About Hardware Park

Hardware Park (HP) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that was formed in 2017 with an eye toward the future of designing, engineering, and manufacturing physical products.

HP resides at the former home of the Long-Lewis Hardware store and distribution center. The two-block property was renamed Hardware Park after it was purchased by Cornerstone Revitalization Group, LLC. The nonprofit work began in earnest on June 1, 2022 when Dr. Mark Conner was hired as the Executive Director.

In response to recent reports from the Brookings Institution, Hoover Institution, and Deloitte to leverage the strengths of Birmingham's medical community, our primary response was creating the Medical Device Center at Hardware Park, combining our team's experience in medical devices and Birmingham's manufacturing history.

Developing and commercializing MedTech devices is multilayered and multidisciplinary. The likelihood is low that a single founder, small startup team, or even single design and engineering company would have the complete expertise required to develop a market-ready MedTech device, navigate regulatory pathways, and successfully commercialize the product on their own.

Hardware Park is building an ecosystem of designers, engineers, consultants, and specialists to dramatically increase the likelihood of successful product development and commercialization in the MedTech sector.

How the Medical Device Startup Program Works:

Our technical assistance program functions like a grant with guardrails. When a concept is submitted, Hardware Park's staff vets it through market research, competitive analysis, and initial meetings with appropriate ecosystem partners. When a project becomes a candidate for funded technical assistance, we formally match the founder with the right ecosystem partner(s) and begin an initial engagement.

Every project that receives technical assistance goes through three initial phases:

1. A Feasibility Study assesses the intellectual property, technical, clinical, regulatory, and manufacturing feasibility.
2. For projects deemed feasible, the development team conducts a Strategy Engagement to create an initial product roadmap encompassing strategies for intellectual property, regulatory pathways, potential partnerships, and product development.
3. Finally, our research partner conducts a Fundability Assessment to determine the startup's potential to receive additional non-dilutive funding through SBIR/STTR and other federal programs.

Positive outcomes from these initial engagements open the possibility of extended technical assistance focused on product development. This often includes multiple ecosystem partners working over months rather than weeks, with larger budgets than the initial engagements. Hardware Park provides project management throughout, coordinating communication between founders and development partners. All work is conducted under non-disclosure agreements, and Hardware Park pays development partners directly on behalf of the startup.

Current Activity:

Since February 2025, we've received 28 concept submissions, with 19 coming from individuals or teams who had yet to form a company. Of these, 14 concepts are currently receiving assistance or being evaluated—7 from yet-to-be-formed companies. The submissions break down as 4 from clinical founders, 2 from university founders (from different universities), 6 from community founders, and 2 from student founders representing 7 total students from 2 universities.

Eleven of the 14 are first-time founders or founding teams. Most have other full-time obligations and no background in design and engineering. They come to us with no market research, competitive analysis, or framework for a business plan. Four new MedTech device companies have already formed because of the support available through Hardware Park, including two by teams of undergraduate founders from two universities, one with majority female ownership.

Progress Takes Years Not Months:

The required time and cost to bring a MedTech device to market depends on the complexity of the product, regulatory requirements, supply chain alignment, contract manufacturing, and numerous other variables. Time to market and revenue is measured in years, not months, and investors are usually uninterested until a product has been significantly de-risked.

Providing an extended non-dilutive runway is an essential part of helping MedTech device companies succeed. Many of the projects currently receiving technical assistance are candidates for SBIR and STTR grants. The cyclical nature of these funding programs means that startups may find themselves in extended waiting periods between submitting a proposal, the submission deadline, notification of an award, and access to funds.

For companies with strong potential to acquire additional non-dilutive funding, our technical assistance program provides bridge funding to make meaningful progress during those waiting periods.

Hardware Park does not seek equity in the startups we serve. Taking equity at such an early stage would not benefit the company, and most situations in which equity investments yield a return are at odds with the goal of keeping these MedTech device companies in Alabama.

The Rapid Prototyping & Electronics Center currently includes two production-quality 3D printers (one filament, one resin), an electronics prototyping area, an electronics testing laboratory, a 1,700-square-foot subtractive prototyping area with initial hand and floor-mounted tools, and access to a large-format CNC machine for wood and soft materials.

We're developing an IoT platform in collaboration with local software partners to address common needs we're seeing across multiple startups. Many concepts submitted have IoT functions including transmitting sensor data to the cloud, applying machine learning to develop algorithms for detecting anomalies, analyzing data in real time, storing data, and visualizing data via web-based and smartphone applications. Creating a single software platform for these common needs will save development time for startups and optimize the use of technical assistance funds.

In 2024, Hardware Park validated a model for working with undergraduate engineering and industrial design students through three cohorts of NextGen MedTech device interns. Since most universities do not have a model for full-time internships outside of the summer semester, our spring and fall cohorts were part-time interns from the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Engineering.

A total of 18 students ranging from second-semester freshmen to last-semester seniors across multiple disciplines participated in the two part-time cohorts. The full-time summer cohort was eight weeks and included eight engineering students and two industrial design students from three Alabama universities—Tuskegee University, Auburn University, and UAB.

In the proposed Year 2 program, undergraduate interns will be hired for project-specific roles and work as paraprofessionals under the guidance and oversight of Hardware Park staff and ecosystem partners. This enables us to provide lower-cost assistance for project components that do not require a professional designer or engineer.

Located at 811 5th Avenue North, Hardware Park is situated two city blocks west of I-65, serving as a cornerstone of innovation within Birmingham's historic Smithfield neighborhood and the larger Smithfield community.

Smithfield has a deep-rooted history tied to African American entrepreneurship dating back to the 1890s. Many middle-class and influential African Americans, including A. G. Gaston and Wallace Rayfield, lived in Smithfield and started businesses in and around the neighborhood in the 1890s and early 1900s.

The Smithfield community is also home to ‘Dynamite Hill’, an area once marred by racial violence. Dynamite Hill was subjected to a series of bombings aimed at intimidating African Americans and Civil Rights advocates in the mid-20th century.

Dynamite Hill's history speaks volumes about the courage of its residents, who successfully resisted violent intimidation to bring about transformative change. Historians estimate that as many as 40 bombings occurred between 1940-1960. 

The A. H. Parker High School is approximately 4 blocks north of Hardware Park. Originally named the ‘Industrial High School’, the school was Birmingham’s first public high school for African American students. It was later renamed in honor of its founding principal, Dr. Arthur Harold Parker.

We are excited to establish Smithfield as a modern center for physical product innovation and join the efforts of others, like Freshwater Land Trust, in revitalizing Smithfield.