam used to create robust building materials that are lightweight, non-toxic, inexpensive, fireproof, insect proof and unharmed by moisture.
- Dent Agrisystems (Accra, Ghana) for its “Hwesomame Weather Update Service”—a self-supporting climate observation system that provides analyzed data on weather parameters, giving farmers highly personalized and tailor-made recommendations on weather via SMS to help them make informed decisions and lower their production risks.
- FootMo Kit Technologies (Kampala, Uganda) for its “FootMo Kit”—a low-cost, hand-held, IoT, machine-learning, and wearable device used by farmers to conduct routine checkups, diagnose animal diseases, and help support early and timely treatment in livestock in hard to reach and underserved areas.
- Infitech Lab Ltd. (Tarkwa, Ghana) for its “Aquaset”—a multifunctional device that monitors water in the aquifer and water level in the water storage system. It evaluates and automatically controls water pump actions so that these pumps deliver exact volumes of water needed to fill water storage tanks, preventing overflow, and ensuring sustainable water withdrawal from the aquifer.
- Mobile Scan Solutions Uganda Limited (Kampala, Uganda) for its “M-SCAN” innovation—a portable ultrasound device that works on laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
- Solakilimo Solutions (Nairobi, Kenya) for its “Solar-powered Cold Rooms”— providing sustainable, lower cost cold storage for fish, fruit, and vegetable farmers on a pay-as-you-preserve model to help reduce post-harvest losses.
- Tech Era (Accra, Ghana) for its “Watre.io“—`a digital water distribution ecosystem manager that acts as a network orchestrator between users of water and private water distributors in urban areas by using data from its water level tracking sensor and software to ensure customers don’t run out of water by prompting them to order water at the appropriate time.
