START YOUR ENGINES: MIT plans to fuel up a wide range of science and technology startups that are addressing societal challenges, such as energy consumption and disease spread. Last week the university launched “The Engine”—an incubator-type initiative that will provide capital, affordable workspaces, access to specialized equipment and streamlined business services to local entrepreneurs.
“If we hope for serious solutions to the world’s great challenges, we need to make sure the innovators working on those problems see a realistic pathway to the marketplace," President L. Rafael Reif said in a statement. MIT says it will raise “hundreds of millions of dollars” and make “hundreds of thousands of square feet” available to companies. The Engine plans to support 60 startups in the Greater Boston area at any given time.
