Brad Feld

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MIT’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Aug 28, 2005

Yesterday, I wrote about my day exploring entrepreneurship in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Today, while reading MIT’s Technology Review (the paper copy – in the bathroom – where all paper magazines should be read) I came across a very timely article titled The Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.

One of my recommendations to the folks in Fairbanks was to rally around the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a focal point for entrepreneurial activity in the local community.  I used the examples of Route 128 / Cambridge / Boston (MIT, Harvard, BU) and Silicon Valley (Stanford, Berkeley) as examples of major entrepreneurial communities that grew up around great universities (Ed Roberts covers this issue extremely well in his seminal book on entrepreneurship titled “Entrepreneurship in High Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond.”)

The Tech Review article summarized – very effectively – the entrepreneurial ecosystem at MIT and how it works.  The print article also included the following links to resources at MIT that don’t seem to be included in the online article.

While this isn’t a comprehensive list of the MIT entrepreneurial ecosystem, it’s a good start.  It’s important to recognize that many of these organizations have been around for a long time, have ebbed and flowed in popularity and influence, but have clearly demonstrated staying power in the entrepreneurial action surrounding MIT.