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MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge

MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge helps early-stage technology entrepreneurs succeed faster. We are open to all members of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our community members share a passion for making a difference in the world through technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We inform, connect, and coach through classes and workshops, coaching and mentoring initiatives, innovation series events and technology-specific conferences that provide practical content—tailored for entrepreneurs to help them tackle real-world challenges. We are part of a global organization with chapters in major markets in the U.S. and a growing number of international chapters affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Connect with us on Twitter , Facebook or LinkedIn.

http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/

Going Beyond the Gut: The Future of Microbiome Therapeutics

Wed, Jan 22, 2020

The microbiome market is one of the hottest areas for innovation in the life sciences space. We are seeing an uptick in both research and venture capital dollars going into the microbiome industry—both in humans and plants. As a result, the global microbiome market is expected to grow from $235.8 million in 2018 to $521.23 million by 2022. Hear presentations by some of Boston’s most innovative companies in this space to learn about the science behind the microbiome, the utilization of emerging technologies, and various perspectives on the future of the industry. Photo credit: NIH Image Gallery, Human Microbiome Project (HMP)

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Food Waste: Can We Reach Zero?

Tue, Jan 14, 2020

Each year, American consumers, businesses, and farms spend $218 billion a year growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten. That’s 52 million tons of food sent to landfill, plus another 10 million tons discarded or left unharvested. Food waste is responsible for roughly the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 37 million cars. At the same time, one in seven Americans is food insecure. The concept of “waste” is changing, and companies are embracing the circular economy where unused or discarded products can be reused to make new products. In the food industry, entrepreneurs are stepping up to seize opportunities. They are developing solutions bringing efficiencies to the supply chain (upstream) and reducing food waste (downstream). They are also using less water and energy, as well as looking for new solutions to soil improvement. In this discussion and presentation from seven local start-up companies, guest speakers will try to explain the systemic causes of food inefficiencies and define what it means to move toward "zero food waste." They will also showcase innovations and talk about new opportunities in manufacturing, farms, and upcycling. **Startup Exhibitors:** [AdaViv](https://www.adaviv.com/) [Cambridge Crops](https://www.cambridgecrops.com/) [GreenChoice](https://www.greenchoicenow.com/) [Magnomer](https://www.magnomer.com/) [New Bedford Port Authority](https://portofnewbedford.org/) [Shameless Pets](https://shamelesspets.com/) Photo from Han Cheung's video ["Tracing Dining Hall Food Waste"](http://Tracing Dining Hall Food Waste). CC 2012

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Food and Wellness

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The Most Startup-Minded, Tech & Data-Driven Political Campaign…Ever

Tue, Oct 8, 2019

Presidential campaigns are some of the fastest growing startup cultures in existence - doing more with less and scaling faster than ever both with talent, technology, and digital efforts. Deepfakes, foreign election meddling, and other incidents have highlighted how cutting-edge technology might be harming our democratic process...but it’s also helping. Political campaigns on both sides are extraordinarily digitally savvy, using all means of technology available to learn about and reach voters, but also scaling to grow to an ever-changing daily campaign grind. Four talented Democrat and Republican operatives who are deeply involved in the 2020 election cycle at the highest level will discuss how a startup mentality influences a campaign, the current state of data-driven campaigning, and new tools they are using in 2020 for the first time. Image by [Gerd Altmann](https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=426559) on pixabay.com

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Cannabis Technology, High Possibilities

Wed, Dec 5, 2018

A dialogue with industry experts about entrepreneurship in the cannabis industry. MITEF invites you to discuss the current and future state of Cannabis technology. They've brought together cannabis cognoscenti from across business, community, academia, and technology to offer a range of views, insights, and opinions for how best to face the brave new world of legalized cannabis. Image: Pexels.com

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Climate Preparedness in Massachusetts

Wed, Jan 25, 2017

By the end of this century, the coast of Massachusetts is expected to witness a sea level rise between two and six feet. And superstorms are expected to become more frequent and more powerful. This will create an urgent need for society to respond in new and creative ways. Policy makers and technologists will need to take a broad and systems-based approach to energy policy - including resiliency, efficiency, grid infrastructure and urban design. Adaptation will be necessary, but will itself not be sufficient. Further carbon reduction strategies - especially renewable and energy efficiency - will also be necessary. A group of experts talk about the policies that will shape Massachusetts’ strategy for future resiliency and explain some of the big data tools and models that will help us cope. There are also private sector responses and technologies that will enable us to accelerate and expand our emerging energy economy, while simultaneously adapting to the changing climate. **Extra:** [Listen to an MITEF podcast with Peter Kelly Detwiler.](http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/2016/12/kelly-detwiler/ "") Photo: Coast Guard/Flickr

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Transparency in Music – Powered by Blockchain

Tue, Dec 6, 2016

File sharing and streaming services have changed the way we listen to -- and pay for -- our favorite tunes. However, this distribution model has created a less-than-transparent system of how artists and rights holders are being compensated. That’s where blockchain technology comes in. MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge brought together the people leading the charge of new music rights and distribution models including the .bc, or “dot Blockchain" music format. Together the panelists— George Howard, Dan Harple, Panos Panay, and Benji Rogers—are creating a holistic approach to thinking about the music ecosystem and how rights owners should be compensated – particularly in an environment that can offer only micropayments for each particular performance.

