04.10-11.24-HST-Startups-Introduction

ARIADNA RODENSTEIN: Welcome everyone. These are the startup lightning talks, the more fast-paced part of the program today. I'm Ariadna Rodenstein, program manager with MIT Startup Exchange, and shortly you will hear from 10 exciting startups, all members of MIT Startup Exchange. But first I will give a brief overview of our program.

MIT Startup Exchange was created about eight years ago to support MIT-connected startups as they grow, expand, and help solve some of the world's greatest challenges. And we do this by fostering collaborations and partnerships with industry, primarily ILP members, represented by so many of you joining us today, and also through the MIT innovation ecosystem and beyond.

The startups are based on MIT-licensed technology or also founded by MIT faculty, staff, or alumni. And they can also be vetted by some of our MIT partners, including the Engine Ventures, E14, MIT CSAIL, MIT.nano, and the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, among others.

We have about a thousand startups in the program. They usually join at pilot stage or beyond. And they cover all geographies and all sectors. And within this wider network, we have a group that is STEX25. You might have heard of it. And this is where we can provide customized support to the startups for a period of one year where they have greater visibility and more connections to industry.

So when it comes to value, there's a lot of benefits for the startups and for the ILP members. So startups have exposure to a global network of industry and decision makers, and corporates have access to vetted MIT-connected startups.

Now, when it comes to events, we host over 30 per year locally, internationally, and similar to the conference today, a hybrid conference where we have startup lightning talks and an exhibit. And we also have our quarterly demo days, workshops, webinars, and much more. So the benefit to ILP members is that we can tailor an event according to your needs, and the benefits to the startups that are part of our program is that we can take you to other markets that you're expanding into, and you have visibility into new ecosystems as well.

We also have calls for startups throughout the year. We call these opportunities. And they're based on corporate priorities and internal challenges. And so startups can apply to those opportunities on our website, and if selected, they can work with an ILP member to help you solve a problem that you may be facing in your industry.

So I hope that everyone is taking advantage of all of those benefits. And if you have any questions, of course, let us know.

So as I mentioned earlier, Startup Exchange was created to foster these collaborations between industry and the MIT-connected startups. And so these are just a few of the success cases to date, and this can take the shape of a proof of concept, a big pilot, becoming a customer, joint R&D, or all the way to an acquisition. And so I hope and we all hope that some of the conversations that start here today will also lead to more success cases.

And so before turning it over to the entrepreneurs today, I'd like to just highlight some of our upcoming events. On April 30, we'll be back here at the Marriott for the Startup Ecosystem Conference, and it's going to be primarily focused on entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, corporate engagement. And so I hope you can register and join us here as well.

And then in May, we'll have a webinar on wellness and digital health, which is probably of interest to all of you as well. And then in June, we'll host the quarterly MIT Startup Exchange Demo Day. And then in the middle of July, we'll be going to Seoul and Tokyo for a life-science symposium. So please check out the Startup Exchange and ILP websites for more information on all of our upcoming events.

And so these are the 10 startups presenting to you today.