1.23.24-Japan-STEX-Intro

ARIADNA RODENSTEIN: So thank you, again. Thank you for being here. This is the lightning talks. So welcome. I'm Ariadna Rodenstein, Program Manager with MIT Startup Exchange. And we're delighted that you're here with us today. Shortly, you will hear from 11 exciting startups, all members of MIT Startup Exchange and all working on innovative solutions to problems around the world on energy and sustainability, mobility, AI, and the life sciences.

But first, I'm going to give a brief overview of our program. So MIT Startup Exchange is led by MIT Corporate Relations, which is also home to the Industrial Design Program, or ILP, as you heard earlier. And the two programs are highly integrated. We work very closely together.

And at Startup Exchange, we identify and select startups that are MIT-connected so that we can help make introductions that could lead to potential collaborations and partnerships. And our mission is to help the startups grow and expand as they continue to work on solving challenges around the world, some of the greatest challenges across the globe.

And all the startups, as you're going to see, are highly connected to the Institute. They have very strong ties. And some of the ways are either with licensed technology. They can also be founded by MIT faculty, staff, or alumni. And they can also be vetted by some of our MIT partners, including The Engine, the E14 Fund, CSAIL, MIT.nano, just to name a few.

We have around 1,000 startups in the network. And they usually join the program at pilot stage or beyond. And they cover all sectors and all geographies. We also have, within our program, a group of startups that we call STEX25. You might have heard of them. And we provide customized support for a period of 12 months. And they have greater visibility and more opportunities for connections to industry. And we actually have three startups that are STEX25 presenting to you today, Nth Cycle, Ikigai Labs, and DxLab

So let me talk a little bit about the value of Startup Exchange. So for the startups, there's exposure to a global network of industry leaders. And for ILP members, there's access to around 1,000 vetted MIT connected startups. We host around 30 events per year on a global basis as well as locally. And most are on a hybrid mode, such as conferences like this.

And the benefit to our ILP members is that we can tailor an event according to your needs. And the benefit to the startups is that we can take them to all these different markets, where they're expanding into, and they have visibility into other ecosystems and have other opportunities to connect with industry.

We also do calls for startups, where they can apply and speak at conferences, but also can help an ILP member directly with a challenge that you might be facing in your industry. Startups can apply. And if you select them, you can work directly together. And we do this through our platform, our website.

And we also have curated meetings throughout the year. We work closely with the ILP program directors. And we make introductions of a variety of ways. And with all this, I'd like to show that we have a very curated and customized approach to what we do. We know the startups very well. They have different sizes, different needs. And ILP knows the ILP members very well. And so we work closely together to make these introductions happen and help wherever we can. And that is what really distinguishes us at Startup Exchange.

And so the goal of some of these introductions is really to move on to potential collaborations and partnerships of different types and, in the end, have some success cases. And these are some examples that have been made public. But there's many more. And ideally, this can turn into-- have the shape of a proof of concept, a large pilot, becoming a customer, joint R&D, and all the way to an acquisition. And so I hope that some of the conversations that happened today will lead to more success cases.

And before I turn it over to the startups, these are some of our upcoming events. We were in Bangkok last week. And we're heading to Milan next week. At the end of February, we're having an event on AI in Cambridge. And we also have our Demo Day, which we host usually virtually on a quarterly basis. So that is something that hopefully you'll join us as well.

We have startups that are newer to our program. And the next one is on March 13. And then we have our annual Ecosystem Conference at the end of April also in Cambridge. And then we have some webinars throughout each semester on a variety of topics. So I hope you can really join us. You can check the Startup Exchange and ILP websites for this.

And for any questions on any of this, please come talk to me or the ILP program directors, and we're happy to help. And with that, these are the startups presenting to you today. And then you'll be able to engage at the exhibit as well. But we'll start with Osmoses.