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Smart Water—Smart Cities: A Cleantech Event

Thu, Dec 1, 2016

"If water is the essential ingredient of life, then water supply is the essential ingredient of civilization,” said Professor David Sedlak in his book, _Water 4.0_. It is estimated that it will cost the US $384 billion to upgrade the US water infrastructure, and this number is likely to increase, given the stressors from increasing population, climate change and water pollution. As a result, many cities are looking to new technologies to help them efficiently produce fresh, clean water for its residents. Cities face many pressing issues regarding their water infrastructure. The most critical water issues relate to improving the fundamental components of our urban water systems. This panel of experts will discuss everything from how to identify the location of the underground pipes and mapping them (these were laid so long ago cities do not know where they are), to instruments that track and analyze leaks. Also on the table: upgrading aging infrastructures, advances in sensor technologies, data analytics and strategic planning to help cities supply the needed amount of revenue to produce clean water at reasonable rates. Image: [Flint River](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Flint_River_in_Flint_MIchigan.jpg "")

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The Intelligent Integrated Store

Thu, Oct 13, 2016

Retailers have a vision for an intelligent integrated store.But where exactly are we in the realization of this vision? There has been much discussion about marrying continuous overhead RFID/RTLS locating capabilities, video analytics, BLE, traffic counters, EAS, POS data, receiving data, and other store-based sensors to create an integrated, intelligent, self-aware store. Retailers want highly granular insights into the movements, actions and intentions of shoppers in their stores. They want store associates to be alerted the moment a shopper needs attention or an item needs to be restocked, merchants and store planners to know exactly how shoppers are buying, which items are being tried on but put back on the shelf and the physical paths taken through the store and shoppers to be presented with a personalized context-relevant digital-physical experience. In this session, we will hear from technologists and retailers about the vision and the reality on the ground. (Image from the video [Hyper Reality](https://vimeo.com/166807261 "watch video") by Keiichi Matsuda)

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The Blockchain: Enabling a Distributed and Connected Energy Future

Mon, Feb 22, 2016

Bitcoin’s underlying protocol, called “the blockchain”, is a distributed consensus-driven infrastructure enabling trust between connected assets. While currently considered only a financial tool, the blockchain’s actual capability is extremely broad. Just as advances in TCP/IP created vast opportunities for the internet, the blockchain is enabling us to rethink the basic infrastructure of how energy is distributed, accounted for and secured. **Bonus Demo:** Be sure to watch at the end of this talk, as a Bitcoin transfer from Cambridge in real time buys electricity for a small school in South Africa.

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The Connected Soldier

Tue, Jan 12, 2016

Those of us without a direct connection to the military do not regularly stop and consider that much of the technology that impacts our daily lives has its genesis in the military. Today's soldier is a walking network of systems, connectors, sensors, and communications capabilities that define the concept of the internet of things. A well-connected, well-informed, lighter-loaded soldier of the future means the internet will be part of a soldier's uniform, as well as his or her weapons and other equipment. With everything active online, troops will be able to generate a complete picture of the battlefield down to the level of the individual soldier. Advances in soldier technology touch everything needed to protect ground troops: think power solutions, vision technologies, communications protocols, encryption, miniaturization, high bandwidth. All of this is networked into the intelligent fabric of the soldier's uniform. Wearables, anyone? The Greater Boston community is fortunate in that many of these technologies are developed and integrated here as part of the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center and the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The community also has many strong defense contractors that develop technologies to improve the effectiveness of our freedom defenders. Demonstrations and presentations at this event explore one of the most sophisticated networked systems of our time: the Connected Soldier. (Photo: [Defence Images/Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages/5036619838/in/photolist-8F4ZB5-7PNKsn-7PRXDY-agg5Ro-fZeNqG-dBrc8m-4nN12t-o6ivAa-rBkpEN-fZeCYK-o61wpb-kF5dfv-kF5qTB-kF4K8B-o6kb5q-wg7LSr-fZeMyS-fZfcUn-fZeJfM-fZfc4z-fZeM5p-nc5kFA-nc2f7M-nc23HK-nc2Z12-cBcFXu-n9ZyJu-n9YXQR-nc5nxS-nc2iBR-cBcPRA-n9YQAA-n9Z8gL-bvPRi9-nc4ekG-4DADvn-bnHYX4-bD5XKt-bJJLGt-bJJLnv-bvPZU5-bJJKQK-bJJKzV-bvQ15u-bJJLUT-bJJLLB-bJJKsn-bJJLqD-bvPZxm-8TJFDL "Defence Images"))

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