Tag Archives: Harvard

Innovation: 2017 Style

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fuse_2Here in Massachusetts, we tend to get somewhat of an inferiority complex. Maybe it’s those Puritan roots. We have it stuck in our heads … “Boston’s not as big as NYC” or “We’re not as innovative as Silicon Valley” …

Wait?! Bloomberg says that Massachusetts is the most innovative state in America … for the second year in a row? That’s pretty cool. Take that inferiority complex!

According to the Bloomberg ranking, Massachusetts scored 95 out of a possible 100 points, followed by California, Washington, New Jersey, and Maryland. The six equally weighted metrics included:

  • R&D intensity;
  • Productivity;
  • High-tech density;
  • Concentration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) employment
  • Science and engineering degree holders; and
  • Patent activity.

Massachusetts earned the ranking by producing more science and engineering jobs and by creating jobs in those industries. Current figures show a 2.9% unemployment rate in Mass, compared to a 4.6% national average. The state’s universities were also noted, included Harvard and MIT.

At MIT’s Martin Trust Center, we have the privilege of seeing that innovation every day.  And, it’s the type of innovation gets spread around the world. CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is known for attracting and showcasing the world’s latest and greatest consumer innovations.  This year, atwoboo least eight companies with MIT roots showed off their cutting-edge products at the show. One of those, Woobo, is an alumnus of our MIT student venture accelerator program (now known as delta v). The company is using robotics and artificial intelligence to make a smart “imaginary friend” for young children and plans to launch the product this year.

Another MIT accelerator program alumnus, Accion Systems, was honored recently in BostInno’s 17 Startups to Watch in 2017. Definitely not in the consumer accionrealm, Accion is developing revolutionary propulsion for satellites which will make space more accessible and affordable across industries. The company itself is seeing quite a bit of propulsion here in Massachusetts, with funding from the Department of Defense and a Series A round last year, along with numerous awards.

img_0424And, here’s something pretty cool that’s happening in innovation right now: is MIT fuse program.  MIT fuse is the Trust Center’s entrepreneurial program that takes place every January during Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is January 9 to February 1 this year. The MIT fuse teams essentially take over the Martin Trust Center during these three and a half weeks, receive mentor advice from our Entrepreneurs in Residence, and learn from startup founders who have preceded them.

One intriguing company in the current MIT fuse program is Waypoint Labs.
Waypoint is building a platform for creating and extracting spatial data and insights for augmented reality (AR) applications. One possible applicawaypoint-labstion is using the Microsoft Hololens to enable non-pharmacy hospital staff to fill prescriptions quickly and without errors. The company was invited by AT&T to participate in its inaugural AR/VR Challenge at CES 2017, where it won the $20K grand prize after demoing its prototype to over 250 conference attendees.

At MIT, the students we mentor want to make a positive impact in the world, and our programs give these students the opportunity to do so.  Here’s to an innovative 2017!

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Some of the Best Academic Accelerator Programs in the U.S.

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In my role as Entrepreneur in Residence at MIT and Program Director for MIT’s Global Founders’ Skill Accelerator (GFSA), I’ve been researching accelerator programs worldwide, and I thought I’d share some of that research in a series of blog posts. This is the third post in the series; read the other posts starting here.

 MITThe accelerator community in the U.S. can be broadly divided into two segments: The accelerators owned by university campuses and the independent accelerator programs. Educational accelerators, driven by universities, bring unique capabilities and access to talent.

In my work with MIT, I’ve observed a very ambitious group that was also very aligned with the MIT community culture, which supports the teams through its educational process and ecosystem.

Naturally, I’ll start with MIT, but also highlight other excellent accelerator programs.

The Martin Trust Center at MIT has played a pivotal role in fostering a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship among the student community. According to reported estimates at the end of 2014, 30,200 active companies were founded by living MIT alumni—employing 4.6 million people and generating annual world revenues of nearly $2 trillion. These MIT alumni startups collectively represent the 10th largest economy in the world (you can get even more stats here).

The Martin Trust Center offers a series of entrepreneurship courses for undergraduates and graduate students, hardware infrastructure, collaborative workspace, meeting rooms, videoconference system, and even coffee and snacks to inspire young innovators. The advisory panel boasting the brightest minds in the industry is available to provide guidance; while the MIT Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator (MIT GFSA) and events like Speaker Series’, Roundtable sessions, or MIT $100K competition are additional facilities to boost entrepreneurship around the campus.

The Harvard Rock Accelerator Program serves both student entrepreneurs and student investors who work together to grow and sustain a startup operation. This one-year long program offers 10-20 founding teams with each funding $8,000 in seed capital, excellent mentors, and peer exchange sessions till completion.

Stanford’s StartX Accelerator Program helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs through a combination of empirical studies and collaborative expertise. This unique accelerator program does not charge any fee and takes zero equity from student companies. This program has managed to attract funds from leading investors like Greylock Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, boasts over 200 mentors who are field experts—including individuals from Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and other luminaries in Silicon Valley, delivers custom education, and offers the latest technological resources.

The Babson College Butler Venture Accelerator Program has packed in seed-funding, advising, workspace, mentoring, and even self-assessments and peer support in a highly focused program. Additionally, this program includes the Glavin Office of Multicultural & International Education, where immigration attorneys offer work authorization guidelines to international students with restrictive visas.

In 6 college startup programs beyond Harvard and MIT, Beta Boston provides a roundup of some serious accelerator-program owners beyond the likes of MIT and Harvard, who offer strong accelerator programs in Massachusetts.

Does your college or university offer an accelerator program? How do you think it stacks up? Let me know below under “Leave a Reply.”

If you want to read my next post in this series check back here on my blog or follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter.