Akshat Rathi of Quartz reports that Breakthrough Energy Ventures will invest in Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup collaborating with MIT to make fusion energy a viable source of renewable energy. The closely-watched fund’s investment “signals to others that a breakthrough in fusion may be closer than most think,” writes Rathi.
Physics Today reporter David Kramer highlights how Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), an MIT startup, is on a mission to prove that fusion power is a viable energy source. “CFS benefits from decades of experience by MIT researchers working on high-field, high-plasma-density tokamaks,” notes Kramer.
Boeing plans to open a research center in a new building being developed as part of MIT’s Kendall Square Initiative, reports Katrina Lewis and Julie Johnsson for Bloomberg News. Johnsson and Lewis explain that, “the center will support research for Boeing NeXt, an initiative aimed at a new wave of flying technologies.”
Boeing will establish a research center in one of MIT’s new buildings in Kendall Square, reports Zeninjor Enwemeka for WBUR. Provost Martin Schmidt explains that Boeing’s proximity to campus offers MIT, “a research partner, somebody who brings very interesting and important problems in future transportation systems.”
“One of the biggest names in aerospace is coming to MIT’s front door,” writes Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan, explaining that Boeing will lease space in one of the buildings MIT is developing in Kendall Square. “We want to bring corporate partners to the edge of our campus to facilitate stronger and deeper interactions with our community,” says Provost Martin Schmidt.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit MIT this Friday “to headline the annual meeting of the school's Solve initiative,” reports the Associated Press. Trudeau’s appearance at Solve, which “connects tech entrepreneurs with leaders in government, business and academia to tackle world problems,” will mark his first visit to Cambridge since becoming prime minister.
In an opinion piece for The Boston Globe, Alex Amouyel, executive director of MIT Solve, explains how the initiative is ‘crowdsolving’ thorny global problems through open innovation. “We need to source ideas from innovators all around the world to find the next breakthroughs,” argues Amouyel. “We know talent and ingenuity exist everywhere.”
Prof. Duane Boning, faculty co-director of MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program, talks to Forbes contributor Jim Lawton about preparing future leaders and workplace learning in the digital age. “The LGO model,” says Boning, “gives students a different way of thinking about their roles.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a “kirigami” film, based off of the ancient paper-folding technique of the same name, that can be used for bandaging tricky areas like the knee or elbow, writes David Grossman for Popular Mechanics. “We are the first group to find, with a systematic mechanism study, that a kirigami design can improve a material’s adhesion,” says postdoc and lead researcher Ruike Zhao.
Prof. Zach Hartwig and Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, discuss the new fusion initiative live on Bloomberg Radio (beginning at 34:40) with hosts Peter Barnes, Tom Moroney and Pat Carroll. "MIT brings 40 years of federally funded expertise in physics to contribute to the project," said Hartwig, "and we see that as a tremendous strength of this new kind of model."
MIT will partner with Commonwealth Fusion Systems in an effort to make fusion power a reality in 15 years. “MIT and CFS are hoping to facilitate a leap forward on several of these problems at once with a new superconducting material that will help make more efficient magnets to control the plasma,” Eric Limer writes for Popular Mechanics.
Lecturer Luis Perez-Breva writes for Quartz about why most retail corporations’ definition of AI is flawed. “'AI' is at its best when we program it to address problems that are hard for humans; when not used to upskill humans, however, all it does is shift work from employees to customers,” Perez-Breva writes.
AI leader SenseTime is the first company to join the MIT Intelligence Quest since its launch, writes Xinhua editor Xiang Bo. “As the largest provider of AI algorithms in China, we are very excited to work with MIT to lead global AI research into the next frontier,” said Xu Li, CEO of SenseTime.
Ministry of Supply, which was founded out of MIT, is launching a new line of “intelligent outerwear” that will feature a jacket that can be warmed from your smartphone. "We think technology should just blend into the background and be simple to use,” cofounder and president Gihan Amarasiriwardena ’11 told Janelle Nanos of the Boston Globe.
“The MIT Intelligence Quest or MIT IQ, based at an institution that has been at the forefront of artificial intelligence research since the 1950s, is a far-reaching academic effort to regain the initiative in AI,” writes Clive Cookson for The Financial Times.