what

The MIT Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship (DE) focuses on design and implementation of commercially sustainable products and services for low-income communities around the world. MIT's commitment to technology, entrepreneurship, and global diversity provides a uniquely qualified environment to develop innovative products, services and organizations that improve the lives of people in low-income communities.

Time and again, it has been proven that entrepreneurs create products, services and jobs. By so doing they expand economies, improve people’s lives, and bring about competition. A competitive environment, in turn, gives rise to efficiency, meritocracy, and further innovations and entrepreneurial drive. Moreover, the potent combination of entrepreneurship and technological innovations contributes to an ecosystem — including government policies — that is conducive to further entrepreneurship and technological innovations.

As a premier institution for technological innovations along with its entrepreneurial culture, MIT can play a fundamental role in setting off virtuous cycles of entrepreneurship and technological innovations in places that have otherwise been subject to poverty and stagnation. This is the core rationale for MIT’s Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship (DE).