Prof. Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, has announced the launch of his new company Inrupt. The startup will use an open-source project called Solid, which Berners-Lee developed with colleagues at MIT, to “reshape the web and ‘restore the power and agency of the individuals’ using it,” writes Jason Evangelho for Forbes.
TechCrunch’s Ziad Reslan highlights aspects of MIT’s Solve innovation challenge, including appointing multiple winners and maintaining a relationship after the challenge, that distinguish it among a crowded field of similar competitions. “Our value-add is providing a network, from MIT and beyond, and then brokering partnerships,” says Hala Hanna, managing director of community for Solve.
Forbes reporter Amy Feldman highlights Desktop Metal, a company started by MIT graduate Ric Fulop and a number of MIT researchers, that has developed 3-D metal printers that are intended to “print fast enough and at a low enough cost to replace casting and CNC machining for numerous metal parts.”
MIT spinout Affectiva Inc. has developed a new system that can study a driver’s face to help assess their mental state, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. Bray explains that the system “analyzes facial expressions to determine if a driver is distracted, angry, scared, sleepy, or drunk.”
Robotic furniture produced by MIT spinout Ori, which created a furniture system that reconfigures itself with the push of a button or voice commands, could be the solution to living in small spaces, writes Candace Jackson for The New York Times.
As part of the InCube entrepreneurial challenge, a team of MIT students is living in a glass cube for five days as they work on developing a better ambulance, reports Andy Rosen for The Boston Globe. Gene Keselman, executive director of the MIT Innovation Initiative, explains that the glass cube offers passersby a glimpse at what “the entrepreneurial journey looks like.”
CBS Boston highlights five MIT students who are living and working inside a glass cube on the MIT campus for four days as part of an entrepreneurial hackathon focused on developing the ambulance of the future.
Five visiting students are living and working in a glass cube as they work on developing the ambulance of the future as part of an InCube entrepreneurial challenge, reports Jadiann Thompson for WHDH-TV. “The goal is really to make this a four-day intensive stay in the cube,” graduate student Phillippe Nicollier explains.
In an article for The New York Times about the most effective ways to supply aid to impoverished populations in developing countries, Marc Gunther highlights GiveDirectly, a nonprofit co-founded by graduate students from MIT and Harvard. Gunther explains that GiveDirectly aims to “reshape international giving by using cash as a kind of ‘index fund’ of development against which actively managed interventions can be measured.”
Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner of The Engine, speaks with Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang about tough tech and why The Engine is committed to fostering startups focused on the world’s biggest problems. Rae explains that The Engine invests in companies that often “need time to be nurtured, time to work out technical risk, but the results can be transformational to the world.”
MIT startup Skydio has launched a platform that allows users to create custom software that can be applied to the company’s autonomous drone, reports Nick Statt for The Verge. The platform will let “app makers and drone enthusiasts develop custom software that takes advantage of the device’s bevy of cameras and sensors, as well as its sophisticated computer vision software and machine learning algorithms.”
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters highlights how MIT researchers have developed a robot that can swim through pipes and identify leaks. Peters writes that alumnus You Wu estimates that “if half of the leaks in the world could be found and fixed, that would recover enough water to support 1 billion people.”
MIT alumnus You Wu has spent six years perfecting robots that can travel through pipes to identify water leaks, writes Anne Quito for Quartz. “Over 240,000 water pipes burst in the US each year, with each incident costing an average of $200,000 in infrastructure damage,” notes Quito.
In an article for The New York Times about how scientists are developing new ways to treat disease using bacteria, Carl Zimmer highlights how MIT startup Synlogic is developing what could be the first FDA-approved synthetic biology-based medical treatment for a disease called phenylketonuria.
Prof. Donald Sadoway speaks with Forbes contributor Arne Alsin about the future of sustainable energy and battery design. “We definitely have to be bolder in our innovation when it comes to what goes beyond lithium-ion,” says Sadoway. “We have to apply the criterion ‘If successful, how big is the impact?’ And we have to have the courage to fail.”