MIT:\LCM\TECHLEB|06\ATTEND\VENUE\MIT>   

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been chosen as the venue for TECHLEB|06 because of MIT’s internationally-acclaimed reputation as a leader in technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship, all of which are hallmarks of the conference. Also, given the high hopes placed on Lebanon’s youth and human capital, a leading academic institution has been selected to cradle and launch TECHLEB’s mission.

MIT has produced numerous entrepreneurs among its faculty and alums. Companies with an MIT connection transformed the Massachusetts economy from one based on decaying shoe and textile industries into one based on high technology. According to a 1997 study by the Bank of Boston, 125,000 jobs in Massachusetts were MIT-related. Nationwide in 1996, 733,000 people working in more than 8,500 plants and offices held jobs that originated with companies founded by MIT graduates. The 4,000 of so firms that MIT graduates founded accounted for at least 1.1 million people worldwide and generated $232 billion of world revenues. If MIT-related companies were a nation it would be the 24th largest economy in the world. The neighborhood of East Cambridge adjacent to MIT was termed "The Most Entrepreneurial Place on Earth by Inc. magazine. Roughly 10% of Massachusetts software companies and approximately 20% of the state's 280 biotechnology companies are headquartered in that square mile.