New program aims to commercialize innovations in food and water
A new program, launched today by MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS), will provide initial start-up funding to identify technologies intended to improve food supplies, or meet needs for clean water, and move those technologies into commercialization. The new program, called “J-WAFS Solutions,” is expected to provide funding for about 15 projects over the next five years. J-WAFS was originally established in 2014 to spearhead research that will help humankind adapt its water and food supplies to a rapidly rising population and to the pressures of climate change, urbanization, and development. The J-WAFS Solutions program builds on the successful model of MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, providing funding for research conducted by MIT students, postdocs, and faculty. The funds are intended to advance these technologies to the point where they are positioned to attract venture funding and establish themselves as new companies. The program is being sponsored...