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Post

Research at Scale

Wikipedia

by Cedric Honnet

Jan. 1, 2014

Since 2014, MIT / Media Lab researchers return to Shenzhen every year to scale their research, and explore the local manufacturing ecosystem.

⚡ TL;DR:

  • What: research residency about hacking manufacturing (for 10 MIT researchers)
  • How: by visiting and working with factories (about electronic, textiles, etc), electronic markets, maker spaces, art spaces, etc.
  • Who: we're lucky to have housing + flights sponsored by amazing partners from academia (SUSTech + AIRS) and industry (Seeed), who take care of our flights and housing
  • When: 4 weeks during IAP (January)
  • Where: Shenzhen, China (14 min away from Hong Kong!)

⚠️ Jan 2025: application are closed, but the symposium application is still open:

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🚀 Shorter option:

The residency integrates a 1 week symposium that condenses the main part of the residency: ScalableHCI.com (Jan 6-10)

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🔍 Context:

In collaboration with leading open hardware industry partners, the program provides invaluable insights into the manufacturing intricacies, but also the local maker networks.

The “Research At Scale” residency can greatly benefit many communities including in developing countries (as it amplifies financial accessibility to hardware), but it also paves the way for scaling research to unprecedented dimensions and unexplored territories.

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Some previous occurrences:

Copyright

Isaac Blankensmith

Details archive for the yearly residency application:

1) Topics:

• Past: mostly about electronics and textiles (see archives)

• Next: anything in the broad theme "open tech for good"

• Examples: (multiple proposal ideas are OK)
     - biodegradable manufacturing
     - massive kinetic art installations
     - making a (scientific) tool affordable
     - participative musical instruments for crowds
     - provocative or weird ideas are also very welcome!

2) Sponsorship:

• Commitment: 4-week presence required (it goes really quickly actually).

• Proposal: a realistic and impactful idea by Nov 1st (simple is good).

• Expectations: presentations and open documentation.
Prototypes will be appreciated (example), and full completion can be later (example).

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