Writing for Fortune, Barb Darrow highlights how IBM has committed $240 million to establish a new joint AI lab with MIT. Darrow explains that, “the resulting MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab will focus on a handful of key AI areas including the development of new 'deep learning' algorithms.”
Metropolis selected Boston as one of the best design cities in the world, highlighting MIT's School of Architecture and Planning and the Fab Lab as key drivers of the city’s success. “Here in Boston our biotech and high-tech industries are offering designers incredible opportunities to express their creativity,” says Hashim Sarkis, dean of SA+P. “It’s a place where design is being pushed to new frontiers.”
Research Engineer Bryan Reimer speaks with Anthony Brooks of WBUR’s Radio Boston about the possibility of creating more car-free zones in Boston. Creating a car-free zone is possible, says Reimer, but “it’s going to take a long-term focus and shifting the vehicular traffic around.”
In an article for Forbes, Peter Cohen examines why the Cambridge area has become such a hub for startups. Cohen highlights how universities like MIT contribute to a region’s economic activity and to its supply of innovation and talent. He notes that, “by 2014 MIT alumni had created 30,200 companies with $1.9 trillion in revenue.”
President L. Rafael Reif speaks with Bloomberg TV about Greater Boston’s world-renowned leadership in education for a segment aired during the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. “I say to everybody, you can live anywhere you want, but when you’re young spend four years in the Greater Boston area,” says Reif. “It’s going to change your life.”
In this Bloomberg TV video aired during the July 4th Spectacular, Profs. Sangeeta Bhatia and Robert Langer discuss the Greater Boston area’s prowess in medical research. Langer explains that for his research, which is focused on inventing, “new things in chemical engineering that can change people’s lives in medicine, there is no better place.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Tim Logan writes that MIT filed a mixed-use zoning petition for the 14-acre Volpe site in Kendall Square. Logan notes that the Volpe redevelopment is part of a broader push by MIT to make Kendall Square, “feel more like a fully-fledged neighborhood.”
In an article for The Epoch Times, Emel Akpan highlights how The Engine is focused on supporting startups in fields that require time and patient capital. “We have a focus on tough tech,” explains Katie Rae, CEO and president of The Engine. “We think that’s where the resources are limited. But the opportunities can have a lot of impact.”
A new analysis by MIT researchers shows that immigrants are a vital part of the Boston area’s economy, writes Katie Johnston for The Boston Globe. “It’s very hard to imagine our economy succeeding without immigration,” says Prof. Paul Osterman. “The economy would be strengthened if immigration increased from its present level.”
Xconomy reporter Ben Fidler writes about the life and legacy of Henri Termeer, a life member of the MIT Corporation who died at age 71. Institute Prof. Phillip Sharp explains that Termeer was, “a transformational leader in biotechnology of orphan diseases. Many children now have hope of a healthy life because of his vision and 40 years of creative business leadership.”
Henri Termeer, a life member of the MIT Corporation who was known as one of the founding fathers of the biotech industry, died at age 71, write Robert Weisman and Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. Termeer was, “a key leader in the biotech revolution that placed Massachusetts at the nexus of cutting-edge research and development.”
Sacha Pfeiffer highlights how MIT began providing employees free MBTA passes for local bus and subway services as part of The Boston Globe’s 2017 “Game Changers” section. Pfeiffer notes that MIT, “true to its high-tech reputation, took a pair of innovative steps last year to dissuade its employees from driving to work.”
In an article for The Boston Globe’s 2017 “Game Changers” section - which highlights ideas, inventions, people and places making waves in Boston - Robert Weisman spotlights The Engine. “We hope to create world-changing companies that will grow in the Boston region,” explains Katie Rae, The Engine’s President and CEO.
Boston Globe reporter Beth Teitell spotlights how Chris Miller, a staff member at Lincoln Lab, examined ridership of the bikes in Boston’s bicycle-sharing system as part of a data visualization challenge. Miller found “six of the system’s 1,800 bikes had been ridden only once or twice each in all of 2016. The average bike in service makes close to four trips — per day.”
Boston Globe reporter Stan Grossfeld spotlights a visit to the MIT Media Lab by Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas and Kalis Gregory, a seventh grader from Hyde Park. “They saw prosthetic limbs that are computerized to transmit information to the brain. They heard about digestible electronics that can harvest energy from moving body parts and they tested computer games with codes written by kids.”