Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E)

Dan Wexler (left) and Priya Patel of EatWell, which won the $15,000 grand prize at this year's Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize competition.

Prize-winning projects promote healthier eating, smarter crop investments

Meal kits for “food deserts” and crowdsourced crop-pricing platform win Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize.

May 4, 2018

Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston at MIT April 18

From startup to $12 billion: Seven lessons from Dropbox

CEO Drew Houston offers advice for starting and scaling a company.

April 25, 2018

“Before I ever wanted to be an Olympian, I knew that I wanted to be an engineer. And if you want to be the best, you’ve got to train with the best,” Malone says.

On the cutting edge

Olympic medalist and MIT senior Jordan Malone uses his engineering skills to enhance the sport of speedskating.

April 24, 2018

Grand prize winner of $15,000 at the annual MIT IDEAS Global Challenge showcase and awards ceremony went to Umbulizer, a team developing a low-cost, portable ventilator for patients in rural areas where medical resources are scarce and unreliable. Pictured is team member Moiz Imam, a senior in mechanical engineering at MIT, accepting the award from Kate Trimble, senior director of the Priscilla Ki...

IDEAS Global Challenge rewards inventions with social impact

At annual event, 10 teams split $92,500 in prize money for designing innovations that improve lives worldwide.

April 23, 2018

MIT Media Lab spinout Amino Labs develops mini-lab kits with all necessary tools and materials for anyone to start engineering microbes.

Startup aims to democratize synthetic biology

Alumna’s mini-lab kits include all necessary tools and materials for anyone to start engineering microbes.

April 18, 2018

Lithio Storage, a team from Tufts University and Northwestern University, won the top $100,000 MIT Clean Energy Prize (CEP) for developing an electrolyte that helps batteries withstand much broader temperature ranges, making them safer, more energy efficient, and cheaper to operate. Pictured is team member and inventor Anthony D’Angelo (right) with (from left) CEP co-managing directors Lisa Khan...

MIT Clean Energy Prize rewards student innovation

Robust batteries, solar refrigeration, UV membrane cleaner, and smart factory technologies take home $140,000 in prize money.

April 17, 2018

The YenAra (in Twi, a local language in Ghana, meaning “our very own”) backpacks team, now in AFEP, is developing advanced, functional, yet stylish backpacks that encourage individuals to showcase their creativity through socially responsible ways. Pictured are two of the founders, Sedinam Worlanyo (left) and Bolutife Fakoya, both Swarthmore College alumni, presenting at Swarthmore SwatTank An...

AFFOA and VMS launch Advanced Fabrics Entrepreneurship Program

Year-long program will give early-stage entrepreneurs a leg up in the functional fabrics industry.

April 13, 2018

Letter regarding The Engine Working Groups final report

April 12, 2018

Speakers included (l-r) Jay Bradner, president of the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research; Phillip Sharp, MIT Institute Professor; Andrew Plump, chief medical and scientific officer of Takeda; summit organizers and faculty members Regina Barzilay and Dina Katabi from the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield; and Robert Califf, ...

Pioneering digital collaborations

MIT hosts a summit on transformative artificial intelligence technologies in biomedical sciences and health care.

April 10, 2018

Hal Gregersen, the executive director of the MIT Leadership Center and senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, suggests leaders ask questions in bursts to help find innovative solutions to problems.

Asking the questions that unlock innovation

The MIT Leadership Center's Hal Gregersen says brainstorming in “question bursts” is the best way for innovative leaders and problem solvers to find solutions.

April 6, 2018

On Wednesday night, Oasis, a student team from Georgia Tech (center), won the $15,000 grand prize in the MIT Water Innovation Prize competition for its simple, inexpensive test for detecting E. coli in drinking water in India. Second-place prizes for $7,500 went to Velaron (right), developing a smart sensor system for aquaculture shrimp farmers, and Majik Water (left), developing a system that use...

Simple, low-cost E. coli test wins MIT Water Innovation Prize

Nine student teams pitched solutions to global water issues at annual event.

April 6, 2018

Ayar Labs' optoelectronic chips move data around with light but compute electronically.

Photonic communication comes to computer chips

Startup’s optoelectronic chips could reduce energy usage by up to 50 percent in data centers while increasing computing speeds.

April 5, 2018

Measuring the economy with location data

Startup’s platform crunches anonymized smartphone GPS data to understand how people shop, work, and live.

March 27, 2018

Associate professor of mechanical engineering Sangbae Kim and his team at the Biomimetic Robotics Lab developed the quadruped robot, the MIT Cheetah.

Cheetah III robot preps for a role as a first responder

Sangbae Kim is now developing the Cheetah III as a commercially viable robot to operate in compromised emergency response environments.

March 26, 2018

The Innovation Mentors are (clockwise from top left): Alli Davanzo, Marla Odell, Sumit Khetan, and Michael Amoako.

Introducing the Innovation Mentors

Through pilot program, mentors help fellow students through the stages of innovation and entrepreneurship at MIT.