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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteBill Fienup helped create mHUB after learning firsthand how difficult it is to develop a physical product without the right tools, technical help, or people to turn to. The Chicago-area organization he cofounded with economic-development strategist Haven Allen brings prototyping facilities together with mentoring, business education, investor access, and connections to manufacturers.
Why Fienup set out to build a hub for product innovation
Fienup’s interest in making things began early. As a child, he tinkered with toys and talked through ideas with his father. At MIT, where he studied mechanical engineering, courses in design and product development helped turn that curiosity into a career direction.
He later helped create toys for Hasbro as a graduate student working with Professor David Wallace and contributed to the project-based Toy Product Design course, known as Toy Lab. Those experiences gave him a grounding in the practical work of taking an idea toward a manufactured product.
After MIT, Fienup worked at IDEO and Insight Product Development on medical devices, consumer electronics, and industrial products. He then tried building companies of his own, including ventures related to retrofitting home gas furnaces and monitoring restaurant freezer temperatures. The setbacks exposed a gap he knew personally: physical-product founders can need equipment, expertise, and useful feedback before they are ready to scale.
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In an interview with MIT Mechanical Engineering, Fienup described being “alone in my apartment, trying to build a physical product without the tools or the people to bounce ideas off of.” That experience informed Catalyze, the effort he started before partnering with Haven Allen to develop mHUB.
What mHUB offers hard-tech companies
mHUB is described as a Chicago-area incubator, accelerator, and consulting center. Its model combines physical resources with human and business support, rather than treating a workshop or a single machine as the whole solution.
- Prototyping resources: Founders can work in a lab with equipment for developing physical products.
- Technical and business learning: Programming helps founders build skills needed to develop and commercialize products.
- Mentorship: Industry mentors can help teams work through technical and business challenges.
- Investor access: The organization can help connect companies with investors.
- Manufacturing connections: When a company needs capacity beyond mHUB’s own manufacturing capabilities, representatives can connect it with larger manufacturers.
“We started the nonprofit to create an environment where entrepreneurs have all the tools, the resources, the equipment, the mentorship, and access to manufacturers, education, and programming,” Fienup told MIT Mechanical Engineering.
How founders have used the facilities
Prototyping a diagnostic wearable
One startup used mHUB’s high-powered 3D printers to prototype a wearable patch intended to aid in diagnosing gynecologic cancers. The example illustrates how specialized prototyping equipment can support development of a physical product; it does not establish that the patch is an approved diagnostic or a commercially available product.
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Building a line for haptic hardware
Another company set up a manufacturing line at mHUB for haptic hardware used in virtual reality and robot teleoperation. When a company’s production needs exceed what the hub can handle, mHUB representatives can help it connect with larger manufacturers.
These examples point to the distinction between access to a machine and access to a product-development ecosystem. A desktop 3D printer may be useful for some prototype work, but it is not equivalent to the hub’s high-powered equipment, manufacturing resources, mentoring, education, investor access, and industry connections.
What the reported outcomes show—and what they do not
In an article published October 23, 2025, Stephanie M. McPherson reported aggregate outcomes for mHUB-affiliated companies since the organization launched in 2017:
| Reported measure | Figure in the 2025 article | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Capital raised | Around $2 billion | Reported for mHUB-affiliated companies since the 2017 launch; not independently audited here. |
| Products launched | 1,700 | Reported for mHUB-affiliated companies since the 2017 launch. |
| Chicago-area employment | About 7,000 people | Reported for people employed by mHUB-affiliated companies since the 2017 launch. |
The article also says about 75% of the larger manufacturers to which mHUB representatives connect companies are based in the United States, but it does not state the denominator or measurement method. These figures describe what the article reported at that date; they should not be read as independently verified or as current totals.
Fienup’s continuing role in innovation
Fienup’s work includes serving as vice president of innovation services, alongside his involvement with mHUB. McPherson’s profile says he holds 12 patents. It also describes CanChill, his personal project for a portable device intended to chill a canned drink in three minutes. That three-minute figure is the project’s stated aim, not a reported independent test result or evidence that the device is commercially available.
Fienup has said that mentoring founders requires staying close to the difficulties they face: “To be an active mentor, I have to continually understand the pain points that entrepreneurs are experiencing.” His own experience as a founder is central to mHUB’s approach of pairing tools with practical guidance and connections.
Source
Stephanie M. McPherson, “Inventor Creates Hub for Innovation,” MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering, credited to MIT Technology Review, October 23, 2025: https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/inventor-creates-hub-innovation.
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