Instructors:
- Jhonatan Rotberg, Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems Division
- Teaching assistant:
- Arturo Ochoa, MSc student, MIT Sloan and Engineering Schools
- Hosting Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)
- Period: Fall 2011
- Meetings: Mondays 6:00-8:00pm at E51-372
- Class size: Maximum 22 students
- Listing: ESD.S22
- Units: 3 units (2-0-4 for half semester)
Subject Description:
Students will collaborate with founders and technical teams of currently incubated startups in emerging markets to design their 6-12 month road maps, and determine their strategic alternatives. Through a joint program with Wayra, Latin America’s premier hi-tech accelerator (funded by Telefónica), MIT teams will select one of its ten Mexico-based portfolio companies, work to structure a key deal (strategic, financial, commercial, or technological), entice potential partners from anywhere in the globe, and make it happen. Merit-based funds for IAP internships will be awarded.
Goal and Impact
This course offers students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned at MIT to real-world situations where the stakes are high, time is short, and there is intense pressure to deliver. Students will immerse themselves into the founding team of a fledgling venture in a developing country, in order to determine the company’s mid-term roadmap, thereby learning the challenges of hi-tech entrepreneurship in a resource-constrained environment. They will also find themselves acting as the bridge between those challenges and MIT’s highly developed entrepreneurial ecosystem, while trying to structure a deal that brings emerging market hi-tech startups to global markets. Class content will alternate between lectures, class discussions, and student presentations in which each MIT team will share with the rest of the class the problems faced by its selected startup, and the deal they’re working on. We will have a semester-end event to present results and, based on that, students may obtain the opportunity and resources for travel to personally work on their deal, hands on, during IAP.
This is the pilot for a Latin America-wide relationship that the MIT NextLab Program (http://nextlab.mit.edu) is developing with Wayra, Telefónica’s hi-tech startup accelerator (www.wayra.org) and the federal governments of the region. We’re beginning with Mexico, and are actively working with Wayra Mexico, the Mexican Ministry of the Economy (www.se.gob.mx), and the National Science and Technology Council (www.conacyt.gob.mx) to develop a national strategy that includes industry-government and local academia for creating “ecosystems of innovation and entrepreneurship” hosted at technical universities across the country (http://tricentenario.mit.edu). Within the next 12 months, we plan to engage the other 7 Latin American countries in which Wayra has presence, and expect to replicate this model across the region.
NextLab IV: Mobile Innovation for Enterprise On-Demand
- Instructors:
- Jhonatan Rotberg, Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems Division
- Jen-Hao (Paul) Yang, S.M., MIT Systems Design and Management Fellow, MIT Engineering Systems Division
- Juan Pablo Garzon, Lecturer, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
- Angela Carrillo, PhD, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
- Alexandra Pomares, PhD, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
- Hosting Institution: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogota (Colombia)
- Period: Spring 2011
- Meetings: Tuesday 4:00 - 5:30pm (2-202); Thursdays 4:00 - 5:30pm (2-308)
- Class size: Maximum 22 students
- Prerequisites: Programming course
NextLab is a hands-on technology development and business case design course in which student teams collaborate with industry partners, field experts, NextLab alumni, and students from universities worldwide to deploy ground-breaking platforms of smartphone technologies that address challenges of global significance. These mobile platforms then become the basis for out-of-the box innovation within industries (i.e. m-Logistics@Estafeta Mexicana), new open source initiatives (i.e. Sanamobile.org), or fundable startups (i.e. EmpleoListo.com).
After developing the vision and prototype for a mobile logistics platform in 2010, the MIT NextLab Program continues its mobile innovation research in 2011 by expanding it beyond distribution networks into other areas of the enterprise. Enterprise On-Demand is the coined term for research and development of mobile prototypes aimed at crowdsourcing as many organizational roles and functions as possible, in an attempt to disaggregate the enterprise, flesh out its inefficiencies, and envision the nimble, networked organization of the smartphone age. Students will develop a smartphone solution based on a specific opportunity of innovation with one of our Industry Partners.
NextLab III: Mobile Innovation for Global Challenges
- Instructors:
- Jhonatan Rotberg, Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems Division, MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics
- Jen-Hao (Paul) Yang, S.M., MIT Systems Design and Management Fellow, MIT Engineering Systems Division
- Period: Spring 2010
- Meetings: Tuesdays 2:30-5pm
- Room: 9-057 (linc room, with live distance education transmission to ITESM Cuernavaca, Mexico)
- Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units)
- Class size: Maximum 35 students
- Listing: ESD 938
- Prerequisites: none for graduate students; permission of instructor for undergraduates
NextLab is a hands-on technology development and business case design course in which multi-disciplinary student teams collaborate with industry partners, field experts, NextLab alumni, and students from universities worldwide to deploy ground-breaking platforms of smartphone technologies that address challenges of global significance. These mobile platforms then become the basis for out-of-the box innovation within industries (i.e. project Hammock), new open source initiatives (i.e. Mocamobile.org), or fundable startups (i.e. EmpleoListo.com).
For Spring 2010, the course will focus on the use of smartphones for creating mobile, organic logistics and distribution networks at the base of the pyramid (BOP), akin to India's Dabbawala phenomenon. Students will develop a smartphone platform based on a specific case in Mexico, collaborating with Estafeta -Mexico's premier courier company- and with students from ITESM, a 33-campus strong university system, widely considered the country's top technical institute.
