MIT and Industry

Since its founding, MIT has actively sought industry partnerships and brought its students into real-world projects with corporations.

In fiscal year 2011, MIT's industry-sponsored research totaled $100.8 million. More than 800 firms now work with MIT, both in Institute-wide programs and in smaller collaborations.

Part of the Office of Corporate Relations, the Industrial Liaison Program is the largest conduit between corporations and MIT. More than 190 companies partner with the program to improve their access to MIT and advance their research agendas.

Launched in 2006 to pursue innovative energy technologies, the MIT Energy Initiative fosters collaboration between industry and MIT researchers from all five schools. More than 65 corporate members support multidisciplinary research programs, contribute seed money, and provide support and research opportunities for MIT students.

Among other programs, the Industrial Performance Center studies productivity, innovation, and industrial development around the world. It carries out field-based, often large-scale research projects bringing together scientists and engineers with scholars offering social sciences and management expertise.

MIT's strong corporate connection also is reflected in its extensive business-oriented curriculum, many spearheaded by the MIT Sloan School of Management in collaboration with other schools. Here are some examples of the many specialized educational offerings.

• Leaders for Global Operations
• System Design and Management
• Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership
• Supply Chain Management
• MIT Professional Education

Most strikingly, the Institute takes an entrepreneurial approach to entrepreneurship itself—one key factor in a record of successful business startups that is unexcelled in the world.

Between 200 and 400 companies are started each year by MIT staff and alumni. Data from a 2009 study suggest that 25,800 firms have been founded by alumni, employing about 3.3 million employees and generating about $2 trillion in annual revenue. If these companies formed a nation, they would have ranked as the world's eleventh-largest economy.

These successes draw from an MIT culture that builds and rewards entrepreneurial vision, and emphasizes a team approach that brings together people of different backgrounds and skills. The Institute also steadily creates and enhances entrepreneurial-launching structures, among them, the $100K Competition and the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.

Throughout MIT, this entrepreneurial trend is only accelerating. More entrepreneurs come from each successive graduating class, and they are starting their first companies sooner.