Autodesk and U.S. Paralympian, CEO & founder of BioDapt, Mike Schultz, announce partnership to advance next-generation prosthetics
Autodesk and U.S. Paralympian, CEO & founder of BioDapt, Mike Schultz, announce partnership to advance next-generation prosthetics |
| [24-February-2026] |
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Following his final competition in Cortina next month, three-time U.S. Paralympic medalist, designer and maker, and CEO & founder of BioDapt, Mike Schultz, is retiring from competitive para snowboarding. Today, Autodesk is announcing a partnership with BioDapt to advance the next generation of high-performance prosthetics for para athletes preparing to compete in Los Angeles in 2028 and beyond.
The partnership will build on months of technical collaboration between Autodesk and Schultz in Fusion — Autodesk's AI-powered industry cloud for manufacturing — to redesign and refine key components of his competitive prosthetic systems. Now, as Schultz transitions fully into his role as founder and CEO of BioDapt, the collaboration will help BioDapt scale toward broader innovation across winter and summer para sports. The implications extend well beyond elite competition. According to the World Health Organization, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide require one or more assistive products, yet access can be as low as 3% in some countries. While BioDapt's focus begins in high-performance sport, the underlying challenge is fundamentally a design and manufacturing one: how to build complex, high-performing products that are durable, repeatable, and scalable for more people. The same advances in design efficiency, manufacturability, and data continuity that support para athletes on a start line are the same capabilities Autodesk helps manufacturers apply across industries — from medical devices to advanced equipment powering industrial machinery, building product fabrication, and next-generation consumer products — to improve reliability, reduce cost, and expand access at scale. From athlete to full-time maker As technology advances, the opportunity to further optimize prosthetic equipment for elite competition continues to expand. That evolution raises the bar — requiring repeatable builds, durability, repairability, and consistent performance across travel, training, and changing conditions. Advancing prosthetic design with Autodesk Fusion The team prioritized improvements to Schultz's ankle frame and binding brace, optimizing for performance and durability in cold conditions by increasing stiffness without extending 3D print time, and adding hole patterns so one part fits multiple BioDapt leg models — reducing the need to run separate versions. Using Fusion's integrated design, simulation, and design-for-manufacture workflows, Schultz was able to iterate quickly while traveling between training sessions and competition. The redesign resulted in improved durability during training, with no component failures since the updates — a critical advancement for parts that absorb repeated impact. Through this winter's competition season, Schultz competed with increased confidence in the reliability and structural integrity of his prosthetic leg — a meaningful outcome in a sport where equipment performance directly influences safety and results. Looking ahead Future areas of exploration could include:
"I've always had two sides to my career — competing and building," said Mike Schultz. "For years, I've pushed myself to be the best athlete I could be, while spending countless hours refining the gear that makes that performance possible. As I step away from competition, I'm excited to take everything I've learned and apply it to helping the next generation of athletes go even further. Working with Autodesk has already helped us better understand how forces transfer, where materials fatigue, and how small design changes can make a measurable difference — not just for one athlete, but for many. And we're just getting started." "Mike has the rigorous mindset of an elite athlete and an engineer," said Jeff Kinder, EVP of Design and Manufacturing at Autodesk. "With Autodesk Fusion, we've brought together design and make in a single, cloud-based platform — connecting teams, data, and workflows while leveraging AI to accelerate development from concept through production. This integrated approach creates a repeatable model for high-performance prosthetic innovation for any athlete." Follow the journey About Autodesk Autodesk and others are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and service offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2023 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. About Mike Schultz and BioDapt In 2018, Schultz was named to the U.S. Paralympic team. He competed in Snowboard Boardercross and Banked Slalom, where he finished the season as the overall champion in both disciplines and won the gold and silver medals in Pyeongchang, Korea. That year, his teammates voted Mike to carry the U.S. flag during the opening ceremony. In July 2018, Schultz won the ESPY Award for Best Male with a Disability. Though he considered stepping away from elite competition, he returned to the global stage in 2022 — the same year his book "Driven to Ride" was published — and came home with another silver medal. At the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, Mike provided 26 athletes from 11 countries BioDapt equipment. For the 2025 Snowboard World Cup and Paralympic circuit, 90% of lower limb amputees globally use BioDapt.
SOURCE Autodesk, Inc. | ||
Company Codes: NASDAQ-NMS:ADSK |
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