The MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design is home to an extensive faculty-led multidisciplinary research program focused on the challenges of the developing world.
We connect faculty and graduate students to communities in developing countries in East and South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America – facilitating deep regional engagement through an extensive network of NGOs, academics, government agencies, community leaders, and firms.
A Proven Approach
Our explicit aim is to create innovations that can be translated into compelling products and services that help people at a global scale.
In the six years since launching the Center, we have developed dozens of patented and unpatented technologies, helped launch award-winning start-ups, and collaborated with established firms, governments, and NGOs to bring our ideas to scale in fields ranging from health to agriculture, energy and the environment, water to housing.
All of our projects are selected by an MIT faculty committee and supervised by a faculty member.
Graduate students from across the Institute are assigned to the projects for two or more years, working at MIT with frequent visits abroad to conduct market and field research.
They receive extensive additional training from Center staff in entrepreneurship and techno-economic analysis with an emphasis on the distinctive needs and characteristics of developing countries.
Students also benefit from frequent contact with Center Members and regional partners through a variety of formal and informal mentoring processes, and participation in our semi-annual Symposia and other partner gatherings.
