UI, M.C. Ginsberg team up to offer prototyping services to aspiring inventors

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The journey from idea to marketable invention can be long and winding - but a new program from the University of Iowa hopes to make the first step a bit easier.

UI Protolabs, a new service organized by the UI's Office for the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and JPEC, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, will connect aspiring inventors with prototyping services. The service is available to the general public, as well as UI students, faculty and staff.

“It's very hard to go to an investor of any kind, unless you have something in hand," said Richard Hichwa, senior associate vice president for research at the UI.

If the invention comes from within the University of Iowa, and a committee made of the Protolabs staff, Hichwa and David Conrad, economic development director for the University of Iowa, decides the idea has economic development potential, JPEC will cover the labor costs for the prototyping service, meaning the inventor only has to pay for materials.

Two existing UI machine shops, in engineering and physics and astronomy, work together with M.C. Ginsberg's Advanced Design and Manufacturing on evaluating and creating prototypes for new devices.

Although all of these resources already existed in the community, they hadn't always worked together in the past, making it hard for researchers from other departments and community members to tap into their expertise.

“They were putting things together with string and bailing wire,” Hichwa said.

The services available include design work, advanced manufacturing capabilities, including 3D printing and limited software creation for device prototypes.

Being part of the UI allows Protolabs to go beyond simply making copies of objects. For example, on a prototype for an ankle brace, a researcher with a medical background was able to identify a potential problem in the initial design that would interfere with x-rays.

“There are other places that do prototyping – but I think the difference is, there's a lot of expertise that exists beyond the prototype lab that can be tapped at the university,” Hichwa said. "Prototyping is about the design, the materials, the functionality of it.”

Mark Ginsberg, owner of M.C. Ginsberg, believes the artistic eye also plays a role. Ginsberg's shop has been creating custom 3D models of medical devices for nearly 30 years, and has operated a 3D printer since 2003.

"We learned early on that the skills needed to custom design a piece of jewelry were the same skills needed for science," Ginsberg said. "We try to figure out both the function of the piece and the form of the piece."

Ginsberg credited Daniel Reed, who became the UI's vice president for research and economic development in 2012 for accelerating connections between the university and nearby private businesses like his. For decades, the advanced manufacturing side of his business grew through word of mouth.

"We're not mass producers - our sweet spot is one to 50 units," Ginsberg said.

UI Protolabs is a sibling program to UI Partners, which consults with businesses statewide on technical and business planning needs.

Read more about the groups behind Protolabs in this piece from the Iowa Centers for Enterprise: University of Iowa launches new prototyping program