From the Basement to the Dome

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MIT is renowned for fostering entrepreneurship, with alumni founding over 30,000 active companies that employ around 4.6 million people and generate about $1.9 trillion in revenue. In the 2010s, the Institute saw twenty to thirty ventures launched annually to commercialize lab-developed technologies, alongside an estimated 100 firms started each year by graduates. This success stems from MIT's unique culture, characterized by a problem-solving ethos, multidisciplinary collaboration, and an experimental mindset. Initially, entrepreneurship flourished through extracurricular activities like forums and competitions, but later received formal support through dedicated courses. Degroof highlights how this culture aligns with MIT's values: bottom-up decision-making, academic excellence, a strong focus on problem-solving, a belief in experimentation, and a tolerance for failure. This entrepreneurial spirit embodies MIT's motto, Mens et Manus (mind and hand), translating theories into tangible solutions for global challenges. Degroof examines the current entrepreneurial ecosystem at MIT, evaluates the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education, and suggests how MIT's model could inspire other institutions to promote similar initiatives.