Simpson Carpenter are Aura Awards 2026 Innovation of the Year Finalists

Simpson Carpenter shortlisted for Aura’s Innovation of the Year for Quasai

We are proud to share that Simpson Carpenter has been shortlisted for Aura’s Innovation of the Year Award for Quasai, our avatar moderated research fieldwork platform.

For us, innovation is not technology for its own sake, but finding better, more responsible ways to understand people. Quasai was built around a simple belief: better insight starts by creating the conditions for different people to feel engaged, comfortable and able to express themselves fully.

Quasai enables live, natural conversations with real participants using a hyperreal AI avatar, while keeping objectives, ethics, quality checks and interpretation firmly in researchers’ hands.

The Auras mean a great deal to us. These awards celebrate the best of client-side insight, and nominations are made by clients themselves. For any research business, there are few better endorsements than being put forward by the people who use the work to make decisions and create action.

A huge thank you to our partners at M&S Fashion, Home & Beauty, whose openness and ambition helped make the project possible. Together, we used Quasai to help move footwear planning from category led to occasion led thinking. We are also delighted that Benedict Kenney from M&S Fashion, Home & Beauty has been shortlisted for Most Inspiring Online Client Speaker for the same work — a well-deserved recognition of his generosity in sharing what the team has learned and to help move the industry conversation forward.

It’s to see such thoughtful and varied work recognised across the shortlist; congratulations to all our fellow finalists this year.

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