A better way to delivery innovation to the world
The below op-ed, by MIT President L. Rafael Reif, appears in today's Washington Post. In 2012, MIT researchers introduced a liquid-impregnated surface that made the inside of a bottle so slippery that ketchup would flow out freely to the last drop. Today, LiquiGlide, the company spun out from this advance, has 30 industrial customers and has received thousands of inquiries from businesses that see new ways to use the technology, from IV blood bags to oil pipelines. The company, in which MIT has an equity stake, secured significant first-round venture funding this spring. This is one way the United States’ innovation system works: Together, the public and private sectors make investments in higher education and scientific research. (LiquiGlide emerged from research funded by the National Science Foundation and the Defense Department.) These investments spawn graduates and ideas that, through venture-capital-funded start-ups, pay off in innovations that serve society: the ultimate return on investment. That system...