Andrew Piskadlo
CEO & President · Director, EmberGraph Intel
About
What PDTI does.
Deep tech is convergence. Multiple disciplines forced into one product. No single discipline alone can ship it. PDTI exists to make convergence happen on purpose.
We operate across seven capability clusters. Each PDTI program spans the clusters it needs. Founder-aligned. No IP capture. Modest product-linked stake to keep the lights on.
We build hard things. Real things. Things that employ people and build into the American dream. See our credo.
Compute & Data
Robotics & Mechatronics
Materials & Fabrication
Bio & Microfluidics
Sensing & Signal
Power & Propulsion
Space & Aerospace
Each program assembles a discipline-mix that produces a product no single discipline alone could ship. EmberGraph Intel is the first program. See the seven clusters in detail below, or apply if you build.
Board-signed · 2025-12-28
Mission
We believe inventors building societally beneficial and commercially viable deep tech should have access to capital, a place to build, and benefit the most from their hard work. Pioneering Deep Tech Institute (PDTI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organized for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. We incubate and accelerate deep-technology ventures by providing shared facilities and synergistic infrastructure, targeted capital, and experienced legal and regulatory support to advance projects from early feasibility through MVP and initial commercialization. Our model is explicitly founder-aligned: we do not capture intellectual property, and we structure PDTI participation through a modest, product-linked stake designed to sustain and expand the organization's exempt activities. We are selective in how we apply our resources and only focus on projects with a clear community-benefit multiplier. In parallel, we conduct and sponsor select scholarly research and publications. We are a platform for developing and delivering expert-led educational programs so practitioners, policymakers, and the public can better understand and govern emerging technologies.
Adopted by Board Resolution Exhibit C, signed 2025-12-28. Verbatim. Supersedes prior mission statements adopted by the Board.
Capability
The seven clusters in detail.
PDTI's operational substrate organizes into seven capability clusters. Each cluster spans owned core, partner-network access, and external contract relationships. Programs traverse the clusters they need.
Compute & Data
Active- Signal processing
- Data infrastructure
- Verification & provenance
High-performance compute, graph intelligence, and signal processing in service of evidence and decisions. EmberGraph Intel is PDTI's first program here.
Robotics & Mechatronics
Active- Robotic systems
- Sensors & actuators
- Embedded control
Industrial robotic systems, computer vision for manufacturing, peripheral nerve interfaces, embedded control. Where physical work meets real-time decision.
Materials & Fabrication
Phase 2- Advanced materials
- Process & fabrication
- Characterization
The substrate under everything physical PDTI builds. Composites, biomaterials, semiconductor materials, casting polymers, characterization labs. Cross-cuts mining, water, and manufacturing access.
Bio & Microfluidics
Active- Bench chemistry
- Diagnostic platforms
- Synthetic chemistry
Point-of-care diagnostics, biosensors, microfluidic continuous-test platforms, drug delivery, synthetic chemistry. Real medicine for real people.
Sensing & Signal
Active- Optical & RF
- Environmental sensing
- Signal extraction
Analytical instrumentation across optical, RF, acoustic, and environmental modalities. Capture what's there. Turn it into something you can act on.
Power & Propulsion
Phase 2- Generation
- Storage
- Nuclear
Power systems engineering. Nuclear-led generation, electrochemistry and battery work, grid hardware, advanced propulsion. The power American industry needs to win this decade.
Space & Aerospace
Phase 3- Flight hardware
- Mission instruments
- Life support
Flight hardware, mission instrumentation, space-medicine diagnostics. The hardest engineering on the hardest schedule. Standup in 2027-2028 via existing alumni network.
Audiences
Seven kinds of relationship.
Each archetype brings something specific. Each gets something specific. Clean classification at intake keeps the institute coherent as it scales.
PDTI
Seven kinds of relationship
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Apply
Builder / Founder
Bring the project. Get the PDTI stack applied.
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Engage EMI
Buyer / Client
Bring the engagement. Get provenance-grade work.
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Support
Funder / Donor
Bring capital. Activate infrastructure across programs.
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Partner
Capability Supplier
Bring capability. Get mission-aligned pipeline.
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Pipeline
Investor
Bring capital at graduation. Get de-risked MVPs.
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Team
Advisor
Bring expertise. Get program credit and engagement.
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Press
Amplifier
Bring audience. Get methodology-grade content.
