We get excited about every competition cycle, and this year’s Launch is no exception. Meet this year’s semi-finalists (in alphabetical order).
AC Biode: AC Biode is the world's first-ever standalone AC battery using Biode. Biode has both the characteristics of an Anode and a Cathode and allows our AC battery to be safer and approximately 30% more compact than regular DC Batteries.
Acoustic Wells: We develop an IoT service for the monitoring and optimization of oil wells.
AeroShield: AeroShield manufactures a super-insulating, nanoporous form of glass for energy efficient windows.
AgroBeads: AgroBeads are biodegradable spheres that slow-release water and nutrients to plants throughout their entire growth cycle.
AIGYL: We are creating a software suite that utilizes AI to help pathologists diagnoses tissue samples quicker and more reliably.
AIR-INK: We capture and sequester/utilize the air-pollution and turn it into high-grade/safe AIR-INK, which over the years has emerged as a tool in the sustainable art industry.
Baya Studio: Baya Studio designs affordable technology for handloom weavers in India to empower them to bring new designs from paper to fabric while maintaining their traditional weaving techniques.
Carbin: Vehicle-road vibration technology developed at MIT presents Carbin , a cellphone app that with phone's sensors collects data needed to quantify the quality of roads, which currently can only be obtained with laser measurements which cost up to $300/mile.
change:WATER Labs: For 2.6Bn people who lack access to safe sanitation, change:WATER Labs has developed the "iThrone", a portable, waterless, self-flushing toilet that evaporates 90-95% of daily sewage outputs onsite, mimicking flush toilets & extending safe sanitation into homes with no power or plumbing.
Coco Nutrition: Coco Nutritionist is your personal AI chatbot who can guide you on the path to healthy eating.
elphi: elphi is a FinTech, SaaS company, streamlining the mortgage lifecycle from origination to securitization, leveraging Corda, the leading DLT protocol developed by R3.
EnergIA Analytics: EnergIA Analytics uses machine learning and energy storage to generate substantial energy cost savings in commercial buildings.
Engimata: Engimata is a vaccine development company that provides a technological platform to enhance vaccine stability and accessibility without the need for a cold-supply chain by developing heat and freeze-stable vaccines, reducing cost of distribution and increasing vaccine stability and accessibility.
Gencores: Our foam 3D printing technology allows user to build composites no other can, making innovative composite designs become lightweight realities.
HelloMaxwell: Radio frequency integrated circuits; (RFICs) parasitic and poor simulation accuracy requires ~5 tape-outs (trial-and-error fabrications) to meet specs; we significantly improve simulation accuracy by combining traditional physics-based models and customized machine-learning (ML) trained on previous tape-out data.
Hikma Health: Hikma partners with NGOs providing free healthcare to millions of refugees from the Syrian conflict, creating customized data management systems for healthcare providers to improve outcomes for patients.
HINTS: HINTS offers a patent pending network propagation and analysis machine learning solution that is able to automatically halt the spread of fake news across any medium, including text, audio, and video.
InSanirator: InSanirator builds scalable sanitation and energy infrastructure for over 4 billion people in low-medium income countries who face health risks, economic and social challenges due to lack of it.
IseeU: IseeU provides a portable, 2000X cost-effective, easy to use, and 100X light-weight device that will minimize infant mortalities due to poor mechanics of intra and inter-hospital transport.
Joro: Joro is making sustainability simple. Our app and community help people automatically track their personal carbon footprints on their smartphones, improve their footprints with tailored recommendations and offsets, and connect with others to shape a low-carbon world.
Mechanodontics: We have developed a new type of braces that reduce the treatment time to half and the number of visits to the orthodontist from 20-30 to only 3 or 4.
MODAR AI Companion for Long Term Health Care: MODAR protects our valuable memories and helps people with long-term health care needs to live a quality life again with our AI assistant eyewear.
Myco Diagnostics: We are developing thermally stable and inexpensive binding proteins to replace antibodies in point-of-care diagnostics tests.
Novo Space: Novo is working to bring the PC revolution to space! We're developing an ecosystem of high-performance and high-reliability electronics for satellites.
O2 Therapies: We have developed a novel implantable oxygen sensor that enables physicians to identify which cancer patients require a customized treatment to improve their chances of survival.
Posh: Posh is a Boston-based conversational AI platform company founded out of MIT's AI lab. We help companies automate routine communications tasks like customer service, help desk, etc.
Qtech: Qtech has developed a patent-pending recyclable air filter that provides 20x filtration performance, 10x lifetime and is recyclable at an estimated similar cost of a traditional HEPA filter.
Sanchay: Sanchay is a commitment savings account to save for a term of one year with flexible repayment & saver options.
Sesame: The speculum used for vaginal check-ups has remained relatively unchanged for 150 years, scaring patients and frustrating medical providers. Sesame is changing that.
si.vision: After 3 years of MIT research, si.vision (formerly Horagen) has developed a patented technology that is 10x cheaper to manufacture, 3x more reliable, and 1.5x higher performing than the current state-of-the-art LIDAR.
SKY International Music Education: There are about 10 million music learners in China but high-quality music education resources are lack in most part of the country. Sky International Music Education, an Internet + AI + Music Education Company is aiming to solve this challenge.
Squiggle Financial Technologies, Inc.: Squiggle is a financial advice marketplace that aggregates financial advisors from across the U.S. and matches them on-demand to blue-collar workers thru their employers.
Swipe: Swipe is a bank- and card network-agnostic platform that streamlines multi-factor authentication for any online/offline cashless payment to pre-empt payment and ID fraud.
The Read Read: The Read Read is a patent pending physical device that allows blind students to independently learn phonics and braille, and gain early literacy to keep pace with their sighted peers.
VisionGlass: We are developing an affordable wearable camera-based AI system to help the global community of people with visual impairments navigate the world more independently.
WonderMap: WonderMap is a virtual reality social platform that enables children in hospitals to connect with each other without being physically next to each other.
Zappeal: Zappeal is a new, automated service for homeowners to appeal their property tax assessments quickly and inexpensively.
Zippi: Zippi helps gig economy workers in Brazil achieve financial security through gamified microloans, starting with ride hailing app drivers.