The Boston Globe released its 2026 “Tech Power Players” list on June 9, recognizing 50 influential leaders in technology and business across Massachusetts. Eight MIT affiliates are among the honorees, including President Sally Kornbluth, CSAIL Director Daniela Rus, Professors Regina Barzilay, Yet-Ming Chiang, and Max Tegmark, along with Ana Bakshi (Executive Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship), Katie Rae (CEO of Engine Ventures), and Senior Lecturer Brian Halligan. The list also features numerous MIT alumni.
The coverage goes beyond individual accolades, spotlighting MIT’s research labs, innovation culture, industry ties, new AI initiatives, and the Institute’s commitment to maintaining Massachusetts’ technological edge. “Massachusetts can absolutely lead in this next wave,” President Kornbluth told the Globe, emphasizing opportunities in manufacturing, life and health sciences, quantum technologies, and energy.
AI and Entrepreneurship at the Forefront
MIT is driving artificial intelligence forward in sectors where the region excels, from biotechnology and robotics to defense and clean energy. The Institute is also broadening entrepreneurship through a “dorm-to-startup” push, creating a pipeline of support services that include hackathons, venture funding, and more than 150 courses and 85 centers dedicated to fostering entrepreneurial ventures.
President Kornbluth is reinvigorating MIT’s support for the local innovation ecosystem by unveiling new online AI classes—offering free entry-level courses for anyone—and encouraging more on-campus entrepreneurship. The Globe notes that these free courses could help local tech leaders ensure that people, not just corporations, benefit from AI.
MIT is carving a specialty in applied AI, sometimes called “AI+X,” deploying the technology to help businesses, hospitals, and research institutions supercharge productivity and innovation. Aman Narang ’04, CEO of Toast, commented, “The superpower has always been the university system. The best thing Boston can do is keep these people around.”
To further support student entrepreneurs, President Kornbluth and Provost Anantha Chandrakasan formed the Committee on Accelerating Translation and Entrepreneurship (CATE) to explore how MIT can accelerate the movement of ideas from research into new ventures. Applications for the Martin Trust Center’s startup accelerator program have doubled from last year, and nearly 800 undergraduates attended a recent startup career fair.
Startups Driving Innovation Beyond Campus
MIT startup Liquid AI is developing models inspired by the brain structure of a simple worm, which could significantly reduce AI energy consumption. The models, capable of detecting financial fraud and piloting autonomous drones, require far less electricity than large language models. Liquid AI recently signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz to integrate its technology into vehicles sold in North America.
In energy, Professor Yet-Ming Chiang’s lab is developing long-duration batteries that enable greater use of wind, solar, and other clean energy sources. The lab and other MIT research centers are also working on innovations in microchips, critical minerals, fusion technology, and defense tech—examples of “tough tech” that Chiang says are in the sweet spot of the Boston ecosystem.
Eighty MIT students will work as summer interns at GE Vernova through the MIT-GE Vernova Climate and Energy Alliance, a $50 million, five-year collaboration funding internships and research projects. GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik emphasized the importance of plugging into MIT’s innovation culture.
Quantum and the Future
When asked about the most promising aspect of the Greater Boston tech scene, Daniela Rus pointed to talent: “Boston has the best AI researchers in the world, and they’re producing genuinely new ideas, not incremental ones.” Bob Mumgaard SM ’15, co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, noted that Massachusetts’ expertise in engineering and manufacturing made it the only place he could build his fusion energy company. “The ecosystem has the building blocks,” he said. “Massachusetts is the strongest in the nation in innovation in energy.”
President Kornbluth highlighted quantum science and technology: “There isn’t a more important technological field right now than quantum science and technology, and the Boston area has the greatest concentration of quantum talent anywhere in the world.”