MIT Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship (DE)

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).

DE helps students invent new technologies and organizations, increases their understanding of the challenges faced by low income communities, connects them to other resources at MIT and elsewhere that may help them design and implement sustainable enterprises, and conducts research that may be useful to entrepreneurs and enterprises. DE strives to provide scholarships for young entrepreneurs focused on low-income communities, providing travel and project funds to develop their ideas, along with a supportive network to help them grow and nurture their dreams.

The Program in DE -- in conjunction with the Entrepreneurship Center at the Sloan School of Management, the Media Laboratory, and the MIT Design Laboratory --

(1) offers instruction in development-oriented entrepreneurship,
(2) works with all of the other development-oriented programs at MIT,
(3) builds the Developmental Entrepreneurship Network (DEN) in partnership with the MIT Alumni Association, and
(4) supports the new MIT $100k Competition in Entrepreneurship for Development.

The Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program is a cross-cutting theme within the Media Arts and Sciences academic program that helps students translate promising ideas at the Media Lab from compelling prototypes towards real-world products or services—i.e., translating ideas into impact. Such translation has historically occurred when sponsors absorb promising concepts and hire graduating students and also when new businesses or even NGO organizations are formed, sometimes with Media Lab sponsors as co-investors, co-developers, or lead customers.

The goal of the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program is to aid this process, while at the same time ensuring that the Lab’s intellectual freedom and research agenda are not sacrificed. The goal is to generate thoughtful projects that will engage sponsors at a much more useful level, thus increasing both effectiveness of the Media Lab educational program and the real-world impact of its research.

The Program consists of several "Ventures" oriented classes, including Development Ventures, Imaging Ventures, and Neurotech Ventures, together with the flagship Media Lab Enterprise course. These classes introduce Media Lab students to cross-registered students from MIT Sloan School of Management, the Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government, and other academic programs, forming teams whose diverse skills can produce well-formed technology translation plans. The classes also show students how to leverage the resources of other programs around MIT and Harvard, particularly the Sloan Entrepreneurship Center, the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition, and the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.