Three years ago, following the commercial failure of its proprietary air-cooling technology, Malvern-based Radicle Development Center found new life by shifting focus, writes Holly Quinn for Technical.ly.
It achieved this by converting its 50,000 square-foot facility to support early-stage startups that were moving from hardware prototypes to field-ready systems. “The specific technology wasn’t ready for prime time, but our team became really good at applications engineering,” said Radicle CEO Gary Ezekian. “There are a lot of other startups working on new technologies that we could help from our facility.”
A close-knit group of long-term private investors funded the transition, shifting emphasis from a proprietary product to the team’s wider engineering capabilities.
The company has collaborated with over a dozen startups and researchers, turning their prototypes into pilot-scale systems ready for testing.
With 15 employees, mostly engineers, Radicle manages diverse prototype projects, from built-to-print sheet metal work for aerospace platforms to acting as a product development arm for solo startups leveraging technology from national labs.
Ezekian described the company’s mission as bridging a gap in the hardware ecosystem.
“We’re trying to fill a missing piece in the marketplace of what comes after the makerspace,” he said.
Read more about Radicle Development Center’s new mission for improvement in Technical.ly.
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