entrepreneurship
Q&A with Innovation Council member Medixus
Innovation Council sat down with Nicole Kayode, Founder and CEO of Medixus to talk about her passion for health and social impact tech. She created a communication, collaboration and learning platform for doctors aimed at improving case management and clinical practice. Medixus believes that quality patient care relies on smooth communication between healthcare professionals, and access to resources that will further their development.
Key IP considerations for smaller enterprises
The Innovation Council team wrote an article that was published in the June issue of WIPO Magazine. The article, by Phil Wadsworth, with Jennifer Brant and Peter Brown, highlights key IP considerations for smaller companies. In particular, the article highlights the importance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of patents, trade secrets, copyright protections, and trademarks, as well as design rights, and discusses how these protections can facilitate collaboration, successful commercialization, and other beneficial outcomes for small businesses.
2021 Innovators Under 35
In the “35 Innovators Under 35” competition, the MIT Technology Review nominates more than 500 people every year and will showcase these global winners in their July/August issue and online. From this group, the Technology Review’s editors select the most promising 100 competitors to advance to the semi-finalist round, and the work of these top 100 contestants is then evaluated by a panel of judges with expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, software, energy, and materials. Using the insights from these rankings, the editors select the final list of 35.
Read the full story and scroll through the list of inventors.
European Inventor Award 2021 Popular Prize
The race is on to see who will win the coveted Popular Prize at the 2021 European Inventor awards. Fifteen inventors or inventor teams from around the world have been nominated for this year’s Popular Prize. They are in five categories: Industry, Lifetime achievement, Non-EPO countries, SMEs and Research.
This robot doesn’t need any electronics
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have created a four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work. The robot only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions, including its controls and locomotion systems. Soft robots are of particular interest because they easily adapt to their environment and operate safely near humans.
Most of them are powered by pressurized air and are controlled by electronic circuits, but this approach requires complex components like circuit boards, valves, and pumps, often outside the robot’s body; these components, which constitute the robot’s brains and nervous system, are typically bulky and expensive. By contrast, the UC San Diego robot is controlled by a light-weight, low-cost system of pneumatic circuits, made up of tubes and soft valves, which are built into the robot itself. The robot can walk on command or in response to signals it receives from the environment.
E-commerce Story Pitch Contest
In this online pitch competition, three e-commerce companies from developing and least developed countries will pitch their story and will be asked a series of questions, with online participants deciding who wins.
In their pitch, finalists will have to provide practical e-commerce insights, actionable tips and innovative approaches. The aim is to share specific learnings, get inspired, and learn useful tips and tools to boost online sales. The winning e-commerce entrepreneur will receive a prize package worth 1,000 USD for digital marketing services.
The three companies are MYANiture from Myanmar, Booksie from Ghana, and Nanjala from Kenya.
Shiok Meats debuts lab-grown shrimp meat
Shiok Meat’s finished product possesses the texture of ground shrimp and has already been tested to make shumai, the Cantonese dim sum mainstay with the yellow dumpling wrapper. But its applications are potentially manifold in Chinese-centric cuisine. Eventually, the company aims to move beyond ground shrimp meat to produce crab, lobster, and a structured deshelled shrimp. Read more.
MIT Innovation Initiative Student Pathway Stories
On this platform, part of MIT’s Innovation Initiative, student innovators and entrepreneurs share their experiences navigating through the wide range of resources available at MIT and beyond. Learn how they moved an idea to impact by creating their own unique pathway to launch their projects.