Impact.Engineered Awards Recognize Innovators and Influencers in the Sustainable Development Ecosystem Who are Helping to Improve Life in Underserved Communities

NEW YORK (Dec. 2, 2021) – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)’s Engineering for Change (E4C) today hosted its fifth annual Impact.Engineered, a celebration of the sustainable development ecosystem that convenes leading engineers, philanthropists, scholars, and social entrepreneurs who are working to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and improve the quality of life globally. Event highlights included the launch of the Idea Lab incubator, extending the reach of the ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) hardware accelerator platform, and the announcement of the winners of the 2021 Impact.Engineered Awards.

With the addition of the Idea Lab incubator, ASME moves “upstream” to aid budding social entrepreneurs in developing and implementing their social impact hardware concepts from the pre-prototype stage and filling the pipeline for future ISHOW participants. The prestigious ISHOW international accelerator of hardware-led social innovation has enabled over 180 startups from more than 30 countries to solve critical quality-of-life challenges for underserved communities worldwide. The 2021 ISHOW cohort exhibited their innovations in the event’s virtual Tech Gallery.

Keith Roe, former president of ASME and current chair of the philanthropy committee, made the Idea Lab announcement and, with his wife Elizabeth “Brownie” Roe, donated $100,000 to help launch the program. They invite others to join them in investing in Idea Lab, “so life changing innovations don’t get stalled on the drawing board.” Applications will open in April 2022 and interested individuals and teams, as well as potential partners and mentors, can learn more at https://thisishardware.org/ideas.

Kara Miller, The Boston Globe columnist and former host of public radio’s “Innovation Hub,” emceed the Impact.Engineered virtual awards ceremony featuring the “best of the best” in five categories. This year’s winners are:

• For the Ecosystem Builder award: 

â�‹â�‹â�‹â�‹â�‹â�‹â�‹Bahaa Eddine Sarroukh, healthcare innovation lead at the Philips Foundation and senior advisor on innovation and technology to the UN Development Programme in Kenya – With the Philips Foundation, he explores health technologies such as telehealth, point-of-care diagnostics, and dedicated solutions for low-resource settings, with the aim to build the evidence and insights that can help create a platform from which healthcare solutions can scale to larger impact in a sustainable way. Sarroukh serves on the ASME Engineering Global Development Committee, ISHOW Steering Committee and has been an ISHOW judge since the program’s inception in 2015.  He has lent his expertise to social ventures in the Climate Innovation Center network and connects his UN Habitat colleagues to the E4C Fellowship program to advance their sustainability goals.