Providing entrepreneurial-minded inventors the ability to develop prototypes for a fraction of the cost is proving to be a big success at the LSU Innovation Park, Executive Director Charlie D’Agostino tells Business Report in a new feature.
In its first two years, the ProtoStripes Center has helped Louisiana entrepreneurs create more than 100 prototypes, ranging from industrial products to water filtration tools.
D’Agostino says between 60 and 80 companies have used the facility. The center now employs a second engineering student who can perform (Computer-Aided Design) and work the software.
Located at the LSU Innovation Park’s Louisiana Business & Technology Center, the center utilizes a three-stage process—feasibility, prototype design and commercialization—to help small businesses create working prototypes for potential investors. The center uses the Stratsys 3D printer, 3D scanner, laser cutter and various prototyping equipment.
Prototyping was much costlier for local entrepreneurs in the past. D’Agostino would typically send designs to a machine shop in Ohio or Michigan—a time-consuming, frustrating process taking as long as 60 days.
“If it didn’t work we’d have to send it back, taking another 30 to 45 days,” he says. “In the end, you needed about 90 to 120 days, and entrepreneurs were spending thousands of dollars in the process.”
At the ProtoStripes Center, a company can design a prototype with student assistance for about $100 plus the cost of materials—typically about $50.
Ted Martin, president of Baton Rouge-based Martin Ecosystems, says ProtoStripes was instrumental in the development and creation of his latest product, EcoBale. “It took a couple of rounds for us to meet and clean things up. …We needed a set of three-dimensional drawings so a welder could build it. It was well done and I was impressed,” Martin says.
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