Shared labs have become a very practical option for anyone trying to turn a physical product from an idea into something real. Building a device, a new material or a drug takes expensive machines, strict safety rules and a lot of red tape before the first sale. For many hard tech startups, the money and energy run out before the idea ever reaches the market.
In North Carolina, in the United States, two organizations are betting on a different path. According to a report by Technical.ly, RTI International and Chrysalis offer ready-made facilities, regulatory know-how and technical support so founders can outsource testing and manufacturing without building everything from scratch. RTI works with heavy tech businesses across many fields. Chrysalis focuses on manufacturing drugs and biotech products.
In the sections below, you will see how these spaces work, why they lower the barriers to entry, how intellectual property protection plays out in this kind of partnership and what lessons this experience offers to anyone building a tech company here in Brazil.
Why hard tech startups stall before reaching the market
Many people believe a science-based startup fails because the technology did not work. Sameer Parvathikar, director of the RTI program in Research Triangle Park, sees it differently. According to Technical.ly, he says these companies do not fail because of bad science. The trouble lies in everything that has to happen around the science for an idea to succeed.
And that everything around it carries a lot of weight. Building a business model that holds up, understanding legal and safety requirements, competing for government contracts. Parvathikar points to exactly these areas as a necessary part of the road to market, the outlet reports. Each one takes time, specialized people and money.
For a small team, usually made up of researchers, that is a lot to juggle at once.
Picture, just as an example, a startup that developed a new battery material in a university lab. The science looks promising. But to prove the material can handle continuous use, the team needs specific equipment, someone who knows the safety standards and a plan to produce at a larger scale. If they try to handle it all alone, the product moves slowly and the cash shrinks fast. That is the gap shared labs are trying to close.
What shared labs are, in plain terms
The idea is simple. Instead of building its own lab, with machines, licenses and technical staff, the startup uses the facilities of another organization. It pays for what it needs, when it needs it, and puts its energy into what truly sets the business apart.
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Think of a commercial kitchen you can rent by the hour. A baker who is just starting out does not need to buy professional ovens to test a new recipe. They use someone else’s kitchen space, validate the product and only invest big once they feel more confident it will sell. Hard tech works in a similar way, except the ovens become reactors, cooling systems and clean rooms.
The model is not new. According to Technical.ly, CDMOs, companies that handle development and manufacturing under contract, have been around since the mid-1990s and provide services for creating and producing drugs. Outsourcing infrastructure, the report notes, is common practice in the biopharma industry. What stands out in North Carolina is the push to bring this support to very young companies too, some of them still at the idea stage.
RTI Pilot Xcelerator: around-the-clock testing and support from start to finish
RTI International is a nonprofit founded in 1958. As Technical.ly reports, it invested 14 million dollars to expand its testing and development center, which grew to 25,000 square feet, roughly 2,300 square meters. The space, called Pilot Xcelerator, opened in September of this year.
Parvathikar compares the place to a farmers market for science. Instead of stands with fruits and vegetables, founders find chemicals, cooling systems and fuel. The goal is to serve everyone from people at the idea stage to companies ready to go to market.
What the facility offers in practice
Services range from economic modeling and regulatory analysis in the early steps all the way to pilot testing of the technology. For teams that need nonstop trials, the operations and engineering crew of 50 people can keep tests running day and night for months, according to the outlet. Beyond manufacturing and testing, the program also helps startups turn an idea into a proof of concept.
Today, the report says, about eight companies from different parts of the United States are working on site.
Pricing depends on the services and on what is feasible for each startup. One detail deserves attention: RTI helps founders look for grants and non-dilutive funding, the kind that does not require giving up equity in the company, to pay for access to the facility. It is a topic that matters a lot to founders here, and we have covered it when discussing funding for climate and tech startups in Brazil.
Chrysalis: clean rooms for biotech startups
Chrysalis is much newer. Founded in 2025, it is headquartered in Massachusetts, where it runs two sites, plus a space in Raleigh. According to Technical.ly, it offers infrastructure that meets regulatory requirements for manufacturing drugs and biotech products.
Its flagship offering is a platform built on good manufacturing practices, currently used by 15 companies, about half of them in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Chrysalis also works in person inside labs that clients already have. That gives flexibility to teams that set up a basic facility and only need extra help at certain stages.
CEO and cofounder Sarah Stevens sums up the pitch in a direct way, according to the outlet: innovators should be able to focus on the science, knowing that process and quality are being well handled.
For a biotech company, that makes sense. Imagine a small spin-out that developed a new therapy. The researchers know the biology inside and out, but they may never have run a controlled production environment. Having a team alongside them that already knows the way can prevent rework and mistakes that would delay the project.
Outsourcing testing and manufacturing without losing intellectual property
This is the question that keeps founders up at night. If another company is going to work with my process, who owns the invention?
At Chrysalis, the answer is clear. As Technical.ly reports, founders work side by side with the team at the facilities, rather than simply handing over their materials, and they keep all of their intellectual property. Stevens presents this as one of the main advantages of the service.
At RTI, the picture has more layers. How things are split depends on how the project is funded and structured. If the startup and RTI develop something together under the same grant, the rules of that funding apply. In other cases, the product of a startup might need a technology RTI has already created, and the organization can license that know-how. The outlet mentions a low-cost carbon capture technology, developed over nearly a decade, that could be useful for an energy startup.
The thing to watch is that not every outsourced service works this way. The report itself points out that keeping all IP is not the rule among companies of this type. That is why outsourcing testing and manufacturing calls for a careful read of the contract. If you want to dig deeper, check out our piece on legal risks, contracts and intellectual property in startups.
What tech founders in Brazil can learn
The first lesson seems obvious, but plenty of people skip it: read the intellectual property clauses before signing any partnership. Ask who owns the improvements made during testing, what happens if the project uses technology from the partner and how licensing works afterward. Sorting this out early usually costs less than fighting about it later, and the topic ties directly into ways to cut legal costs when forming deep tech startups.
The second is to look around more closely. Universities, research institutes and tech parks may have equipment and teams willing to work with outside companies. This is not always clearly advertised, so it pays to ask. A few practical steps:
- map nearby labs and ask whether they allow outside use;
- pair access to facilities with non-dilutive funding calls;
- talk to other startups that have already been through the process.
The third lesson is about the ecosystem. According to Technical.ly, RTI and Chrysalis see the concentration of universities, academic hospitals and pharma companies in North Carolina as a strategic advantage. RTI was actually the first institution to set up in Research Triangle Park, which was created to help keep graduates of local universities in the state.
Today, the same idea of retention applies to technology and growing companies. Stevens told the outlet that university spin-outs sometimes reach a certain stage of development and take their technology to facilities on the other side of the country. She wants to keep that work close to home and even hosts open events so investors can see what her clients are building. Keeping talent and knowledge close to where they were born is a concern that shows up in other places too, as the experience of Coimbra and its tech startups and incubation shows.
Sharing facilities to reach the market sooner
The North Carolina case shows that building everything alone is not a sign of strength. Often it is just the longer road. By sharing machines, technical staff and regulatory knowledge, hard tech startups gain time to do what only they can do.
That does not remove the risks. A poorly drafted contract can cost a science-based company its most valuable asset, which is the technology itself. With intellectual property protection well negotiated, though, the model stops being a threat and becomes a shortcut.
If you are developing a physical product, a simple exercise helps: list which equipment truly needs to be yours and which could be used on a shared basis. The answer might change your investment plan quite a bit. And for your next steps, our content on fundraising and product development is right here.
