This ISHOW Impact Measurement & Management (IMM) project was designed to strengthen ASME’s ability to track, evaluate, and showcase the long-term impact of ISHOW alumni ventures. Since 2015, ISHOW has supported over 240 hardware-led innovators across Africa, India, and the Americas, yet systematic follow-up has been inconsistent, leaving gaps in data and alumni engagement.
The objective was to help ASME strengthen ISHOW’s long-term IMM system by redesigning alumni surveys, improving data collection processes, piloting AI-enabled tools, and developing engagement pathways that capture both quantitative and qualitative outcomes. Collectively, these updates could improve data consistency, reduce response fatigue, create a foundation for automated alumni tracking, and richer storytelling about ISHOW’s global impact.
This project’s work began with a desk review of past IMM data, intake forms, and predecessors’ reports, which highlighted issues of inconsistent formatting, missing records, and a lack of standardized outreach. The Typeform survey was subsequently redesigned with clearer framing, confidentiality notes, and an interview scheduling link to reduce back-and-forth. The flow of questions was refined with semi-structured calls and internal review with ASME. Outreach through Mailchimp, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp, tested different engagement strategies, while AI exploration focused on assessing whether APIs and automated scrapers could supplement surveys with publicly available updates on venture progress.
The outcome of this project was a clearer and more consistent survey structure, richer qualitative stories that reveal venture progress, and a replicable framework for alumni engagement and long-term impact measurement. These outcomes addressed previous gaps in follow-up and set the foundation for more systematic and reliable tracking of ISHOW ventures.
The work resulted in an updated Typeform survey fully integrated with Mailchimp, creating both a streamlined data collection process and improved analytics on alumni engagement. An interview pipeline was established, targeting past finalists and winners for deeper qualitative insights. In parallel, a comprehensive internal and external report was developed.
Key technology/tools used: Google Suite, Typeform, Mailchimp, Canva
ASME ISHOW Impact Measurement Project
Image created by Esther Abel, ASME E4C Fellow 2025.
