It is a long, arduous journey to turn an idea into a commercially viable product. We know, we’ve done it, both for our own portfolio and for some of the 50 clients that we have served. We have the experience and stand ready to provide the resources to get through design, development and testing.
What is “HardTech”?

A typical incubator or accelerator provides office space and mentoring mostly for software development. They help aspiring entrepreneurs with market analysis, financial modeling, and pitch development to gain seed and angel funding. We on the other hand, provide a nurturing environment and the equipment, space and engineering mentorship dedicated to designing and building the “hard” physical innovations of this world, things like:

  • Linear motor driven subsea safety valves
  • The Mars Rover power board design
  • Swimmer rescue rebreathers
  • Cataract removal technology
  • The connected railcar, IA Certified sensors and gateway
  • Downhole motors driven pumps
  • Black water recovery system (Wall Street Journal Technology Award)
  • Next generation broiler for a major food chain
  • Automated, smart tie-down for the US Navy hovercraft
  • Harmonic drives
  • Sensors and the accompanying communications and computer controls for all of the above
Once the initial prototypes are built and tested, companies will utilize our 25 years of commercialization experience to help with what Thomas Edison called the 99% Perspiration part of innovation, which is bringing a product into the marketplace.
PCDworks, the founder and driving force behind the HardTech Base Camp, is an innovation think tank situated on top of a secluded, pine-covered hill in East Texas. For the past 25 years we have developed innovative solutions for 50+ companies across 90 HardTech projects. We have more than 30 patents either issued or in process. Projects span from transportation to medical, oil and gas, military and consumer projects. We own parts of four companies that were developed through these HardTech projects, and have experience and expertise in electrical, mechanical, software engineering, material science, mathematical and multiphysics modeling. We also conduct testing and certification up to IA, Intrinsically Safe UL levels. We have extensive Design For Manufacturing (DFM) expertise and have coordinated manufacturing and sourcing work in China, Romania, Germany and the US. This broad experience is what allows us to help startups get their product to markets fast.
A Base Camp is a camp set strategically on the mountain so that the bold souls that dare to aspire to the summit have a place to prepare themselves and their gear for the journey. The Base Camp does not get you to the top of the mountain, but instead prepares you for the trials ahead, de-risking your venture to ensure success. Your team will be housed and fed on an 80 acre campus in the quiet hills of the Piney Woods of East Texas, free of distraction, able to work in an equipment rich environment on your project with PCDworks innovation mentors, engineers and tradesmen available 24/7. Your team will be housed in a comfortable guest house on the PCDworks campus where you will live and eat with the founders and other entrepreneurs as family to foster team building and nurture the creative problem solving effort. The entire experience is designed to focus the spirit of creativity and accelerate the project to the next stage. The facilities available include a machine shop work space, office space to continue to work on the “paperwork” part of your project, and conference rooms for team meetings. There is a gym and a game room available along with 8 guest rooms with private bathrooms and queen size beds. The nearest town is Palestine, Texas which is about 20 miles south.