Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E)

MIT alumnus Dave Smith speaks with Anthony Brooks of WBUR about his company, LiquiGlide. LiquiGlide makes a substance that coats the surface on the inside of containers, reducing friction and allowing fluids to slide out more easily.

In a piece for Scientific American, Ryan Bradley examines how MIT researchers have developed a new method to control cells by squeezing them. The work, which is being commercialized as a company called SQZ Biotech, was named one of 10 World Changing ideas by Scientific American. 

Caroline Fairchild of Fortune speaks with Professor Cynthia Brazeal about women and entrepreneurship. “The world would certainly be a better place if we had more women entrepreneurs,” says Breazeal. “Women are going to bring a different angle to startups.”

Prof. Robert Langer speaks with Trisha Gura of Science about his work as an engineer and entrepreneur.  Says Langer of how he became an entrepreneur, “I could see that by having these little companies, you could make an enormous impact.”

Klint Finley reports for Wired on Carduino, a device created by MIT graduate student Josh Siegel that allows users to customize their cars. “This tiny device plugs into an automobile diagnostics port, letting you equip your car with all sorts of tools you otherwise couldn’t,” Finley explains. 

Pilita Clark of the Financial Times writes about the battery developed by Dr. Qichao Hu and Professor Donald Sadoway that can extend the driving range and lower the cost of an electric car. The new battery can store “twice as much energy as conventional [battery] cells,” Clark reports. 

Howard Husock writes for Forbes about Khan Academy, a platform created by MIT alumnus Salman Khan that hosts free courses online. “Our goal is for Khan Academy’s software and content to be the best possible learning experience and for it to be for everyone, for free, forever,” said Khan.

Professors Thomas Allen and Rory O’Shea write for Bloomberg Businessweek about the ways in which other institutions can imitate MIT’s success in spurring innovation. At MIT “[s]tudents learn to experiment, take risks, tolerate failure, and strive to overcome obstacles,” they write.

Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston writes that eyeMITRA, a new system developed by Professor Ramesh Raskar’s Camera Culture group, is a finalist in the Nokia Sensing XChallenge. The system monitors a wide range of health conditions by taking pictures of the retina. “Your eyes are a window into your health,” says Raskar.

Hannah Kulcher writes for The Financial Times about Jibo, a family robot created by Professor Cynthia Breazeal. “We call it the world’s first family robot as it is really about engagement with people; more like a helpful partner, rather than being a tool,” says Breazeal.

In an article about new technologies that read people’s desires, Colin Barras of BBC News highlights MIT startup Affectiva, which uses computer programs to judge people’s reactions. 

Sacha Pfeiffer and Lynn Jolicoeur of WBUR report on Cambridge Mobile Telematics, a company founded by MIT Professor Hari Balakrishnan to help improve driver safety. The company developed an app that “automatically detects when you’re in the car and driving, it detects when you’ve stopped driving, and then it provides feedback to you,” Pfeiffer and Jolicoeur report. 

Founded by MIT alumnus Sidhant Pai and winner of the MIT IDEAS Global Challenge, Indian startup Protoprint compensates waste pickers in the Indian city of Pune for collecting the raw materials used for 3D-printing filament, writes Dhanya Ann Thoppil for The Wall Street Journal. “The point is to create employment and value add opportunities for the waste pickers,” says Pai.

The Boston Globe writes about Professor Sangeeta Bhatia's commitment to mentoring her students. “It's heartening to know that, tucked away in labs all over our region, solution-driven scientists like Sangeeta Bhatia are tinkering and building — and encouraging others to do the same.”

MIT alumnus Robert R. Morris writes about his work developing a crowdsourcing application to help individuals cope with depression. Users can post descriptions of their troubles and within minutes, “a crowd of helpers sends you anonymous feedback. The responses are often very short, but guided by techniques used in many modern therapies,” Morris explains.