Hosted by: MIT-China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (MIT-CHIEF)
No matter what stage you are at, MIT-CHIEF’s Accelerator Program will help your startup grow in 10 weeks.
Application Deadline: August 10, 2017 @ 11:59 pm EST
MIT-CHIEF Alumni Network
Within the MIT-CHIEF mutual support culture, MIT-CHIEF alumni are more than willing to share their experience, knowledge, and expertise, which could prevent you from similar pitfalls they have met. In addition, they could be your beta users, and furthermore, introduce their investors/business partners to you. With a shared understanding of how lonely the startup journey could be, they are happy to give you a hand. Here in this community, you will not only gain support and resources, but also establish long-lasting friendship in this field.
Mentorship
Mentors in MIT-CHIEF community are experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry experts, and innovative faculties. You could have close interaction with mentors and other participants of accelerator programs through their LinkedIn private group. In this group, you could reach out to them for advice whenever you feel lost or hesitant in your startup journey. When you have no idea about what’s the next step in the startup journey, feel free to ask them for advisory. Mentors are happy to polish your business plan, share their insights related to your product/market strategy and help in fundraising.
Bi-weekly Meetup
In the accelerator program, startups will meet up twice a month to share their progress in previous two weeks, state their challenges and exchange ideas of possible solutions. These bi-weekly deadlines tend to push people to complete their short-term goals. In this way, people are excited to present the progress they’ve made. Two to three mentors/speakers will be invited to the meetup, sharing their inside stories. These talks are strictly off the record to encourage candor and are more interesting than the ones presented in public.
Intro and Connection in China
MIT-CHIEF is more than happy to connect startups with investors/sponsors/partners in China. If you have the potential to expand your business in China, their network is a huge benefit to help you on board. Bridging the U.S. and China in entrepreneurship and innovation is always MIT-CHIEF’s mission.
Tracks
- Life Science/Healthcare Startups established on technologies and services for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases; unique services for healthcare delivery and new technologies for data analytics in the healthcare market.
- Artificial Intelligence Startups basing their services or products mainly on technologies like big data, machine learning and deep learning.
- Advanced Materials/Energy Chemical, mechanical, optical, acoustical or any type of advanced material solution providing startups; any business focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency or development of products/services that reduce the carbon footprint.
- Smart Hardware/Robotics/IoT Startups focused on Internet of Things, wearable devices, smart home appliances, or any kinds of smart hardware; unmanned vehicles and robotics.
- Web/Mobile Business is focused on software development; products and services deliver value through web and mobile platforms.
- Social Impact Business creating sustainable social values, solving social issues by providing innovative, highly effective and scalable solutions.
- FinTech Startups that using disruptive technologies or business models that improve asset management, lending, payments, and other core areas of the financial services.
> To apply for the accelerator program, click here or for more information, visit the MIT-CHIEF website.