A new study from MIT’s Industrial Performance Center finds that while Massachusetts is successfully launching and growing new startups, the state has a shortage of “super-scale” companies, reports Hiawatha Bray for BetaBoston. Bray explains that the report “calls for public- and private-sector efforts to foster the development of bigger businesses in the Bay State.”
A new report details the entrepreneurial impact of MIT’s alumni entrepreneurs, reports Hiawatha Bray for BetaBoston. “We’re seeing a more rapid rate of growth than we have ever seen before,” explains Prof. Edward Roberts, in the “growth in the formation and startup of new companies by MIT alumni.”
In this video, CBS Boston’s Bree Sison reports on MIT startup Affectiva, which is developing technology that can identify human emotions and could help with mental health. Rana el Kaliouby, Affectiva CSO and co-founder, explains that the technology could “tell you something is off, or flag it to a friend or doctor. Or maybe it could customize a digit experience to help you.”
In an article for U.S. News & World Report about innovations for seniors, Teresa Mears reports that MIT researchers are developing a shirt that can sense a heart attack and administer CPR. While “such a shirt is [probably] 15 years away, shirts with sensors are already on the market, used primarily by athletes,” writes Mears.
In this video, CBS News correspondent Don Dahler speaks with Prof. Dina Katabi about her group’s work developing wireless technology that can track a person’s motion through walls. Katabi and her colleagues demonstrated how the system also detects a person’s elevation and could be used to help protect seniors at risk of falling.
Los Angeles Times reporter Evan Halper speaks with MIT Corporation member and alumna Leslie Dewan, co-founder of Transatomic Power, about nuclear energy and climate change. “I became a nuclear engineer because I am an environmentalist,” said Dewan. “The world needs a cheap source of carbon-free power.”
Paula Ebben of WBZ News reports on Testive, an MIT startup that helps students prepare for the SAT and ACT through free online materials. “Making educational resources freely available is really important because that levels the playing field,” explains co-founder and MIT alumnus Tom Rose.
Atlantic reporter April Wolfe writes that three MIT materials science and engineering students have developed a washing machine filter that recycles 95% of laundry wastewater. The device filters “the small amount of waste and recycles the clean water and detergent for further cleaning cycles.”
Bloomberg Business reporter Chris Martin writes about MIT startup Cambrian Innovation, which is using microbes to transform wastewater into clean water and energy. Martin explains that the system developed by Cambrian “uses bio-engineered microbes that consume much of the contaminants in wastewater and belch out methane.”
Emily Price writes for The Guardian about MIT research scientist Caleb Harper’s work to develop sustainable, urban agriculture. “Depending on how you eat, about 30-40% of your diet could be produced urban or peri-urban and would be a lot better for you if it was,” says Harper.
NBC News reporter Keith Wagstaff writes that MIT will open a new “Innovation Node” in Hong Kong next summer. Wagstaff explains that the goal of the Innovation Node is to help students learn how to bring ideas from lab to market.
Wall Street Journal reporters Wei Gu and Anjanu Trivedi write that MIT will launch an “Innovation Node” in Hong Kong. “Universities in Hong Kong are very strong and the city has significant business expertise,” explains President L. Rafael Reif. “We are here for what Hong Kong has to offer.”
MIT spinoff C2Sense has developed a chip that gives computers a sense of smell and could be used to detect spoiling food, reports Klint Finley for Wired. The company’s goal is to make “wireless sensor chips so cheap that they could be built into a product’s packaging.”
Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes about Sprout, a company that sells pencils with “an attached seed capsule, containing everything from tomatoes to cilantro and lavender.” The idea for the pencils came from three MIT students, who were developing ideas for sustainable office products.
This CNN Money article explores a new company called Sprout, which develops plantable pencils that grow into vegetables, herbs and flowering plants. Three MIT students conceived the idea for Sprout and began selling the pencils in Europe in 2013.