3DFortify, a start-up created in Northeastern professor Randall Erb's lab, was awarded the $50,000 “Gold” prize in this year's MassChallenge Boston awards ceremony. 3DFortify creates the highest known resolution composites to date through a combination of 3-D printing and magnetics. The company was one of 26 finalists, of a total 1,700 initial competitors, in the MassChallenge Boston accelerator program.
3DFortify aims to develop a new kind of customer-focused high performance products for a range of industry applications. Inside Erb's lab, the 3DFortify team uses their patented technology involving a combination of magnetic fields and carbon fibers and custom 3-D printers to create high-resolution 3-D composites.
Some of their current projects include lightweight, but strong, airplane components and sturdy, custom prosthetics.
Although it launched less than a year ago, 3DFortify credits Northeastern's entrepreneurial ecosystem in their rapid acceleration. Citing their success because of resources like IDEA, Northeastern's student-run venture accelerator and the Venture Mentoring Network, which matches students, faculty, and alumni with seasoned alumni and other industry professionals.
Phillip Gregory, MBA'16, is one of the six members of the 3DFortify team. He believes the start-up is a testament to the real-world experience and acceleration students can experience at Northeastern and “points to the talent and tenacity of our students in both STEM and Business programs.”