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

Rhea-AI Summary

Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) announced a partnership with U.S. Paralympian and BioDapt founder Mike Schultz to advance next‑generation high‑performance prosthetics ahead of Los Angeles 2028. The collaboration centralizes BioDapt designs in Autodesk Fusion, improves ankle-frame and binding-brace durability, and enables scalable, repeatable manufacturing.

The work consolidated legacy CAD into a Fusion Hub, reduced part variants with multi-fit hole patterns, and reported no component failures since the redesigns, supporting broader innovation across para sports.

News Market Reaction – ADSK

+1.04%

1 alert

+1.04% News Effect

On the day this news was published, ADSK gained 1.04%, reflecting a mild positive market reaction.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Key Figures

People needing assistive products: 2.5 billion people Low access rate: 3% Paralympic medals: 3 +5 more

8 metrics

People needing assistive products 2.5 billion people Global estimate from World Health Organization cited in article

Low access rate 3% Assistive product access in some countries

Paralympic medals 3 Mike Schultz’s U.S. Paralympic medal count

Support share in para snowboard 90% Lower-limb athletes using BioDapt equipment in Para Snowboard World Cup

Athletes at Cortina 25 athletes Expected number competing in Cortina using BioDapt equipment

Founding year 2010 Year Mike Schultz founded BioDapt

Accident year 2008 Year of Schultz’s snowmobile accident and subsequent leg loss

Docuseries length 3-part series Built to Move docuseries co-produced with TFA Group

Market Reality Check

Price: $220.91 Vol: Volume 1,913,564 is below...

normal vol

$220.91 Last Close

Volume Volume 1,913,564 is below the 20-day average of 2,394,475 (relative volume 0.8x). normal

Technical Shares at 218.64 are below the 200-day MA of 294.02 and 33.56% under the 52-week high.

Peers on Argus

ADSK is down 3.67% while key software peers SNOW (-7.12%), WDAY (-3.87%), CDNS (...

ADSK is down 3.67% while key software peers SNOW (-7.12%), WDAY (-3.87%), CDNS (-3.99%) and MSTR (-3.27%) are also lower, suggesting broader software pressure even as this is stock-specific partnership news.

Previous Partnership Reports

1 past event · Latest: Sep 15 (Positive)

Same Type Pattern 1 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Sep 15	Sports partnership deal	Positive	+0.6%	Multi-year partnership as Official Design and Make Platform for Patriots.

Pattern Detected

Limited history, but the prior partnership headline was followed by a modest positive move.

Recent Company History

Recent news for Autodesk has mixed strategic and branding themes. A prior September 15, 2025 sports-related partnership with the Kraft Group as the Official Design and Make Platform for the New England Patriots saw a 0.63% gain. Other recent items included strong Q3 FY2026 results and a Team USA campaign around the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. Today’s BioDapt collaboration continues Autodesk’s pattern of using high-visibility sports partnerships to showcase its design and manufacturing platforms.

Historical Comparison

+0.6% avg move · In the past year Autodesk had 1 partnership headline, tied to the New England Patriots, with an aver...

partnership

+0.6%

Average Historical Move partnership

In the past year Autodesk had 1 partnership headline, tied to the New England Patriots, with an average move of +0.63%. Today’s partnership news comes against a weaker stock backdrop.

Partnership history shows Autodesk extending its design-and-make branding from major sports venues (Patriots and Gillette Stadium) to high-performance prosthetics in para sports.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement highlights Autodesk’s partnership with BioDapt and U.S. Paralympian Mike Schultz t...

Analysis

This announcement highlights Autodesk’s partnership with BioDapt and U.S. Paralympian Mike Schultz to use Autodesk Fusion for next-generation prosthetic design. It extends a pattern of sports-related collaborations that showcase Autodesk’s design and manufacturing capabilities. Investors may track how such partnerships support adoption of Fusion and other platforms, alongside recent restructuring moves and prior strong Q3 FY2026 financial results cited in recent filings.

Key Terms

prosthetics, ai-powered, cloud-based platform

3 terms

prosthetics medical

"partnership with BioDapt to advance the next generation of high-performance prosthetics"

Prosthetics are artificial devices used to replace missing or damaged body parts, like limbs or fingers. They help people regain function and mobility, much like how a replacement part can fix a broken machine. In finance, the term can also refer to tools or strategies that help improve or support a weaker system or process.

ai-powered technical

"Using AI-powered tools in Autodesk Fusion to suggest and evaluate design improvements"

"AI-powered" describes technology that uses artificial intelligence to perform tasks, make decisions, or analyze information automatically. It’s similar to having a highly skilled assistant that can learn from data, recognize patterns, and improve over time, helping to make processes faster and more accurate. For investors, this means better insights and more efficient operations, potentially leading to smarter investment choices.

cloud-based platform technical

"a single, cloud-based platform — connecting teams, data, and workflows"

A cloud-based platform is a service that delivers software and data storage over the internet, allowing users to access and use applications from any device with an internet connection. It works like a virtual workspace hosted online, eliminating the need for physical servers or software installed on individual computers. For investors, it often indicates a company's reliance on modern, scalable technology that can reduce costs and improve flexibility.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

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.

FAQ

What does the Autodesk–BioDapt partnership mean for ADSK shareholders?

It signals Autodesk applying Fusion to medical and sports manufacturing, showing product-market expansion beyond core markets. According to Autodesk, the deal centralizes BioDapt designs in Fusion and could demonstrate Fusion use cases in healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

How did Autodesk Fusion improve BioDapt prosthetic reliability for Mike Schultz?

Fusion consolidated legacy CAD into a cloud Hub and enabled rapid iteration across travel and training. According to Autodesk, redesigned ankle frames and binding braces increased stiffness, added multi-fit patterns, and produced no component failures since updates.

Will the Autodesk and BioDapt collaboration scale prosthetics beyond elite para athletes?

The partnership aims to make designs more repeatable and manufacturable to expand access beyond elite sport. According to Autodesk, applying Fusion workflows intends to improve durability, reduce cost, and support broader scalability for assistive products.

What future innovations are Autodesk and BioDapt exploring for ADSK investors?

Planned explorations include metal 3D printing, motion-capture integration, and AI-driven design suggestions in Fusion. According to Autodesk, these areas target improved force analysis, fatigue tracking, and automated design evaluation for adaptive prosthetics.

When does Mike Schultz transition to full-time BioDapt innovation and where can investors follow it?

Schultz retires from competitive para snowboarding after Cortina and focuses full-time on BioDapt innovation. According to Autodesk, his journey is documented in the docuseries Built to Move, launching March 6, 2026 on Autodesk.com.