Cambridge, MA – The Engine, built by MIT, announced the opening of The Engine at 750 Main, its new headquarters in Cambridge.
The Engine at 750 Main is the newest addition to The Engine’s spaces and infrastructure pillar and includes the breadth of labs, workshops, and capital-intensive tools Tough Tech founders need in the early stages of company creation, without the overhead of leasing and building out their own space. It will build on the success of The Engine’s Central Square, Cambridge location to draw a dense community of innovators whose proximity to one another and critical resources will bring solutions to market faster.
“The Engine at 750 Main is a physical manifestation of what we’ve learned over five years of cultivating and investing in the Tough Tech ecosystem,” said Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner of The Engine. “Tough Tech is deeply cross-functional, combining fields like biology with material science or industrial design with quantum computing. This is a rare commercial space where multi-disciplinary work can happen all in one place. We’ll learn from the companies and continue to scale our support to match their ambitions.”
Located between Cambridge’s Kendall and Central Squares, The Engine at 750 Main is purpose-built to foster the Tough Tech ecosystem. The facility, which is housed in the former Polaroid building, includes biology labs, chemistry labs, shared labs to rent by the bench, medium lab suites (25 benches) and large lab suites (45 benches). Fabrication and engineering spaces include a 3D printing lab, optics lab, laser cutter, electronics room, open shop space for prototyping and fabrication, and a large machine shop with multiple tools and welding capabilities. The building also offers traditional office and meeting room space and can host events for companies and their collaborators in an open theater for up to 350 people.
The Engine’s new headquarters are in a building owned and developed by MIT. As a part of the wider MIT ecosystem, The Engine at 750 Main is an independently operated facility open to anyone in the Tough Tech community. The building has space for 80-100 companies to rent space, creating a cluster and density of activity around new technology to drive more rapid innovation.
“One of our many goals is to give teams a place to grow here in Massachusetts, as they launch their Tough Tech businesses to the rest of the world, addressing global issues impacting the future of our planet and health. We have seen thousands of jobs created through these portfolio companies. Giving startups space, equipment, and infrastructure all in one location will continue to make Boston a hub for science and technology innovation,” added Rae.
Boston-based architecture teams developed the site: the interior of the space by Gensler, and the base building by Jacobs. Current residents of The Engine at 750 Main include The Engine’s portfolio companies: Kytopen, Cellino, Atlantic Quantum, Axoft, Osmoses, Mantel, Resonant Link, ISEE, Copernic Catalysts, C2Sense, FORAY Bioscience, and Foundation Alloy. Partners including AET, Cambridge Consultants, CSC Leasing, Desktop Metal, Eppendorf, Hilti, Nanolive, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Triumvirate are contributing state-of-the-art equipment to the facility.
