Media Lab

MIT Media Lab

Established	1985; 32 years ago (1985)
Field of research	Technology, multimedia, sciences, art, design
Director	Joichi Ito
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Website	media.mit.edu

The MIT Media Lab is an interdisciplinary research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology devoted to projects at the convergence of technology, multimedia, sciences, art and design. Staff and students have backgrounds ranging from electrical engineering and computer science to sociology and music and others. The Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a series of practical inventions in the fields of wireless networks, field sensing, web browsers and the World Wide Web. As of 2014^[update], it has diversified its research into neurobiology, biologically inspired fabrication, socially engaging robots, emotive computing, bionics, and hyperinstruments. The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) was one of the notable research efforts which grew out of the Media Lab.

The Media Lab has been actively conducting workshops around the world, with much focus on innovation through design. The Media Lab has regional branches throughout the world which are responsible for conducting such events, including developing countries like India.

The MIT Media Lab was founded by MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte and former MIT President Jerome Wiesner and opened its doors in the Wiesner Building (designed by I. M. Pei) (also known as Building E15) at MIT in 1985. It grew out of the work of MIT’s Architecture Machine Group, and remains within the MIT School of Architecture and Planning.