Originally Published MX November/December 2004

MARKET ANALYSIS

PlaceLab, the apartment-scale homelike research space in Cambridge, MA, developed jointly by the House_n research group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Tiax LLC, represents a new model of collaboration between academia and industry. The facility can accommodate multiple and simultaneous experiments by academic, industrial, and government researchers. Research proposals are evaluated by a scientific peer review process reflecting academic, government, and industrial perspectives. Final approval decisions made by the Tiax and MIT codirectors are based on the potential impact that the study results may have on industrial innovation and large-scale societal change.

The researchers are asked to fund or provide the necessary additional resources to conduct studies in PlaceLab. Tiax is available to assist in company-initiated research and in the transition to commercialization.

The Research Agenda