Appearing on WCVB-TV’s Chronicle, Provost Marty Schmidt explains why Kendall Square is a hub for innovation, highlighting how the region brings together organizations working on everything from computer science and biotech to brain and cognitive sciences. Schmidt explains that Kendall Square’s innovation ecosystem means research “coming out of MIT (can) be immediately translated to impact.”
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes that MIT has signed an agreement to redevelop the Volpe Center site. “What we have in mind is a big vision,” says Israel Ruiz, MIT’s executive vice president and treasurer. “We want to do more in Kendall Square. This enables us to do it at a level of scale.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Sacha Pfeiffer highlights how MIT has partnered with Google, the City of Cambridge, Boston Properties, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and several other organizations to provide free high-speed Wi-Fi in Kendall Square and at the Newtowne Court and Washington Elms public housing developments.
In an article for The Boston Globe’s special section on the 2016 “Top Places to Work,” Sacha Pfeiffer highlights MIT’s new commuter benefits. Pfeiffer writes that MIT is providing “employees free MBTA bus and subway access through a chip embedded in their university ID cards.”
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes that federal officials announced the initial section of MIT to redevelop the Volpe Transportation Center in Kendall Square. “They understand how to work in Cambridge,” says Greg Vasil of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board of MIT’s long history in the area. “With something this big and intricate, that can really pay off.”
Xconomy reporter Jeff Engel writes about The Engine, a new venture MIT launched to provide “resources to startups whose technologies typically take lots of time and capital to develop—think biotech, robotics, advanced manufacturing, medical devices, and energy.”
BostInno reporter Olivia Vanni writes that MIT is launching a new venture to support startups working on scientific and technological innovations that require time and patient capital. Vanni writes that tech industry leaders see the new effort “as a prime opportunity to retain our local tech talent."
CNN reporter Matt McFarland writes that MIT is launching a new entity aimed at providing space, funding and support for startups focused on tackling the world’s biggest challenges. "This is putting a piece in the puzzle that is missing," explains Executive Vice President and Treasurer Israel Ruiz. "There's a deficiency in the ecosystem to support these startups."
President L. Rafael Reif writes for The Boston Globe about The Engine, a new venture built by MIT to support startups tackling the world’s pressing challenges. Reif writes that The Engine will provide a model of support that nurtures “high-impact ideas and speeds them into the world while helping our regional innovation ecosystem flourish.”
Zeninjor Enwemeka reports for WBUR that MIT is launching an effort aimed at helping startups bring scientific inventions from the lab to the marketplace. Enwemeka notes that in addition to providing space, funding and support for startups, The Engine “will tap into the region's innovation hubs and aims to create an innovation network across the area.”
MIT’s new enterprise, called The Engine, is aimed at supporting startups in research-heavy fields, writes Curt Woodward for The Boston Globe. “We see the opportunity for MIT to start this process and really make a huge difference in driving down the cost of innovation in hard technology and science,” notes Israel Ruiz, MIT’s executive vice president and treasurer.
David Harris reports for the Boston Business Journal on MIT’s new venture that will provide space, funding and support to startups focused on developing “‘tough’ technologies — big ideas that require time and long-term capital to commercialize — in a range of sectors including biotechnology, robotics, manufacturing, medical devices and energy.”
In a New York Times travel guide to Cambridge, Mass., Ethan Gilsdorf recommends that visitors explore the MIT campus, spotlighting the Ray and Maria Stata Center, the List Visual Arts Center and MIT’s collection of outdoor art. He also writes that “to study Cambridge’s innovative, D.I.Y. spirit, look no further than the MIT Museum.”
The Department of Defense has formally opened its second Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) near MIT, according to the Associated Press. “The roughly year-old DIUx program is meant to help the military better identify emerging technologies.”
MIT will be offering employees free MBTA passes for local bus and subway service to encourage more people to use public transportation and reduce the environmental impact of commuting, Inside Higher Ed reports.