At MIT, innovation is focused on real-world impact — advancing research that improves everyday life through better healthcare, smarter infrastructure, and transformative technologies. Federal support is essential to this work, helping MIT turn bold ideas into practical solutions while training the next generation of leaders and innovators who will shape a better future for all.
Research that Matters
Human Health
Novel approach to radiation therapy
Researchers have found that a specific protein may help cancer patients tolerate radiation therapy.
Smarter cancer therapies
A company founded by MIT researchers is pioneering an approach that could lead to more potent cancer treatments with fewer side effects.
Targeting tumors
Chemical engineers developed a way to mass manufacture nanoparticles that deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors.
Stopping the spread of tuberculosis
The findings of an MIT study provide new drug targets for stopping the infection’s spread.
Wearable device helps improve medical treatment
An innovative wearable device tracks individual blood cells to guide medical treatments.
Better radiologist reports
A new calibration method developed by MIT researchers can improve the accuracy of clinical reports written by radiologists.
Empowering hospitals
MIT is helping hospitals by providing free access to cutting-edge AI tools.
Better kidney transplant decisions
An MIT study could help policymakers analyze methods of matching donated kidneys and their recipients.
Read more about MIT’s research to improve human health.
National Defense
AI for military logistics
MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory is transitioning tools to the 618th Air Operations Center to streamline global transport logistics.
A workhorse for national security
The U.S. Air Force and MIT have renewed their contract for operating the federally funded MIT Lincoln Laboratory, a long-standing asset for defense innovation and prototyping.
Safer airfield assessments
A U.S. Air Force engineer and MIT PhD student is using AI and next-generation imaging technology to detect pavement damage and unexploded munitions.
Building strong naval leadership
Through two programs at MIT, active duty naval officers gain the technical skills they need to lead projects in the Navy.
Helping the Air Force harness AI
The DAF-MIT AI Accelerator is designed to make fundamental advances in artificial intelligence to improve Air Force operations.
Read more about MIT’s contributions to national defense.
Agricultural Efficiency
Helping farmers address challenges
An MIT startup has built an automated system for growing plant-based feed and fertilizer using wastewater.
More efficient agriculture
With a new system developed at MIT, farmers could significantly cut their use of pesticides and fertilizers, saving money and reducing runoff.
Making agriculture more sustainable
A nitrogen product developed by an MIT professor is being used across millions of acres of American farmland.
Learn more about MIT’s research on agriculture.
Healthy Brains
Keeping aging brains healthy
MIT researchers are developing therapies to improve brain health and eradicate diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Safer football helmets
A former MIT linebacker led the development of a lightweight football helmet that’s been rated the safest ever tested.
Potential new Alzheimer’s treatment
A new peptide blocks a hyperactive brain enzyme that contributes to the neurodegeneration seen in Alzheimer’s.
Read more about MIT’s research on brain and cognitive sciences.
Disaster Response
Robots for emergency response
SPROUT, developed by researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and elsewhere, is a vine robot capable of navigating under collapsed structures.
Streamlined emergency response
First responders worldwide have adopted MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Next-Generation Incident Command System for enhanced situational awareness and coordination during emergencies.
Hurricane-tracking satellites
MIT Lincoln Laboratory has been recognized for excellence in commercializing small microwave sounders expected to improve weather forecasts.
Read more about MIT’s contributions to disaster response technologies.
Energy Resilience
Boosting power grid resilience
MIT engineers have proposed a new “local electricity market” where rooftop panels, EV chargers, and smart thermostats could chip in to boost power grid resilience.
More efficient solar projects
Charge Robotics, founded by MIT alumni, has created a system that automatically assembles and installs completed sections of large solar farms.
Grid-scale energy storage
New research has found that liquid air energy storage could be the lowest-cost option for ensuring a continuous power supply on a future grid.
Read more about MIT’s research on energy.
Future of Work
Human-AI cooperation
Researchers at the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence found that the combination of AI and humans working together holds the most promise.
Training aerospace engineers
In an MIT class, students design, build, and test an electric turbopump for a rocket engine, facing challenges they will experience as practicing engineers.
Streamlining logistics
With machine learning, researchers developed a faster way to streamline processes like scheduling trains, routing delivery drivers, or assigning airline crews.
Read more about MIT’s research on the future of work.
Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship
Addressing global waste
Alumni entrepreneurs are applying MIT know-how to keep goods out of landfills, reduce energy costs in recycling, and provide safe sanitation.
Bringing manufacturing back
A collaborative network of makerspaces has spread from MIT across the country, helping communities make their own products.
Collaboration on essential chips for AI
An MIT research collaboration aims to deliver power efficiencies for data centers and ultra-low power consumption for intelligent devices at the edge.
Read more about MIT’s contributions to manufacturing, innovation and entrepreneurship.
MIT’s students and graduates contribute significantly to the US economy
More than 30,000 alumni-founded companies
A 2015 study identified more than 30,000 active companies founded by MIT alumni, employing 4.6 million people and generating annual global revenues of $1.9 trillion. That study’s authors noted that these figures were “roughly equivalent to the GDP of the world’s 10th largest economy as of 2014.”
More patents than any other US campus
For 10 consecutive years, MIT has produced more patents than any other campus in the nation: In 2024, 323 utility patents were issued to MIT by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
A powerful record of working with industry
MIT works extensively with partners in industry: 19% of sponsored research on MIT’s campus is funded by industry.
MIT has a far-reaching impact on the economy of the region
MIT is the City of Cambridge’s second largest employer and largest taxpayer, representing 16.8% of the city’s revenue stream.
For generations, MIT has made unparalleled contributions to the success of American innovation.
- Starting in the 1940s, MIT scientists developed the radar that continues to protect us from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and other threats.
- In work conducted for the US Navy, MIT researchers built the pioneering Whirlwind I digital computer in 1951.
- By creating the navigation and guidance systems that got the Apollo 11 mission to the moon and back in 1969, MIT made possible one of the century’s greatest successes.
- Seven decades of fundamental MIT work in AI have led to the current moment where this technology is beginning to infuse all parts of our economy, bolstering US competitiveness.
- Fusion energy — an MIT priority since 1958 — is on the cusp of producing an entirely new form of clean energy, with the US in the driver’s seat for now.
Bottom Line
MIT drives American innovation through visionary research, technological breakthroughs, and its powerful impact on the economy.