News Briefs
CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE: A previous version of this brief incorrectly stated that full name of the MITES program was the "Minor" Introduction to Science and Technology, instead of the "Minority" Introduction to Science and Technology.
Preliminary report for Innovation Initiative released
President Reif wrote in an email Wednesday that the preliminary report on the MIT Innovation Initiative — a manufacturing-focused effort announced last September — has been published. This report, detailing “an ambitious vision for how MIT could enhance its ability to deliver innovation to the world,” is a product of the program’s Adivsory Committee, also formed last fall.
The report, the result of the feedback collected from various MIT stakeholders worldwide, presents four goals: enhancing “idea-to-impact capabilities” through key education and research programs, extending “innovation communities,” revitalizing “innovation-centric infrastructure,” and developing the science of innovation in ways that both inform action and policy.
In particular, the report outlines the creation of a new undergraduate minor studies program (which is already in the works by the Taskforce for an Undergraduate Minor in Entrepreneurship), along with several other programs including funding opportunities, a high school program adjunct to the Minority Introduction to Science and Technology Program (MITES), and a Women in Innovation, Science, and Entrepreneurship Program.
In the innovation communities section, the report presents plans to bring together the programs that focus on innovation and entrepreneurship through student and postdoc communities, partnerships with industry, and global innovation nodes to “expand MIT’s innovation footprint.”
Locally, the report calls for establishing innovation hubs on east and west campus and presents a vision for the creation of a network of smaller maker spaces throughout campus. Building on these new initiatives, the report also includes a proposal for a Laboratory for Innovation Science and Policy that will “unite multidisciplinary talent from all MIT schools to develop new knowledge of the innovation process”.
The co-directors of the Innovation Initiative, Vladimir Bulovic, associate dean for innovation in the School of Engineering and Fiona Murray, associate dean for innovation at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, led the 19-member faculty committee in compiling the report.
The full text of the report can be found online at innovation.mit.edu.
—Stan Gill