ADAPT at Colorado School of Mines

What ADAPT at Colorado School of Mines does

ADAPT (Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies) is an academic-industry consortium housed within the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, focused on advancing the qualification and certification of additive manufacturing (AM) processes through data-driven research. Founded in December 2015, the organization operates with a small core technical staff of approximately 6 personnel alongside roughly 18 graduate students and 15 affiliated faculty drawn from materials science, mechanical engineering, and computer science disciplines. ADAPT's research programs span metal and ceramic additive manufacturing, alloy development, in-situ process monitoring, and computational modeling, with particular emphasis on the integration of sensor data, microstructural characterization, and machine learning to predict part performance.

The organization's core technical platform combines in-situ monitoring instrumentation (thermal imaging, laser profilometry), X-ray tomography-based defect characterization, and Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) workflows, all aggregated on the adapt.citrination data informatics platform — a collaboration with Citrine Informatics hosting 74 datasets across 11 material-process combinations and supporting proprietary ML-driven process-structure-property (PSP) linkage models. ADAPT operates more than $6 million in equipment and lab infrastructure, anchored by the CoorsTek Center for Manufacturing Science, which opened in 2018.

ADAPT's revenue model is a hybrid of industry membership fees, federal research grants, and individual industry-sponsored research agreements. The consortium has grown from 6 founding members to 22+ industry members spanning aerospace, defense, biomedical, materials, and software sectors — including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, ATI, 3D Systems, Elementum 3D, Confluent Medical, Lithoz, Citrine Informatics, and Pioneer Astronautics. Cumulatively, the consortium has raised more than $25 million in external funding, with major awards including a $4.2 million U.S. Army contract in 2024, a $1.5 million Department of Defense OEA grant in 2017, and a $450K STTR award in 2019. Federal sponsors including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy (NAVSEA), and NASA anchor the research portfolio. The Advanced Manufacturing degree program launched at Colorado School of Mines in 2018 creates an additional structural connection to the consortium's industry partners through a graduate-level talent pipeline.

Name

ADAPT at Colorado School of Mines

Legal name

ADAPT – Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies

Website

https://adapt.mines.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ADAPT is an academic-industry consortium at Colorado School of Mines developing ML-driven additive manufacturing qualification technologies, serving defense, aerospace, and industrial members through in-situ process monitoring, ICME research, and the adapt.citrination data informatics platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Additive Manufacturing Research Services

NAICS

Industrial Machinery Manufacturing (3332), Instruments and Related Products Manufacturing for Measuring, Displaying, and Controlling Industrial Process Variables (334513)

SIC

Special Industry Machinery (No Metalworking Machinery) (3550)

akta.pro primary industry

Additive Manufacturing Research & Innovation Labs (IMAAAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Professional Training & Workforce Upskilling (AM) (IMAAAJAC), Consulting, Advisory & Technology Transfer (AM Adoption) (IMAAAJAK)

Keywords

• Additive manufacturing research
• Metal 3D printing
• Materials characterization services
• Industrial consortium research
• Machine learning qualification

Headquarters

HQ city

Golden

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Industry Consortium Membership: Annual membership fees providing access to world-class expertise, breakthrough technologies, cutting-edge research, early access to AM research, student recruiting opportunities, membership discount on professional development short courses, co-funding of student projects, and proposal teaming opportunities. Colorado businesses receive a 15% discount on membership.
2. Government Research Grants: Research funding from government agencies including U.S. Army ($4.2M for data-driven qualification research), Department of Defense, NASA, and NSF for specific research projects
3. Individual Research Agreements: Tailored research agreements with members to solve specific problems or develop new concepts

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ADAPT is a multi-disciplinary additive manufacturing research center and industry consortium at Colorado School of Mines that delivers member-funded research, characterization services, and data-driven qualification methodologies for metal additive manufacturing. Its offerings center on industry consortium membership, individual sponsored research agreements, access to more than $6 million in additive manufacturing and characterization equipment, the adapt.citrination data informatics platform, and professional short courses for workforce development.

Product overview

ADAPT is a multi-disciplinary additive manufacturing research center and industry consortium at Colorado School of Mines. It is NOT a product company but rather provides a collaborative platform offering world-class research capabilities, equipment access, and data informatics services. The core offering is the adapt.citrination data informatics platform combined with state-of-the-art additive manufacturing and characterization equipment. ADAPT members gain early access to leading AM research, student recruiting opportunities, co-funding of student projects, and proposal teaming opportunities. The consortium publishes a Research Roadmap and offers individual research agreements tailored to solve specific problems or develop new concepts. The research strengths span materials development and characterization, processing-structure-property relationships, AM process control and part qualification, machine learning and big data mining, and data informatics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ADAPT Industry Consortium Membership Annual membership program that gives industry, government, and small-business partners access to ADAPT's multi-disciplinary research, characterization facilities, and collaborative research projects in metal additive manufacturing.
• Individual Research Agreements Fee-for-service, bilateral research engagements between ADAPT and a specific sponsor to address a defined additive manufacturing research problem, with deliverables tailored to the sponsor.
• adapt.citrination Data Informatics Platform Proprietary data informatics platform developed and used by ADAPT to capture, organize, and analyze additive manufacturing experimental data and support data-driven qualification.
• Additive Manufacturing Characterization and Equipment Services Access to ADAPT's more than $6 million in additive manufacturing and characterization equipment for executing research, characterization, and qualification studies on metal AM processes and parts.
• Professional Development Short Courses Tuition-based short courses and workshops offered by ADAPT faculty and researchers to train industry engineers and scientists in metal additive manufacturing fundamentals, processing, and qualification.
• Optimize for Additive Methodology Proprietary ADAPT methodology that combines simulation, in-situ monitoring, and characterization to optimize metal additive manufacturing processes for specific alloys and parts.

Quantifiable outcome

• 84% accurate prediction of build parameters on first print for new material/printer combinations
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Citrine InformaticscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Strategic partner providing machine learning platform for AM part characterization. Collaboration on NAVSEA research to develop ML correlating nondestructive test signals with destructive test results for field evaluation of AM parts.
• Elementum 3DcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Partner in TARDEC MRAP hinge redesign program providing AM materials expertise. Elementum 3D contributed to developing easy-to-use structural alloy feedstocks for additive manufacturing under Army Research Office funding.
• U.S. Army CCDC Ground Vehicle Systems Center (TARDEC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Primary defense partner for data-driven qualification of AM parts. ADAPT developed redesigned MRAP vehicle door hinges achieving 38% weight reduction and order of magnitude improvement in factor of safety.
• U.S. Navy NAVSEAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNaval Sea Systems Command partnership developing machine learning platform for Navy field personnel to evaluate AM parts for risk of failure and expected remaining life.
• NASAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMultiple NASA partnerships including ULI team for aviation AM qualification with Carnegie Mellon, Artemis program for lunar ISRU with Pioneer Astronautics, and shape memory alloy research with NASA Glenn.
• Pioneer AstronauticscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNASA SBIR Phase II-S partnership for Moon to Mars Oxygen and Steel Technology (MMOST) to produce oxygen and steel from lunar regolith. ADAPT developing wire feedstock for AM deposition from lunar materials.
• National Science FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSF PEER awards for online learning in advanced manufacturing and Convergence Accelerator for AI-enabled workforce retraining tools. Mines is one of five universities to receive NSF PEER awards.
• Special Aerospace ServicesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSTTR partnership for 3D printing of rocket nozzles funded through Air Force Research Laboratory for turbopump component microstructure engineering.
• Confluent Medical TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNASA-funded research collaboration on NiTiHf shape memory alloys for aerospace, biomedical, and wind energy applications. Confluent provided $100,000 postdoctoral fellowship.
• NASA Glenn Research CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNASA GRC partnership for developing 38 wrought NiTiHf shape memory alloy compositions covering range of functional performances for custom applications.
• ATI Specialty MaterialscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember company that produced NiTiHf alloy compositions in bulk powder for shape memory alloy research, with cost share from ATI and funding from Colorado OEDIT.
• Carnegie Mellon University NextManufacturing CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNASA ULI team led by CMU for aviation AM qualification. ADAPT researchers working with CMU on machine learning for AM part characterization and qualification.
• University of UtahcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDoD OEA program collaboration for Mountain West Advanced Manufacturers Network focused on diversifying manufacturing supply chain and educating defense contractors on metal AM.
• America MakescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational additive manufacturing innovation institute. ADAPT Director Joy Gockel serves as America Makes Ambassador and leads the materials working group.
• U.S. ArmycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner$4.2M Army funding for second phase of data-driven qualification for additive manufacturing research focusing on flexible and robust qualification approach spanning AM processes and materials.
• LithozcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCeramic materials and AM systems partner. Lithoz installed CeraFab 7500 ceramics printer at Mines for research on mechanical properties of AM ceramics and potential need for separate ceramic AM standards.
• Colorado School of MinescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution. ADAPT is headquartered at Mines with facilities in CoorsTek Center for Applied Sciences and Engineering and Brown Hall Advanced Manufacturing Teaching Lab.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks3 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ADAPTColorado
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ColoSchoolofMines
• Facebookfacebook.com/ColoradoSchoolofMines
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/adaptcolorado
• Instagraminstagram.com/adaptcolorado

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ADAPT at Colorado School of Mines