By JLL San Diego
PSYONIC, the company behind the world’s first touch-sensing bionic hand, recently moved its headquarters to Scripps Ranch in San Diego, California from Chicago, Illinois with the support of JLL, a Fortune 200 and San Diego-based commercial real estate firm. JLL helped the company search for a new home, identify suitable buildings, tour options virtually, and negotiate favorable lease terms.
The move comes at a time when the company is developing its most ambitious developments to bionic limbs and seeking opportunities to partner with the regions thriving MedTech community and leading orthopedic departments at the Naval Medical Center and UC San Diego.
“My goal is to turn San Diego into the bionics capital of the world where everyone comes here to get the latest and greatest in bionic limbs,” said PSYONIC founder and CEO Aadeel Akhtar.
How and where it all started
Dr. Aadeel Akhtar was seven years old when he first started thinking about prosthetics and imagining what it would mean to help people with limb differences unleash the best in themselves. While visiting Pakistan, he met an amputee for the first time. She was his age and didn’t have the same access to healthcare.
It was striking, even to a kid. How could they share a heritage but have such different lives? As he grew older, he came to understand the vast discrepancies in resources that people have around the world and right here in the United States. And so, he started PSYONIC while in graduate school to help develop advanced prostheses that are affordable for everyone.
What began as a small group of engineers now includes public health experts, social workers, and designers along with an incredible group of doctors, clinicians, and non-profits working in the developing world.
America’s Finest City: a hotbed for innovation, talent, and opportunities
In addition to the regions established MedTech community, San Diego’s military presence, access to advancements in processors and proximity to Los Angeles make it a prime location for its new headquarters.
PSYONIC worked closely with JLL to locate a flex-office space including a mix of modern work areas, a warehouse and manufacturing space along the I-15 corridor – a strategic location home to top universities and engineering talent. JLL’s keen understanding of the region and its 3-D visualization and mapping technology, Blackbird, helped PSYONIC identify sites for talent, take virtual tours and access key data such as availability, rental rates and building class – ultimately helping the company refine its search and make a selection that best fit its needs.
So, what’s next?
The company is working on new technologies right here in our backyard to be released in five years. PSYONIC is partnering with local organizations and surgeons studying how to directly integrate bionic limbs with patients’ bones and researchers specializing in nerve implants to enable users to control individual fingers. This advancement will allow users to play instruments again, type on a keyboard and more.
PSYONIC is also developing hands for robotics applications and companies like Meta, Apptronik and NASA who have ordered The Ability Hand™ to develop robots to complete human tasks.
