Faced with limited funding and revenue, many startups must rely on building and testing physical prototypes to verify product performance, which often requires considerable financial and human resources. The physical prototyping process is also notoriously time-consuming, which increases barriers for winning the race to market against potential competitors. To overcome these challenges, entrepreneurs are using Ansys engineering simulation solutions to design and validate product performance with a minimum investment of time and cost.
The Ansys Startup Program equips the startup ecosystem with access to Ansys' broad portfolio of simulation solutions, bundled and affordably priced to help early-stage entrepreneurs grow their businesses quickly while stretching their funding further. This enables engineers to validate product performance and reliability within virtual environments — significantly reducing physical prototype tests.
The Onward Project, a recent addition to the Ansys Startup Program, leverages Ansys® Discovery™ to optimize the design of AdvenChair, a first-of-its-kind, all-terrain, human-powered wheelchair that blends an adjustable sit-ski seat with mountain bike technology to help riders traverse challenging wilderness trails.
"We created the AdvenChair so that people with mobility issues can continue enjoying the great outdoors, beyond where the pavement ends," said Geoff Babb, AdvenChairman of The Onward Project. "Upfront simulation is a necessity for us to make that vision a reality. We're implementing Ansys Discovery into our design process to reduce weight, maintain structural integrity and ultimately cut costs, resulting in a better, more budget-friendly product."
Firefly Aerospace joined the Ansys Startup Program in 2017, using a combination of Ansys solutions to design launch vehicles capable of taking small payloads to space. The company became a commercial Ansys customer in 2019 and still relies heavily on Ansys for everything from fluid dynamics to heat transfer to metallic propulsion hardware.
"At Firefly, our work is quite literally rocket science," said Tom Markusic, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. "It takes an enormous amount of simulation and modeling to design components that withstand the tremendous liftoff, flight and space environments. Leveraging the suite of Ansys tools allows us to ensure a design works with limited test iterations, providing up to $5 million in cost savings in engine cooling design, $10 million in increasing engine thrust and up to $500,000 in mass optimizations."
"Ansys views simulation as a superpower and, in many cases, startups are the true superheroes," said Prith Banerjee, chief technology officer at Ansys. "The Ansys Startup Program champions the next era of startup companies, equipping them with cutting-edge, cost-effective simulation solutions to pioneer new products that push the envelope of what's possible and quickly scale their businesses."