During the summer (optional, but recommended involvement), MIT and ITESM students will team with Estafeta executives to deploy the m-platform and run a live pilot test in Estafeta's local operations, including a number of delivery routes. The results of this deployment will inform the work for NextLab Fall 2010, and form the basis for a case study or white paper to be presented in academic and industry proceedings later on.
Fall 2010 NextLab students (optional, but recommended enrollment) will focus on building apps and value added services on top of the m-platform, and on launching full fledged deployments that leverage it as a catalyst for out-of-the-box industry innovation, the basis of new open source initiatives, or fundable startups.
NextLab II: Launching Mobile Ventures for the Next Billion Consumers
- Instructor: Jhonatan Rotberg
- Period: Spring 2009
- Meetings: Tue/Th 2.30-4pm
- Room: 56-154
- Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units, 6 Engineering Design Points, EDPs)
- Class size: Maximum 30 students
- Listings: MAS.967, 6.978. This course is also an approved Product-Level subject for meeting Entrepreneurship and Innovation Requirements at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
- Prerequisites: none for graduate students; permission of instructor for undergrads. NextLab I is NOT prerequisite for taking NextLab II. Students with both technical and non-technical backgrounds welcome, particularly those with interest in innovation, entrepreneurship and international development.
NextLab II is a hands-on technology implementation and business execution course in which students develop high-impact mobile ventures. Such ventures are intended to enable mobile phone applications to scale-up and have widespread social benefit in developing communities and countries worldwide.
Students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects, closely collaborating with project partners, experts in communications technologies and sustainable business models, field practitioners, and with NextLab alumni. Students are expected to leverage technical ingenuity in both mobile and internet technologies together with entrepreneurial zeal in order to implement viable solutions that address social challenges in areas such as health, economic empowerment, education, and civic engagement.
Similar to all NextLab courses, NextLab II's final class period will be an open event in which all student team projects are presented to the pubic through live demos, poster sessions, and formal presentations. NextLab II students may follow up their projects with Summer travel grants for deployment in target markets.
NextLab I: Designing Mobile Technologies for the Next Billion Users
- Instructors: Jhonatan Rotberg and Luis Sarmenta
- Period: Fall 2009
- Meetings: Mon/Wed 1:00-2:30pm
- Room: 37-212
- Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units, 6 Engineering Design Points, EDPs)
- Class size: Maximum 30 students
- Listings: MAS.967, 6.978. This course is also an approved Product-Level subject for meeting Entrepreneurship and Innovation Requirements at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
NextLab I is a hands-on design course in which students research, develop and deploy mobile technologies for the next billion mobile users in developing countries. Guided by real-world needs as observed by local partners, students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects, closely collaborating with NGOs and communities at the local level, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields.
Students are expected to leverage technical ingenuity in both mobile and internet technologies together with social insight in order to address social challenges in areas such as health, microfinance, entrepreneurship, education, and civic activism. Students with technically and socially viable prototypes may obtain funding for travel to their target communities, in order to obtain the first-hand feedback necessary to prepare their technologies for full fledged deployment into the real world (subject to guidelines and limitations).
Information and Communications Technologies for Development
- Instructors: Gari Clifford, Rich Fletcher, Jhonatan Rotberg and Luis Sarmenta
- Period: Spring 2008
- Meetings: Tue/Thur 1:00-2:30pm
- Room: 32-144
- Units: 3-1-8 (12 H-level units, 6 Engineering Design Points, EDPs)
- Class size: Maximum 30 students
- Listings: 6.976, MAS.962, HST.481, SP.716.
- Prerequisites: none for graduate students; permission of instructor for undergrads. Students with both technical and non-technical backgrounds welcome, particularly those with interest in innovation, entrepreneurship and international development.
ICT4D is a design studio course in which students learn about, and work on, applications of information and communication technologies (ICT) for use in developing countries and underserved communities. Students work in multidisciplinary teams on term-long projects in collaboration with community partners, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. They will be expected to leverage hands-on technical skills in both mobile and fixed digital technologies together with social insight in order to address relevant development problems in areas such as health, microfinance, entrepreneurship/economic innovation, education, and civic activism/people empowerment. Emphasis will be placed on projects aiming to serve actual underserved communities (through international project partner organizations). Students with technically viable, sustainable projects may apply to obtain funding for travel and stay in their target communities, in order to truly understand the constraints faced when designing for developing countries.
MAS.664 Digital Innovations
- Instructors: Alex Pentland, Federico Casalegno, Jhonatan Rotberg
- Course hours: Tuesdays 4-6PM
- Course location: E15-387
- Course units: 3-0-6 (G)
- Prerequisites: Permission of instructor
Within the last few years, mobile technology has progressed rapidly to now include Wi-Fi, GPS, and even mobile banking capabilities. Yet, today's mobile technology is limited to addressing Western needs. People in developing countries differ significantly from consumers in developed markets with respect to demand, supply, and the use of communications. These nascent mobile communications system offer endless possibilities for empowering individuals in their quest for economic advancement. It is the goal of this workshop class to address developmental concerns hand-in-hand with sustainable forms of entrepreneurial collaboration. In collaboration with Telmex, students will work with low-income communities in Costa Rica to design a revolutionary mobile communication system that is user-oriented, open-source, multi-functional, and scalable. Students with backgrounds varying from design, engineering, to business will work together in multidisciplinary groups.
