The Harvard Innovation Lab is a new and innovative initiative that will foster team-based and entrepreneurial activities, and deepen interactions among students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and the community.  Located at 125 Western Avenue in Allston, the Innovation Lab will intersect with Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s Innovation agenda and activate a vacant building that once housed WGBH-TV offices.

The Innovation Lab will encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in Allston by providing the neighborhood with meeting rooms, as well as business development resources for businesses, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and other individuals in Allston-Brighton neighborhood and the region.    It will also help the University by bringing together many cross-curricular interests, including Harvard College, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, the School for Engineering and Applied Science, the Harvard Kennedy School and other schools. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, interested neighbors, and local businesses will have access to Innovation-Lab programming. Programming will include presentations and lectures for audiences that include university constituencies, small businesses, nonprofits, and neighbors.  In addition, SBA, SCORE, MSBDCN, CWE, and other organizations will deliver workshops that invite direct participation by attendees, as well as one-on-one coaching and business advisory services. Programming and connections are expected to grow and improve as the effectiveness of the initial offerings are assessed and new opportunities to provide useful content for all Innovation Lab audiences are identified. The Harvard Innovation Lab is expected to open in the fall 2011