Stephen Fitzgerald (BSc’86, BEng’89, MASc’95) has joined Dal alumnus Chris Cowper-Smith (BSc’06, MSc’09) at Dartmouth-based Spring Loaded Technology.

“My life’s a circle. I’m home now. The company is growing so quickly we’re in temporary space with desks touching,” Fitzgerald told The Chronicle Herald about joining the young company.

The idea for Spring Loaded took shape during the first cohort of Dalhousie University’s Starting Lean program in 2012, and included Shea Kewin (BMgmt’13) as one of its founders. It now has around 30 employees working out of its location in Burnside.

Last year, the company launched its Levitation knee brace. Rather than a traditional spring, the company’s “bionic brace” uses a proprietary liquid spring. It enhances stabilization and mobility, helping those with knee injuries or osteoarthritis move more comfortably while protecting the joint.

Spring Loaded is currently doubling production capacity every six to 12 months and taking orders from Europe, the U.S. and Australia. Spring Loaded has also developed a reinforced brace, the UpShot, for military use and has a prototype of a ski brace it hopes to launch within two years.

Fitzgerald has taken over from Spring Loaded’s cofounder Bob Garrish (BSc’05, MASc’12) as chief technology officer. Garrish remains a director with the board.

Fitzgerald is a mechanical engineer and computer scientist who previously worked on an experiment that embedded fibre-optic sensors into composite materials that were carried into space for testing on the Canada Arm. Fitzgerald also built cable tray systems for the English Channel tunnel, plus he designed and produced the first carbon fibre hockey stick, produced for Bauer in 1992.

Read more in “ENTREVESTOR: Dartmouth’s Spring Loaded off and running with bionic brace“ on thechronicleherald.ca.

Image: Entrevestor.