Amrita Saigal '10 is the founder and CEO of Kudos, a company that has developed a “sustainable diaper that uses some plastic but is 100% lined with cotton and incorporates other degradable materials like sugarcane and trees,” reports Gabrielle Fonrouge for CNBC. “I care so much about being premium, but accessible,” says Saigal. “That is exactly what I want to do, so that we are accessible to as many people, and cleaner materials are not out of reach.”
Prof. Kripa Varanasi and Vishnu Jayaprakash SM '19, PhD '22 founded AgZen, a company aimed at reducing pesticide use by employing a feedback-optimized spraying system, reports Steven Savage for Forbes. Savage notes that for the researchers behind AgZen, “MIT turned out to be a good place to work on the specific imaging technology and on the AI needed to translate that into a practical solution for farmers.”
Intelmatix, an AI startup founded by by Almaha Almalki MS '18, Anas Alfaris MS '09, PhD '09 and Ahmad Alabdulkareem PhD '18, aims to provide businesses in the Middle East and North Africa with access to AI for decision-making, reports Annie Njanja for TechCrunch. . “The idea of democratizing access to AI has always been something that we’ve been very passionate about,” says Alfaris.
Dean Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, and Pavlos-Petros Sotiriadis PhD '02 sit down with Tassoula Eptakili of Kathimerini to discuss MIT’s unique approach to entrepreneurship, the future of AI and the importance of mentorship. MIT’s approach to education “focuses both on foundational knowledge and its practical application. This prepares [students] to tackle even the most challenging problems,” says Chandrakasan. “It is no coincidence that MIT’s impact on the world has been immense over time: In recent decades, behind almost every significant discovery or new lifesaving technology, you will find our graduates leading or contributing decisively to these efforts.”
Writing for Fortune, Prof. Fiona Murray emphasizes the importance of strengthening transatlantic venture capital investments to strengthen ties among NATO members. “By investing in and adopting emerging dual-use technologies, NATO can leverage the private sector’s innovation power and its transatlantic talent pool, while countering our strategic competitors’ influence and ambitions,” Murray writes.
Under the direction of CEO Noubar Afeyan PhD '87, a member of the MIT Corporation, Flagship Pioneering is using its resources to back life sciences companies, seeking to vertically integrate the processes of scientific discovery, reports Scott Kirsner for The Boston Globe. “Afeyan’s latest vision involves artificial intelligence and how it will change the way science and drug development are done,” he writes. “Afeyan says that AI could eventually become a tool that does much of the work of scientific discovery.”
MIT spinout, Cogito, uses “advanced voice analytics to scrutinize voice tons and speech patterns, not just during customer interactions but also within internal team communications,” reports Andre Shojaie for Forbes. “By providing real-time feedback to representatives, Cogito helps them adjust their emotional tone and empathy levels accordingly,” explains Shojaie. “This application significantly reduces stress and cultivates a supportive work environment by enhancing interpersonal interactions among team members.”
Ivan Casadevantre MS '15 and Hasier Larrea MS '15 co-founded ORI Living – a furniture company that uses electromechanics to develop furniture systems designed for space efficiency. “You have to make those small spaces feel and act as if they were much larger,” says Larrea. “And that’s when we started thinking about robotics, thinking about engineering, and how we bring all those technologies to make it possible to live large in a smaller footprint.”
Prakash Govindan PhD '12 and Anurag Bajpayee SM '08 PhD '12 co-founded AlkaLi, a startup working to extract lithium from brine and process it for use in batteries, reports Amy Feldman for Forbes. AlkaLi uses resins and membranes to more easily extract the lithium from brine, then relies on its own technology to concentrate the mineral, which ultimately is precipitated into a solid for use in batteries,” writes Feldman.
The Engine Ventures' CEO and Managing partner Katie Rae talks to Forbes’ Alex Knapp about its recent round of fundraising for investments in startups focused on sustainability, health and infrastructure. Rae also sees opportunities in quantum computing and other new hardware, saying “power and climate and compute all go together.”
Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner of the Engine Ventures, speaks with Boston Globe reporter Aaron Pressman about The Engine Ventures’ third investment fund, which remains focused on “helping early-stage startups develop and commercialize ‘tough tech,’ which can include anything from fusion power generators to cement made without fossil fuels.” Rae notes: “You see this dynamism not just for climate, but for all things manufacturing, whether it’s biotech, whether it’s AI chips, it is about as an exciting moment as you could get for what we do.”
Ronald Davis III '18, SM '22, PhD '24 speaks with Jason Groves of Las Cruces Sun-News about how his research at both MIT and an Army Department of Defense lab inspired his interest in applying AI technologies to improve wireless communications, work he is now using as the foundation of his startup VectorWave. "When I think of a student earning multiple degrees from a school such as MIT along with a Ph.D., I'm blown away that it could come from a small place like Las Cruces [New Mexico]," says Brandon Sprague, Davis’ former high school mathematics teacher.
Mario Ho '17, cofounded NIP Group, "an esports organization with a team of 125 pro gamers from China, Europe and Brazil," reports Zinnia Lee for Forbes. “NIP Group said it plans to expand into new markets such as Southeast Asia, North America, the Middle East, Japan and Korea,” explains Lee. “The company added that it would further expand its businesses in areas including esports education, digital collectibles and licensing of intellectual properties.”
Cofounded by postdoctoral associate Wen Shuhao and postdoctoral fellows Ma Jian and Lai Lipeng, biotech startup Xtalpi "combines AI, quantum physics, cloud computing and robotic automation to find novel molecules that could be developed into new medicines,” reports Zinnia Lee for Forbes. “Xtalpi has also recently expanded into discovering new chemical compounds for applications such as agriculture, cosmetics, healthcare, as well as petrochemicals and new materials for electric vehicle batteries,” writes Lee.
NBC News reporter Alex Koller spotlights Noubar Afeyan PhD '87 and the messages he shared as commencement speaker for the 2024 MIT graduating class. "I'm utterly unreasonable and an eternal optimist," said Afeyan, adding that to tackle improbable challenges having "a special kind of optimism" can help.