Mark Zuckerberg's alma mater is hedging its bets to find the next hot entrepreneur (and the next Facebook) with the opening of the Harvard Innovation Lab, an incubator designed for startup-hungry students on campus.
The i-lab, as it is known by abbreviation, began as a response to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s desire to introduce more innovation spaces Boston. "Let our legacy to each other be launching pads for those who follow,” Menino said in his January 2010 inaugural address [PDF]. “Let us show the world that in Boston, history is just a prelude.”
The city’s Ivy League school took up the task, and the i-lab’s Nov. 18 opening offered the promise of raising the next generation of startup CEOs right. The building itself not only includes classrooms for study and academic research, but also large meeting rooms available for co-working and project development for the students. But that is only the tip of the iceberg; the engine behind the i-lab is its strong partnerships with local business associations such as the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network, which will provide for one-on-one coaching, workshops and training with a community of mentors.
The space even bears Zuckerberg's stamp of approval. When the Facebook CEO (and Harvard dropout) visited the campus in early Nov. to recruit for his company, he made sure to check out all of the i-lab’s features.
Do you think an incubator will make young talent shine brighter? Or is independent bootstrapping what startups are all about? Let us know in the comments.