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Newest Grant Round includes Speech Recognition, Cardiac Screening,
Wireless, Environmental, and Fuel Efficiency Technologies
October 27, 2003
Cambridge, MA - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation (Deshpande Center)
announced today that it has issued its largest grant round since
the launch of the Center one year ago. The Deshpande Center awarded
13 grants selected from 45 proposals. The seven Ignition grants,
which fund proof of concept explorations, and six Innovation Grants, which help further research towards commercialization, total
$1.3 million. The grants were awarded to MIT faculty in the School
of Engineering and support a wide range of emerging technologies,
including medical technology, tiny technology, communications, information
technology, and environmental innovations.
The Deshpande Center is part of the MIT School of Engineering and
was established in 2002 through an initial $20M gift from Jaishree
Deshpande and Desh Deshpande, the co-founder and chairman of Sycamore
Networks. The Deshpande Center was created to serve as a catalyst
for innovation and entrepreneurship by supporting the research of
MIT faculty and students, and facilitating collaboration among faculty,
entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and innovative businesses. The
center helps researchers bring their ideas to fruition by supporting
market-driven innovation, assisting with the intellectual property
process, and enabling collaboration throughout the R&D phase.
Chiping Chen: Low-cost amplifiers for 3G wireless base
stations:
A novel power amplifier for wireless base stations could improve
the performance of third-generation wireless networks and help create
new markets worth $100 billion.
Yet Ming Chiang: Ionic colloidal crystals:
The ability to manufacture ionic colloidal crystals—a new
family of materials with fascinating properties—could lead
to exciting applications in ultra filtration, drug delivery, photonic
fingerprinting, and numerous other areas.
Woodie Flowers: Powered limb braces to help the mobility-impaired:
A low-cost, easy-to-use medical device could help millions of disabled
people achieve increased independence, and save $40 million millions
in out-of-pocket expenses for physical rehabilitation and assisted
living.
Bill Green: New engine to replace diesel:
A new take on the fuel-efficient, low-emission HCCI engine would
be more robust and less complex than the original and could prove
to be a long-awaited alternative to the polluting diesel engine.
John Guttag: An accurate, inexpensive cardiac screening
system:
A computerized cardiac screening system that is as non-invasive,
inexpensive, and fast as a stethoscope, but much more accurate,
and it could be a boon to cardiac diagnostics.
Doug Hart: 3-D imaging technology to enable minimally invasive
surgery:
A novel 3D image-processing system could greatly enhance the medical
procedure of endoscopy and enable robotic-assisted, minimally invasive
surgery.
Klavs Jensen: The personal chemistry system: revolutionizing
the chemical lab:
A Personal Chemistry System (PCS), compact and capable of rapid
discovery and development of new products, would revolutionize the
chemical laboratory—and chemical research as we know it.
Tom Knight: A new approach for speech recognition:
A risky new processing approach could be the breakthrough necessary
to finally make speech recognition a reality.
Dave Perreault: 3D circuit boards to enhance electronics
at low cost:
Three-dimensional printed circuit boards (3D PCBs) would provide
better performance than current 2D technology and could capture
a substantial portion of the $30 billion annual market in PCBs.
Caroline Ross: A low-cost way to produce microelectronic
devices:
Simple, inexpensive magnetic devices could replace complex and costly
silicon-based semiconductors used in a variety of applications,
from smart cards to merchandise tags.
Don Sadoway: A radical steelmaking method that could revolutionize
the steel industry:
Electrolytic steelmaking, a radical carbon-free method of producing
steel, could clean up the industry and take control of a $200 billion
worldwide market.
Peter So: A new device for non-invasive tissue biopsy:
A new type of endoscope using two-photon imaging could diagnose
disease without tissue removal and create a new market for non-invasive
tissue biopsy.
Greg Wornell: Advanced algorithms to increase wireless network
capacity:
Really smart antenna algorithms have the opportunity to increase
the capacity of wireless networks to prepare for the upcoming explosion
in demand for wireless video services.
“We have come along way since the launch,” said Krisztina
Holly, Executive Director of the Deshpande Center, “and it
is truly rewarding to announce our largest grant round on our one
year anniversary and reflect on the tremendous momentum and progress
the Center has made. It is thrilling that we have already begun
to see our sponsored projects demonstrating such success.”
Since the Center’s formal launch in October of last year,
the Center has made significant progress in building bridges between
academic research and the marketplace. Over the past year the Center
has awarded three grant rounds totaling $3 million. In addition
to awarding grants, the Deshpande Center facilitates relationships
with a host of business resources on and off campus. To date, the
Center has successfully facilitated collaborations through events
including four Faculty Entrepreneurship Workshops; two Ignition
forums; an open house; and the Deshpande IdeaStream Symposium, which
sold out at 270 attendees and featured a key note from Massachusetts
Governor Mitt Romney. Additionally, the Deshpande Center this fall
is piloting a new program called the “Catalyst Program.”
In this program, volunteers (“Catalysts”) from the business
community make a one-year commitment as a liaison between MIT faculty,
the Deshpande Center, and industry. Catalysts serve as advisors
to the Executive and Faculty Directors and keep track of a small
portfolio of sponsored projects.
The Center also is pleased to report on a host of success stories
from its portfolio of emerging technologies. The Center announced
earlier this year that one of the teams from its inaugural grant
round, led by Doug Hart, formed a company called Brontes and was
a runner-up in the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. He has
received a second grant to explore a new application of their 3D
imaging technology and the company is beginning to seek VC funding.
Additionally, Mechanical Engineering Prof. Woodie Flowers’
team, which won an Ignition Grant last fall and have received follow-on
funding for a project called Active Joint Brace for Assisted Motion
and Rehabilitation, has been working with Spaulding Rehabilitation
Hospital on their device that has shown initial promise with patients
in reducing the time and increasing the quality of rehabilitation
for spinal cord injury. His team is currently working on miniaturizing
the joint brace system to prepare it for clinical studies next year,
with their ultimate aim to start a company that would market the
device. Additionally, Prof. Robert Langer’s team has been
in discussions with a major medical device manufacturer and venture
capital firms regarding his tissue engineering technology that,
with Deshpande Center funding, is ready to enter clinical trials
by early next year.
“The Deshpande grant came at a crucial time, providing the
resources needed to demonstrate the technology,” says Prof.
Douglas Hart, inventor of the 3D imaging technology being funded
by the Center. “The charter of the Deshpande Center is new
to academia. It provides an opportunity to move technology from
the lab into the market.”
About the Deshpande Center
Until now, obstacles in the innovation process – between initial
idea and commercialization – has caused research to be left
undeveloped in the laboratory. The Deshpande Center supports research
in emerging technologies and helps reduce the risk around investing
in new technologies. Additional information on the Deshpande Center’s
grant program, submissions, research portfolio, and other entrepreneurial
resources can be found on the website:
http://web.mit.edu/deshpandecenter.
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