Full taxonomy on About. Mismatched fit goes to a better home elsewhere. We tell you fast.
The structural differentiator
What founder-aligned actually means
Every conventional accelerator captures equity and often IP at terms that benefit the accelerator over the founder. PDTI is built the other way.
Conventional accelerator
- Captures equity (typically 7–15%)
- Often captures or licenses IP rights
- Generalist; low selectivity gate
- Operating costs externalized to the founder
PDTI founder-aligned
- No IP capture — founders keep ownership
- Modest product-linked stake to sustain exempt activities
- Selectivity gate: clear community-benefit multiplier
- Operating layer provided: facilities, capital, legal/regulatory
The operating consequence: a deep-tech founder with a working prototype and the right community-benefit profile can graduate through PDTI to a working MVP without forfeiting ownership of what they built.
2022 → today
Our story
Pioneering Deep Tech Institute was founded as Utah Research Institute (URI) in February 2022. URI received its 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS on 2022-02-25.
From 2023 through 2025, URI conducted research, developed methodology, and built the team and capability that underwrite the incubator model. In December 2025 the Board adopted the current mission, organizational structure, and public name. The state-level name change took effect at the same time. IRS confirmation of the name change is pending. Under the original EIN, all records remain continuous.
The first program, EmberGraph Intel, shipped in April 2026 as the operating proof. PDTI's operational substrate organizes into seven capability clusters. Each program spans the clusters it needs.
Feb 2022
URI founded; 501(c)(3) IRS effective
2023–2025
Research & methodology
Dec 2025
Renamed PDTI; mission adopted
Apr 2026
First program shipped: EmberGraph Intel
May 2026
Seven-cluster taxonomy locked
2026+
Additional programs in development
First program build · EmberGraph Intel · 6 weeks · March-April 2026
6
Weeks build
$200
API costs
1,895
Tests passing
8
Team, unpaid
Shipped on the PDTI operating model. Proof the model is repeatable, founder-aligned, no IP capture.
Perimeter
Where we focus, and where we don't.
Seven capability clusters. Founder-aligned. No IP capture. We select for projects with a clear community-benefit multiplier. Time matters on both sides, so we name our perimeter directly.
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Climate tech.We build the infrastructure.Nuclear, water, materials, critical minerals.
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Consumer brain-computer interfaces.We build peripheral neurotech.EMG control, peripheral nerve interfaces, neural-signal instrumentation.
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Longevity therapeutics for the wealthy.We build medicine for real people.POC diagnostics, continuous-test microfluidics, clinically-validated therapeutics.
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Cultivated meat, insect protein, food substitutes.We build real biology.Biomaterials, diagnostics, drug delivery, synthetic chemistry.
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Crypto and blockchain as a product.We use ledger tech as a verification tool.Document provenance, supply-chain tracking, machinery inventorying when the engineering calls for it.
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Pure SaaS, ad-tech, social, content, pure fintech.We build software in service of physical products.Instrumentation, forensic methodology, scientific tooling.
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AI application development.We use machine learning as a tool.Applied when the engineering calls for it. PDTI is not an AI accelerator.
A clear perimeter saves everyone time. Founders self-select. Donors know what they're funding. The institute stays coherent across the seven clusters we actually run.
Utah 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Governance & leadership
PDTI is governed by a Board of Directors with active oversight of mission alignment, financial stewardship, and program-level decisions.
Nick Witham, PhD
Chief Technology Officer & Vice President · Co-founder
Michael Greenwald
Secretary · Co-founder
501(c)(3) since February 2022
EIN available on request
Form 990 available on request
Conflict-of-interest policy on file
Pioneering Deep Tech Institute is a Utah 501(c)(3) nonprofit organized for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. PDTI was founded as Utah Research Institute (URI) in February 2022, with 501(c)(3) status effective 2022-02-25 per IRS determination. The state-level name change to Pioneering Deep Tech Institute was effective December 2025. IRS confirmation of the name change is pending. Under the original EIN, all records remain continuous and in good standing.
Direct inquiries to info@PioneeringDeep.Tech.
Where to next
Pick your path
Routes by intent. Whether you're building, partnering, governing, or reading.
Salt Lake City, UT
info@PioneeringDeep.Tech
© 2026 Pioneering DeepTech Institute (PDTI) . All rights reserved.
