2024 MIT R&D Conference: Startup Exchange Lightning Talks - Introduction

IRINA GAZIYEVA: Thank you for joining our Startup Lightning Talks. My name is Irina Gaziyeva. I'm a program coordinator with MIT Startup Exchange program. Over the next hour, you'll hear from nine MIT-connected startups. Each will have five minutes to present, followed by the exhibit on the right side of the escalator. So please make sure to join and network with our startups.

But first, let me tell you about our program. MIT Startup Exchange was created over nine years ago to support MIT-connected startups in growing, expanding, and solving the world's great challenges. We do this by fostering partnership with ILP members-- many of you in the audience today-- as well as extensive MIT Innovation Ecosystem and beyond.

Our startups and our program have a strong connection to MIT. Many of our founders have-- founders and co-founders are MIT alum, faculty, or staff, while some of our startups have also licensed technology, as well as some of our other startups are supported and vetted by our MIT peers, such as START.nano, The Engine, CSAIL Startup Connect Plus.

A bit about our network. Our program has around 1,000 startups who typically join at the pilot and beyond stage and are sector and geography agnostic. Within our program, we have a group called STEX25. This is a curated group that receives customized support for one year, which includes enhanced visibility to industry and corporates.

So when it comes to value, startups in our program gain exposure to a global network of decision industry makers, while at the same time, ILP members benefit from a curated selection of MIT-connected startups.

We host several events both locally and internationally. These include conferences with Startup Lightning Talks and exhibits such as today's event, as well as virtual demo days, where we select a group of startups and you get to interact with them in the breakout rooms, as well as webinars, speed-networking events, workshops, trainings, and many more.

For industry and corporate members, a key benefit is our ability to tailor events to address your priorities. For startups, this provides an opportunity to gain visibility and enter new markets and ecosystems to grow and expand. Overall, it's a highly customized and curated approach to innovation.

We know that some of you are already taking advantage of these opportunities. And if not, please feel free to see me and our team after this presentation.

As I mentioned earlier, Startup Exchange was established to create collaboration between industry partners and startups. This slide highlights a small sample of successful partnerships we've had to date. These partnerships include ranging from proof of concepts, large-scale pilots, customer engagements, joint R&Ds, and even acquisitions. I hope that during exhibit and networking breaks, conversation with startups will inspire you your own success story and add to our growing list of impactful partnerships.

Before turning over to our startups, here are some of our upcoming events. We have the MIT ILP symposium on December 3. If you're not able to attend in person, it will be live streamed. We have a virtual demo day on December 11, and two events in Asia-- a symposium in Bangkok and a conference in Japan. So please check out our websites for these events and upcoming events in the future.

Let's proceed. And with that, let's proceed to our lightning talks. Today's nine presenting startups represent a range of industries, including space, mobility, AI, healthcare, and quantum technologies.