Recent books from the MIT community

MIT Press has announced its upcoming 2026 release, 'Launching from the Lab: Building a Deep-Tech Startup,' a practical guide authored by Lita Nelsen, the former long-time director of MIT's Technology Licensing Office, and Maureen Stancik Boyce. The book, priced at $35, aims to codify the process of transforming cutting-edge academic research into viable commercial ventures, leveraging MIT's unparalleled track record in creating billion-dollar companies from laboratory discoveries. This release is positioned as a key resource for researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs navigating the complex journey of deep-tech commercialization, from IP licensing to venture formation.

The announcement was part of a broader list of forthcoming books from MIT community members in 2025-2026, covering diverse topics from global economics to environmental engineering. While not a direct AI product launch, the guide's focus on 'deep-tech' is highly relevant to the current AI boom, where foundational models and agentic systems are increasingly emerging from academic labs. For professionals, this represents a systematization of the playbook behind successful spinouts like those in AI, robotics, and biotech, offering a blueprint for the next wave of innovation originating in university research environments.