Harvard University
Ideas to Enterprise
Across Harvard’s campus, our students, scholars, and faculty turn ideas into ventures that solve problems and create value.
In this free online course you can explore strategies for leading in a changing world, new ways to approach complex organizational systems, and how to take thoughtful action.
Harvard’s impact
A 2015 study explored the impact that Harvard has in the business world.
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146,000 ventures
Harvard alumni have founded
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20 million people
employed by those ventures
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$3.9 trillion
generated in annual revenue
Turning ideas into enterprise
Chief Technology Development Officer Isaac T. Kohlberg explains how Harvard’s Office of Technology Development helps researchers and scientists at the University bring their innovations and discoveries to the market.
Student and alumni founders representing 12 different Harvard schools
Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge
Founders with bright futures
Helping mothers protect their bodies during childbirth, reimagining how hydrogen can be transported safely and affordably, and leveraging AI and robotics to transform the thousands-year-old process of hair braiding are a few of the 2025 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge’s extraordinary winning ventures.
The business of better health
These businesses join a history that includes Massachusetts General Hospital, founded by alum John Bartlett, and Partners in Health, founded by alum Paul Farmer.
Creating a new class of antibiotics
Kinvard Bio, a biotechnology company launched out of the Harvard’s Myers Lab, is creating a new class of antibiotics in the hopes of treating drug-resistant infections and diseases.
Creating a new class of antibioticsPioneering regenerative medicine
Nabiha Saklayen founded Cellino to transform the body’s blood cells into tissues that can be used for healing and repair.
Decreasing eating disorder risk
Amanda Moreno founded the Body Empowerment Project to improve student’s coping mechanisms and decrease eating disorder risk.
Detecting deadly lacing agents
MabLab has been developing a single test strip to detect the five deadliest lacing agents in drugs.
Transforming health care
Ivan Hsiaois founded Trans Health HQ to be a one-stop shop for clinicians seeking to improve care for transgender patients.
Listening to patients' needs
Manny Simons founded Akouos, Inc. to develop gene therapies to restore hearing.
Fostering the future
Harvard has several places where we help students and faculty turn research into start-up reality.
Education Entrepreneurs
These businesses join a history that includes alum Walter William Spencer Cook, co-founder of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts, and alum Edith Lesley, founder of Lesley University.
Manasi Mehan and Chhavi Khandelwal founded Saturday Art Class to provide visual arts and social emotional learning education to children across India.
Joe Wolf believes his Imagine Worldwide can solve the literacy and numeracy crisis in sub-Saharan Africa.
Joy Lindsay founded Butterfly Dreamz to help teen girls and young women from underserved communities become leaders.
When Jenny Woo created “52 Essential Conversations” she aimed to help parents and educators through difficult conversations.
Team players
Getting it over the net
With League One Volleyball (LOVB) Katlyn Gao and Kim Kitchens designed a volleyball ecosystem from scratch.
Promoting adaptive sports
Jorge Perez de Leza founded Fundación Deporte y Desafío (Sport and Challenge Foundation) to provide athletic and recreational opportunities to people with disabilities in his home country of Spain.
Founding the future of technology
These businesses join a history that includes alum Dan Bricklin’s VisiCalc, the first independent software company, and alum Scott McNealy’s Sun Microsystems, which created the Java programming language.
Computing with quantum
John Levy hopes his startup SEEQC can turn quantum computers from an experimental technology into a commercially viable, enterprise-grade tool that will be exponentially more powerful than today’s digital computers.
Computing with quantumFinding his focus
Metalenz, which Rob Devlin helped develop, has already shipped 100 million of its light-focusing metasurfaces to an array of electronics companies.
Building together
Shruti Shruti founded ApnaKlub to create a digital platform that helps variety store owners in India aggregate their buying power and access credit tools.
Touching the future
Simon Chaput founded Boréas Technologies to improve how we interact with technology.
Solving debt
Upsolve founder Rohan Pavuluri created the nonprofit to help Americans deal with their debt.
Owning your health
Laura Wegner created Mii to empower patients to take ownership of their medical data.
Earth-friendly enterprises
These businesses join a history that includes alum Thomas Jaggar’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and alum Mark Plotkin’s Amazon Conservation Team.
Solving global problems
Cultivating prosperity for farmers
Kimberly Jung and Emily Miller started Rumi Spice to brings saffron and other spices from Afghanistan to the United States and provides jobs for more than 1,500 farmers and other workers.
Empowering farmers and eradicating hunger
When Pelkins Ajanoh founded CassVita he set out to improve the methods for storing and processing cassava, a staple food that can feed nations and empower farmers globally.
Helping organizations do good in Jamaica
Deika Morrison founded Do Good Jamaica to support projects around early childhood development, climate change, and emotional resilience in her home country.
Perfecting a new language
When Anada Lakra left Albania she quickly noticed a disconnect between the English she had learned and the one spoken in America, so she founded BoldVoice, an app that offers accent coaching for non-English speakers.
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