Autodesk and U.S. Paralympian, CEO & founder of BioDapt, Mike Schultz, announce partnership to advance next-generation prosthetics

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

Schultz's career has always balanced two identities: super athlete and maker. After losing his leg in a 2008 snowmobile accident, he designed and built his own prosthetic leg capable of withstanding competitive snowboarding. In 2010, he founded BioDapt, which today supports approximately 90% of lower-limb athletes globally competing in Para Snowboard World Cup events and at other international competitions — with about 25 athletes expected to compete in Cortina wearing equipment Schultz developed.

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

Ahead of his final competition, Schultz worked with Autodesk Research and Autodesk's Fusion teams to consolidate years of prosthetic development and legacy CAD models into Autodesk Fusion, establishing a centralized Fusion Hub: a cloud-connected source of truth for BioDapt's designs.

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

With his focus now fully on innovation in para sports, Schultz and Autodesk have their eye on helping para athletes train to compete in Los Angeles in 2028 and beyond.

Future areas of exploration could include:

• Advanced ankle-frame concepts using metal 3D printing
• Integration of motion capture and embedded sensor data to better analyze force transfer and fatigue
• Using AI-powered tools in Autodesk Fusion to suggest and evaluate design improvements automatically — helping Mike adapt his prosthetics as training demands change.

"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

Schultz's transition from competitor to full-time innovator is documented in Built to Move, a three-part docuseries co-produced with TFA Group and launching March 6, 2026, on Autodesk.com.

About Autodesk 

The world's designers, engineers, builders, and creators trust Autodesk to help them design and make anything. From the buildings we live and work in, to the cars we drive and the bridges we drive over. From the products we use and rely on, to the movies and games that inspire us. Autodesk's Design and Make Platform unlocks the power of data to accelerate insights and automate processes, empowering our customers with the technology to create the world around us and deliver better outcomes for their business and the planet. For more information, visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk. #MakeAnything 

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 2008, Mike suffered a life-changing knee injury during a snowmobile competition resulting in the amputation of his left leg above the knee. Seven months later, Schultz was competing again and realized that the regular prosthetics couldn't handle the competitive, rigorous sports his body at one time could handle. Mike not only engineered a durable and versatile mechanical knee that utilizes a patented linkage system and a FOX mountain bike shock, he realized the need for advancements in high-impact adaptive sports prosthetics that others could use. Creating high-impact adaptive sports prosthetics became BioDapt, Inc. — the company Schultz founded in 2010 to help wounded soldiers, action sports athletes, and amputees wanting to return to an active lifestyle.

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. 

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SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.