A Call to Partners

The world doesn’t need more technology sitting on shelves. It needs world-changing companies built from the best ideas in science and engineering—and it needs them now. If you’re a philanthropist, investment firm, or corporate leader looking to move the needle on climate, health, global security, or industrial transformation, supporting the R&D Venture Studio movement is one of the most impactful bets you can make.

Traditional research funding drives discovery, but rarely ensures translation to impact. Venture studios like MIT Proto Ventures bridge the gap between bold research and real-world results by embedding entrepreneurs alongside scientists, identifying high-potential breakthroughs, and systematically building teams, prototypes, and business models that are ready to scale.

The impact? More startups launched, more technologies deployed, and a higher return on every research dollar.

• Proactive, not reactive: R&D venture studios go searching for solutions to problems that should exist, not just the ones that do.

• Team-first: They assemble “dream teams” around promising ideas, increasing the odds of success.

• Tech meets market: By balancing “tech push” and “market pull,” they de-risk commercialization from day one.

• Fast-track to scale: R&D venture studios like MIT Proto Ventures have already spun out companies in clean energy, AI healthcare, and advanced manufacturing—addressing climate, health, and industrial challenges.

Philanthropists: Multiply your impact by funding a studio or a channel that aligns with your mission—climate, health, AI, or beyond. You’ll create leverage across dozens of ventures, not just one.

Investment Funds: Develop a sophisticated understanding of a market landscape and a technology area, and develop trusted relationships from day zero with your next potential investments for an unfair advantage in your deal flow pipeline.

Corporate R&D & Strategy Leaders: Seed new innovation efforts in the precise areas that are most strategically relevant to your company. Secure a front-row seat to disruptive innovation, build early ties with new startups as early customers or partners, and shape the direction of venture building in areas critical to your business.

Universities: Catalyze a stronger innovation ecosystem at your institution by partnering with MIT Proto Ventures to build a bespoke, high-performing R&D venture studio on campus.

• Sponsor a channel at MIT Proto Ventures: Like the fusion, geothermal, or AI + healthcare tracks at MIT, you can direct focus to the problems you care most about. Reach out to us at protoventures@mit.edu to learn more.

• Partner on venture development: Bring your technical or market expertise to help ventures de-risk and deploy.

• Invest in the pipeline: Get early access to a portfolio of startups born from the world’s best labs.

• Amplify the movement: Advocate for the venture studio model in your region or sector—every major research hub can benefit.

Leaders across MIT, industry, and academia agree:

“Proto Ventures fills an extremely important niche...filling an often-ignored initial valley of death that separates a great laboratory finding from a technology that is ready for translation.”
— Professor Yogesh Surendranath, MIT

“Over the years of building companies, I’ve encountered many variations of the venture-building approach […] What I admire about Proto Ventures is how it turns the model on its head by integrating the Venture Builder with the MIT research community. It’s a truly unique approach that resonates with the type of impactful innovation I’m passionate about.”
— Chris Gilbert, Entrepreneur in Residence at Mach49

As this movement grows, the opportunity for transformative impact grows with it. We invite you—funders, corporate partners, policymakers—to join us. Let’s make the next wave of breakthrough companies not an accident, but the result of intention, collaboration, and vision.

Ready to build the future from within? Read more about MIT Proto Ventures, download the R&D Venture Studio Playbook, or reach out for a conversation. Let’s turn research into reality—together.