The Hidden Iceberg of Innovation
Why 90% of Research Potential Never Sees the Light of Day
Every year, universities, national labs, and corporate R&D groups generate breakthroughs that could change the world. New materials. New energy systems. New medical devices. Yet the vast majority of these discoveries in the lab — perhaps 90% or more — never translate into real-world impact.
At MIT Proto Ventures, we call this the innovation iceberg.
Above the surface, you see what most institutions proudly point to: startups launched, patents filed, technologies licensed. But beneath the waterline lies a massive reservoir of untapped opportunity: inventions that were never patented, ideas that never found a champion, researchers who never considered commercialization.
Why is so much potential left unrealized?
It’s not due to lack of ingenuity. Rather, it’s a structural gap:
Most researchers aren’t trained—or incentivized—to explore commercialization pathways.
Technology transfer offices only see what’s disclosed to them.
Innovation programs only support projects that already exist.
Serendipity still plays a disproportionate role in startup formation.
The result? Transformative ideas languish. Cross-disciplinary opportunities go unnoticed. And our ability to tackle global challenges—from clean energy to AI-enabled healthcare—remains limited.
A New Model: The R&D Venture Studio
At MIT Proto Ventures, we built an in-house venture studio to address this exact problem.
Our Venture Builders embed inside MIT labs. They proactively scout overlooked technologies, connect dots across departments, and build startups from scratch. They partner with researchers who have never thought about translation—and help turn academic insights into investable ventures.
This isn’t incubation. It’s not acceleration. It’s venture origination—a new kind of translational infrastructure that pulls ideas from the bottom of the iceberg and gives them form, strategy, and path to launch.
From Iceberg to Impact
One of our recent spinouts began as a technical idea in MIT’s Plasma Science & Fusion Center. It’s now a startup developing energy-efficient propulsion for satellites. Another project, launched this year, uses vertical gallium nitride semiconductor devices to power AI data centers.
These ventures wouldn't exist without the deliberate architecture of the venture studio. They didn’t come from serendipity. They came from structure.
What’s Next
We believe we can unlock the full iceberg.
If your institution is serious about tech translation, it's time to look below the surface. An R&D venture studio is not a replacement for your tech transfer office, entrepreneurship center, or seed fund. It’s the missing bridge between research and impact—a model designed to pull the invisible into the visible, and transform invention into venture.
Because innovation doesn’t just need discovery. It needs design.
Next up in this series: "What is an R&D Venture Studio—and Why Your Institution Needs One."