Simpson Carpenter's Quasai shortlisted for the ASC/MRS Award for Best Technology Innovation 2026

With the announcement of the MRS Award Finalists 2026, we are delighted that Quasai, Simpson Carpenter’s avatar-moderated research platform, has been shortlisted for the ASC/MRS Award for Best Technology Innovation 2026.

Organised by the Association for Survey Computing (ASC) in partnership with MRS, the award recognises technology that has demonstrated an improvement in the effectiveness of market, opinion or social research. It assesses how the technology performs in real research settings.

Developed by our researchers and developers, Quasai enables real participants to speak freely with a humanoid AI moderator. Instead of following strict scripts, Quasai's conversational engine follows research objectives while adapting its questions to participants’ answers, probing unclear descriptions and exploring the experiences behind them - all with a hyperreal avatar interface to sustain attention and encourage accountability.

Informed by the input of domain experts with decades of research experience, Quasai brings together technical capability and moderator craft, shaping how a question is asked, when to probe and how to help someone feel comfortable all matter. Researchers guide the discussion design, monitor fieldwork, check quality and interpret the findings. We also continue to test and refine Quasai, drawing on research evidence and participant feedback to improve the experience of taking part.

Thank you to the team behind Quasai, our client collaborators, our partners, and the thousands of participants who have helped shape its development so far. Congratulations to all our fellow finalists.

The winner will be announced at the MRS Awards on 7 December 2026.

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