Harvard Grid Accelerator Announces Awards to 6 Innovation Projects

Six projects in health, climate, and manufacturing have been awarded grants by the Harvard Grid Accelerator. The projects range from a navigation aid for the visually impaired to AI-driven therapeutic solutions.

The Harvard Grid is an initiative between the Harvard Office of Technology Development and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The project team leaders include professors from the sciences, including Daniel J. Jacob, David A. Weitz, Shriya Srinivasan, Patrick Slade, Joost Vlassak, and Jia Liu.

Paul Hayre, the founding executive director of the Harvard Grid, said that when awarding grants, they look for projects that “have impact and do good things in the world” and a team that can “dedicate the sufficient amount of time to help shape and build these ideas.”

Jacob, a professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, received the award for developing a tool to infer methane emissions.

“I think it’s very exciting to bring in a commercial dimension to what started as an academic project,” Jacob said.

Jacob said the application process was “competitive,” with a three-month timeline from submitting a pre-proposal to receiving the final award. The Grid Accelerator received twenty proposals, only six of which were selected for funding, according to Jacob.

“The long-term is to serve climate policy,” he said. “The long term is we want to reduce methane emissions.”

Liu, an assistant professor of Bioengineering, received a grant for leading a team to create flexible nanoelectronics that can interact with soft tissue in the human body, bypassing mechanical and immune responses.

Liu said this technology can “go beyond just the brain,” with possible applications in cancer, diabetes, and neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease.

Vlassak received a grant for developing a technology that “allows us to levitate objects using light.”

Vlassak said his team’s research has applications for climate change, enabling “studying that part of the atmosphere in more detail than we have so far.”

“Of course, it’s an honor to get the award,” he said. “The award demonstrates the technology that’s being developed by my students in my lab is valued.”

Vlassak said the grant will help bring his technology outside the academic realm.

“I’m interested in developing a technology, but I think if we can actually commercialize it and have people benefit from it, I think that’s really wonderful,” Vlassak said. “And I think the program really helps in that regard.”