Department of Energy Announces Manufacturing Hub by ADL Ventures as a Winner of the AIM Onshore Prize Competition

August 2, 2019

Boston, MA  – The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that ADL Ventures won the second prize of the American Inventions Made Onshore (AIM Onshore) competition. ADL Ventures won the $100,000 prize through the development of an online platform called Manufacturing Hub (www.manufacturinghub.io), which connects hardware innovators with educational content and the manufacturing partners that can help accelerate their path to market.

The overarching goal of Manufacturing Hub is to level the playing field for hardware product launches in the United States, making it as easy for hardware entrepreneurs to bring new products to market as it is for established companies. The content-rich digital platform provides searchable and scalable content specifically designed to support hardware innovators on their journey to commercialization.

“Manufacturing Hub is built on the foundational assumptions that entrepreneurs are resource-constrained, time-strapped, and hungry for on-demand answers to their questions,” said Chris Richardson, a Principal at ADL Ventures. “Given those assumptions, only a digital approach will scale.” 

Manufacturing Hub’s “Find a Partner” feature supports hardware entrepreneurs seeking to move from planning to action. Innovators visit Manufacturing Hub to engage with the content and then request to connect with a partner when they are ready to move from concept to reality. Only weeks into the site’s launch, 20 American innovator-vendor connections have been forged.

The source material for the content featured at Manufacturing Hub is the Department of Energy’s Build4Scale training curriculum. Build4Scale is a set of manufacturing fundamentals used to train technology innovators and help forge partnerships with domestic manufacturers. Manufacturing Hub was built to fully realize the goals of Build4Scale.

Eric Wisch, a Partner at ADL Ventures, said “The Department of Energy’s expanded effort to support America’s innovators beyond basic, high-risk R&D is needed and quite exciting. ADL is grateful for the support.”

About ADL Ventures

ADL Ventures (www.adlventures.com) has offices in San Francisco and Boston. The venture consultancy specializes in developing and deploying emerging technology-enabled business solutions for legacy sector companies. ADL Ventures launched Manufacturing Hub (www.manufacturinghub.io) to accelerate commercialization for hardware innovators and connect those innovators with forward-thinking American manufacturers. In addition to Manufacturing Hub, ADL Ventures also connects legacy sector corporates with the innovation ecosystem through its open innovation platform, ProblemSpace (www.problemspace.io). 

About Department of Energy Build4Scale

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Build4Scale training teaches manufacturing fundamentals to energy hardware innovators. The training provides scientists and engineers with the knowledge they need to assess manufacturing readiness, make and evaluate smart product design decisions, and engage with manufacturing partners.