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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

N12 Technologies To Manufacture Advanced Carbon Nanotube Materials At Cambridge, Massachusetts, Campus

02/09/2015
N12 Technologies, Inc. plans to purchase tooling and lab equipment that will enable the firm to develop commercial-scale manufacturing of its advanced carbon nanotube materials. The project, with assistance from a $2.5 million loan issued by MassDevelopment’s Emerging Technology Fund, is expected to create 25 jobs in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“We are honored to be selected from the Commonwealth’s most promising high-tech startups for this program”, said Brad Berkson, President/CEO of N12. “Our products will change the way everything from hockey sticks to cars to satelites are made, making them lighter, stronger, faster. We make the best better and are proud to have MassDevelopment’s support toward this end.”

As a privately-held developer and manufacturer of ultra light-weight material known as carbon nanotubes, the company produces vertically aligned carbon nanotubes that have revolutionary properties.

Based on technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, N12's NanoStitch strengthens the bond between layers of composite fibers commonly used in aerospace, wind turbine blades, automobiles, and sporting goods such as hockey sticks. Hydrocarbon and other gases are reacted at specific temperatures in the presence of a catalyst to form and grow carbon nanotubes. The revolutionary properties of NanoStitch solve critical failures in today’s composites, such as stress concentrations and impact damage.

“N12 Technologies’ vertically aligned carbon nanotubes are a technological innovation developed here in Massachusetts, and MassDevelopment is pleased to help N12 continue to grow in the Commonwealth,” said Marty Jones, President/CEO of MassDevelopment. “N12's future commercial-scale products have great potential for aerospace, transportation, renewable energy, and other industries.”

In 2013, the company progressed from an MIT lab-based process to commercial capability. N12 has subsequently improved the process to achieve commercial grade material and is now building capacity to produce this material at industrial scale, as the first company with continuous production capability, in the Greater Boston area, MassDevelopment officials said.

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