The MIT-Royalty Pharma Faculty Founder Initiative was born out of research by Sangeeta Bhatia (8-time cofounder), Susan Hockfield (President Emerita), and Nancy Hopkins, which revealed significant variability in faculty biotech founder rates across MIT.  

From this study, it was found that there could have been an additional forty biotech firms today in Cambridge, MA alone. Just imagine how many more life science companies and medicines could exist if we multiply this by every major innovation ecosystem in the world!

Our aim is to increase the number of faculty members at MIT who start biotechnology companies through the MIT-Royalty Pharma Faculty Founder Prize Competition. We believe this is important to bring high-impact technologies to the world that are not currently being commercialized.

The Initiative is led by Sangeeta Bhatia (Wilson Professor of Engineering; member of four national academies; Lemelson Prize winner; 7-time founder including Glympse Bio and Satellite Bio) and Kit Hickey (Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan; serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Ministry of Supply) in collaboration with Susan Hockfield (MIT President Emerita and Professor of Neuroscience).

“What that means is 40 more potential medicines. The societal impact of that is really important. It’s a lost opportunity.“

Sangeeta Bhatia

MIT Wilson Professor of Engineering