In a large open space on the first floor of 750 Cambridge Avenue, Massachusetts, a carbon capture company is heating molten salt to 600 degrees Celsius, next to a quantum computing company’s supercooled qubit device. The difference within 15 feet is approximately 900 degrees.
It doesn’t take long after visiting The Engine Accelerator to realize that this is no typical coworking space. Companies here are working extremely hard to develop new technologies with world-changing impact—what the leaders of Engine Accelerator call “hard technologies.”
The new 150,000-square-foot, four-story space is adjacent to the MIT campus and provides startups with specialized laboratory equipment, advanced processing and manufacturing facilities, office space and a range of startup support services.
The goal is to provide young companies that merge science and engineering with all the resources they need to move their ideas from the laboratory bench to their own large-scale production lines.
“Infrastructure has always been a very important enabler for companies like this to get up and running,” said Emily Knight, president of Engine Accelerator. “Now you can start a company and start building it on day one. Real estate is a big factor. The idea is, let’s invest in infrastructure for founders. It’s a flexible lease, Allowing them to be very flexible in their development process.”
Since the new facility opened in summer 2022, the accelerator has welcomed approximately 100 companies and employs nearly 1,000 people. In addition to the space, members can attend educational workshops on topics such as fundraising and recruiting, events and networking opportunities, which the accelerator team hopes will foster a sense of community among people working throughout the tough tech space.
“We’re not just advocates for startups in this space,” Knight said. “We are advocates for hard technology overall. We think it’s important for Massachusetts to have a strong technology hub here, and we think it’s important for state competitiveness.”
Tough technology finds a home
The Engine was spun off from MIT in 2016 as a public benefit corporation with a mission to bridge the gap between discovery and commercialization. Since its inception, it has featured an investment segment (now called Engine Ventures) and a shared services segment.
From the moment The Engine opened its doors to startups at its original headquarters on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, the Services team saw firsthand the unique challenges faced by tough tech startups. After speaking with the founders, they realized the remodeled office space needed more power, sturdier floors, and full lab accommodations.
The team rose to the challenge. They turned a closet into a biology lab. They turned an unused wellness room into a laser lab. They managed to adapt Commonwealth Fusion Systems when the founders notified them that a 5,000-pound magnet was arriving for testing.
But backing ambitious founders building world-changing companies always requires a bigger boat. Back in 2017, MIT leaders were considering converting the old Polaroid Building, which had sat vacant for nearly 20 years next to the MIT campus, into a new home for cutting-edge technology.
Speaking of difficulties, construction crews began extensive building renovations on the accelerator in late 2019, months before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The team managed to avoid the worst of the supply chain disruption, but they soon discovered that the building had its quirks. Each floor has a different ceiling height, and huge columns known as mushroom columns adorn each floor.
Based on conversations with the founders, The Engine’s Accelerator team outfitted the renovated building with offices and co-working spaces, a full machine shop, biology and chemistry work labs, a range of 3D printers, bike storage, and perhaps most importantly Cold storage tap water for brewing.
“I think Accelerator is a really great Airbnb host, not a landlord, maybe you rent a bedroom in a big house, but you feel like you’re renting the whole house because you have access to all kinds of amazing equipment,” Says Bernardo Cervantes ’20, Ph.D., co-founder of Concerto Biosciences, a company that is developing microorganisms for a variety of uses in human health and agriculture.
The Engine Accelerator team thanked MIT leadership for helping them manage the project, noting that MIT’s Office of Environment, Health, and Safety was particularly helpful.
A week after the accelerator opened in August 2022, 35 companies were registered on one sweltering day. By 2023, the accelerator has 55 companies. Since then, the accelerator team has done their best to continue growing.
“One time, one of our team members came up to me with his tail between his legs and sheepishly said, ‘I gave our office space to a startup,'” Knight recalled. “I said yes! That means you got it! We don’t need an office – we can sit anywhere.”
The first floor houses some of the largest machines, including a molten salt device (developed by Mantel Capture) and a quantum computer (developed by Atlantic Quantum). At the next level, machine shops and manufacturing spaces are equipped with every 3D printer imaginable, giving companies a way to quickly build prototype products or parts. Another level, known as the “Avenue”, houses the kitchen and tables for socializing and occasional meetings. The avenue is lined with huge garage doors that open to accommodate larger crowds for seminars and meeting spaces.
“Even though the founders are working in different spaces, we wanted to create an area where people could connect and engage with each other and get help with 3D printing, recruiting or other things,” Knight said. “It promotes the casual interactions that are so important to startups.”
Ecosystems that change the world
Only about one-fifth of the companies in the accelerator space are Engine Ventures portfolio companies. The two entities operate independently, but they bring together common knowledge to support difficult technologies, and Engine Ventures has an office in the accelerator’s space.
Engine Ventures CEO Katie Rae sees it as a symbiotic partnership.
“We need to provide all these powerful services to everyone in high-tech, not just portfolio companies,” Ray said. “We will always work together to host tough tech summits because of our overarching mission. It’s a lot like a rising tide that lifts all boats. All of these companies are trying to change the world in their own verticals, so we just focus on the impact they’re trying to have, and Make it a story.”
Rae said MIT helped both teams at The Engine think about the best ways to support struggling tech startups.
“As an MIT partner, MIT understands innovation and security better than anyone, which allows us to accept more and have more flexibility,” Rae said. “If you want to solve global problems at breakneck speed, you better have a mindset of getting the job done quickly and safely, and I think that’s a core tenet of the engine.”
At the same time, Knight said her team hasn’t stopped learning from the tough tech community and will continue to adapt.
“There’s a cascade of information coming from these companies,” Knight said. “It’s about iterating our services to best support them so that we can go to the people on our team and ask, ‘Can you learn to run this? type of program, because we just learned these five founders needed it? ‘Every founder we know in the area has a badge so they can come in. We want to create a high-tech hub within this Kendall Square area, which is already a hub in many ways. “