October 4, 2023 – A record number of students from across the University have signed up this fall as members of the Harvard Innovation Labs, including 84 from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Those students are on 21 venture teams working on startups.
The Harvard Innovation Labs provide support for students and alumni hoping to learn about innovation, foster an idea, or launch a business. Members get support in the form of workshops, experts, advisors, funding opportunities, and a community of like-minded peers.
Harvard Chan students are working on ventures in a wide range of areas, such as supporting teens with mental health problems, connecting cancer patients with experimental trials, and creating a reusable sanitary pad.
The venture teams with Harvard Chan students include:
AI-Row: Harnesses the power of mobile machine learning to provide inclusive and accessible rowing coaching in real time
ARTyx: Develops an innovative RNA therapeutic platform for cancer treatment, with an initial focus on breast cancer
AuxHealth: Leverages generative AI to gather patient information outside of the clinic so clinicians can focus on what matters most when talking to patients
Bridge: An AI-powered matchmaking service that connects patients ready for discharge from the hospital with care providers in their communities
Coord Care: Helps health systems transition teenage patients with chronic illnesses from pediatric to adult care by providing various support services
EDGe Surgical, Inc.: Manufactures single-use smart tools for orthopedic and spine surgical procedures
Frugal Innovation Accelerator: Accelerates the adoption of cost-conscious health innovations into health systems across the world
Go Healthy & Co: Combines psychology and artificial intelligence to deliver tailored psychological interventions through a smartphone application using a chatbot
HearAid: Proposes a digital platform that combines at-home smartphone-enabled hearing tests with a decision-support tool allowing access to hearing care
HeatAlarm: Creates a solution that prevents increase in deaths during heat waves
HousED: Combats homelessness at critical junctures when homeless patients present to EDs for help
Ledger Research: An Uber for researchers that connects them to participants across language and cultural barriers
Mind Pastures: Helps people with anxiety lead a path to wellness by understanding the root cause of their anxiety and dealing with it holistically
Perennial: Provides simple, sustainable meal plans that marry the latest in nutrition and climate science with practical strategies to get dinner on the table
Safe Spine: This app would outline an algorithm for the surgical treatment of spinal diseases based on diagnosis, procedure, and institutional capacity, with the aim of supporting safe spine surgery in lower- and middle-income countries
Social Heal: Digitally connects teens in mental and emotional crisis with their loved ones by allowing them to go on daily quests together
Tomy: A low-cost, sustainable ostomy external medical device
Unnamed: A nonprofit team working on creating a digital search-and-match platform for cancer patients and current medical experimental trials recruiting participants globally, focused on patients and caregivers needing up-to-date eligibility information
Warka Digital: Digitizes the grassroots health financing program in sub-Saharan Africa
WellSpace: Digital school delivering learning experiences in holistic health and wellbeing, for individuals with chronic and autoimmune conditions
Youth SafepadTM Pakistan: SafepadTM is a reusable sanitary pad for women; the aim is for sustainable and cost-effective production in Pakistan
Membership at the Harvard Innovation Labs is rolling, so students can become members at any point in the semester. There are also funding opportunities for students, including the Allston Venture Fund and the Social Impact Fellowship Fund.