Where Imagination Meets Innovation
The Student i-lab is a community dedicated to furthering innovative ideas by undergraduate and graduate students from all thirteen Harvard schools. Within the Student i-lab’s physical and virtual spaces, students can find comprehensive support, meet collaborators, connect with experts, and turn their ideas into action.
We offer a broad range of highly-curated resources and programming designed to meet you wherever you are in your entrepreneurial journey, from early ideas onward. All Harvard students are welcome to participate in the i-lab community, including our shared co-working space. Stay updated on our access and opening policies here.
If you are a matriculated, degree-seeking Harvard student curious about innovation and entrepreneurship, or ready to develop an idea into a venture, we welcome you to pursue it with us!
Ready to Get Involved?
Here are some great ways to get started!
If you’re a matriculated, degree-seeking Harvard student, you’re welcome to join our community of passionate innovators and take part in our programs and resources! Here are some ways you can begin:
Student i-lab membership program
Whether you’ve got a kernel of an idea or a fully fledged business plan, Student i-lab is a community where we help each other go further, faster. It’s the first point of entry to our three-lab ecosystem, a place founded on collaborative questioning and learning, designed to accelerate venture building, where anyone can join.
Expert Resources
Learn directly from our vast network of seasoned entrepreneurs and innovators, including faculty mentors, legal partners, VCs, and industry leaders. Any Harvard student can book one-on-one time with industry experts all over the globe during their virtual office hours. This is a valuable opportunity to get feedback on your career or business, develop your ideas, and hear their stories and insights. Wherever you are in the world, you can sign up for a session!
Workshops
Whether or not you’re involved with the Student i-lab, you can join us for workshops to get some business know-how under your belt. Each semester’s workshops follow an innovator’s trajectory through building a startup; you can choose to join the events that are right for you. Workshops are also a great place to meet potential team members, founding partners, and experts! Keep an eye out here for upcoming workshops and other events.
President’s Innovation Challenge
The President’s Innovation Challenge (PIC) is a call-to-action for Harvard students passionate about developing ideas that make a difference. It celebrates what we can accomplish through collaboration, ingenuity, and rigorous exploration. And it’s a challenge to imagine all the ways we can do good, better. It’s also a competition, in which ventures compete to win a share of $510,000, courtesy of the Bertarelli Foundation.
$75,000 first prizes and $25,000 runner-up prizes are awarded in each of five tracks:
- Health & Life Science
- Social Impact
- Open Track (for ventures that transcend categories)
- Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab (Alumni)
- Launch Lab X GEO (Alumni)
Interested ventures apply each January for the PIC. Accepted teams continue to develop their venture within the Venture Program throughout the spring. A panel of professional judges evaluates the Finalists, and winners are announced at our awards celebration in May.
The PIC also includes the Ingenuity Awards, celebrating the ideas sparking very early-stage ventures. First prize Ingenuity Award winners receive $5,000, with two runner-up winners receiving $2,500 each.
Stay in Touch!
Our newsletter, Press Thirteen, is the best way to learn about what’s happening at the Harvard Innovation Labs. Sign up to stay updated on the innovative ideas coming out of all 13 Harvard schools and be as inspired as we are by the stories of our amazing ventures!
Follow us to get a closer look at our ventures, hear the incredible voices in our community, and stay on top of what’s next: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Contact
For general inquiries, e-mail i-lab@harvard.edu.