Many academics see research as an end in itself. After all, the purpose of a university is to develop knowledge-not to make a profit. But the researchers who have worked at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) since its inception 35 years ago have shown a keen sense of market potential.

Floating on a secure base of defense funding, the laboratory has over the decades served as a reservoir of technical creativity. LCS researchers have frequently found the Lab a comfortable base from which to launch companies that commercialized their MIT work while maintaining their academic connections.