Sycamore Founder Funds MIT Lab

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) today announced the launch of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation (Deshpande Center) and the issuance of more than one million dollars in Ignition and Innovation Program Grants. The Deshpande Center is part of the MIT School of Engineering and was established in January of this year through a $20M gift from Jaishree Deshpande and Desh Deshpande, the co-founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks. The Deshpande Center was created to serve as a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship by supporting research of MIT faculty and students and facilitating collaboration among entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, innovative businesses and MIT faculty. The Deshpande Center supports a wide range of emerging technologies including biotechnology, information technology, new materials, tiny tech, energy, and environmental innovation. "It gives me great pleasure to announce the formal launch of the Deshpande Center and the first grant recipients," said Alex D'Arbeloff, Chairman of MIT Corporation and founder of Teradyne. "By launching the Center and issuing the first grants, the Deshpande Center has taken the first step in filling a major gap in the innovation process. Prior to the launch of the Center, unproven ideas often had difficulty to advance beyond their theoretical stages, and younger companies lacked ways to hear about new ideas and get involved in bringing them to market." Dedicated to supporting leading-edge research spanning proof of concept explorations to market-driven innovations, the Deshpande Center plans to award at least $15 million in Ignition and Innovation program grants over the next five years. Announced today, the Deshpande Center awarded nine grants selected from a total of 47 proposals. The five Ignition grants and four Innovation Program grants awarded total $1.25 million. Additional information on the grants and grant recipients can be found on the Deshpande Center's new website. Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation