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§ Private Profile · Cambridge, MA, USA
The Laboratory at Harvard is a company.
Key people at The Laboratory at Harvard.
The Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) conducts rigorous research and real-world experimentation to understand how digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, reshape innovation, decision-making, business, science, and society. The lab's core function involves developing a comprehensive science of innovation, focusing on the empirical assessment of AI's practical utility within organizations. Through its work, LISH aims to provide evidence-based guidance for strategic AI implementation and contribute to the design of future-ready workplaces.
This Harvard-wide research program was founded under the leadership of Professor Karim R. Lakhani of Harvard Business School. The establishment of LISH arose from the critical insight that while digital technologies and AI are rapidly transforming industries, there was a significant need for systematic scientific inquiry into their impact on innovation processes and organizational effectiveness. Professor Lakhani, along with co-directors Eva Guinan from Harvard Medical School and other faculty, spearheaded its inception to address this gap.
LISH primarily serves companies looking to strategically integrate AI, organizations grappling with digital transformation, and leaders seeking to understand the evolving nature of work. Its vision is to advance a robust science of innovation, thereby enabling informed decision-making and ensuring that digital advancements genuinely enhance human capabilities and societal well-being. The lab is forward-looking, continuously exploring how cutting-edge research can solve complex, real-world challenges.
Key people at The Laboratory at Harvard.
The Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) is a research lab at Harvard Business School dedicated to advancing the science of innovation through real-world experiments and rigorous analysis, particularly on how AI, digital transformation, and open innovation reshape business, science, and society.[1][2] It focuses on three core areas—open innovation, science of science, and data science/AI—while incubating specialized labs like the Pricing Lab (studying firm pricing decisions and economic impacts) and the Data Science and AI Operations Lab.[1] LISH partners with entities like Harvard Medical School, NASA, and P&G to deploy field-based experiments, influencing innovation practices without direct investment activities.[1][2]
Distinct from LISH, the Harvard Innovation Labs (i-Lab) serves as Harvard University's hub for student-led entrepreneurship, supporting over 6,500 ventures since 2011 that have raised more than $9 billion across sectors like edtech, healthcare, AI, climate tech, and biotech.[3][6] It provides co-working spaces, workshops, mentor matching, and resources like prototyping labs, fostering cross-disciplinary teams from all 13 Harvard schools and impacting 11% of the student body annually.[3][6]
LISH emerged from Harvard Business School's efforts to systematize innovation research, led by principal investigators like Alberto Cavallo (Pricing Lab) and Iavor Bojinov (Data Science and AI Operations Lab), with a focus on empirical studies of incentives, governance, and AI's role in firms.[1][2] Its evolution centers on real-world challenges, partnering with industry leaders to test theories on open talent markets, lab success factors, and AI factories.[1]
The Harvard Innovation Labs, founded in 2011 as the i-Lab, originated as an experimental, student-centered space to promote team-based entrepreneurship beyond traditional silos, involving faculty from the outset and extending to Allston/Brighton communities.[3][5][6] Directed initially by Gordon Jones, it expanded with the Harvard Launch Lab (2014) for alumni and the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab (2016), a 15,000 sq ft wet lab for biotech startups by Harvard affiliates, creating a clustered ecosystem adjacent to the i-Lab.[3][4][5] Pivotal moments include incubating 4,000+ teams raising $7B+ by 2020 and supporting COVID-19 response ventures.[3]
LISH rides the AI and digital transformation wave, providing evidence-based frameworks for how algorithms, open talent, and data science redefine innovation—critical as firms build "AI factories" amid rising AI adoption.[1][2] Its timing aligns with post-2020 demands for empirical innovation science, influencing sectors like healthcare (via Medical School ties) and consumer goods (P&G), while addressing talent shifts in the "future of work."[1]
The i-Lab ecosystem amplifies Harvard's role in startup creation, fueling trends in AI/ML, climate tech, and biotech by de-risking early stages through resources and networks—key in a market where ventures need rapid prototyping and mentorship.[3][6][8] Proximity of i-Lab, Launch Lab, and Life Lab creates Allston's innovation cluster, seeding cross-disciplinary startups (e.g., COVID PPE, economic data tools) and bridging academia to market via experiential learning, with $9B+ funding evidence of ecosystem leverage.[3][4][6]
LISH will likely deepen AI governance and open innovation research, shaping enterprise AI strategies as regulations evolve and data-driven firms proliferate—potentially expanding partnerships for global experiments.[1][2] The i-Lab ecosystem, with its biotech edge, stands to grow influence in high-stakes fields like personalized medicine and climate tech, scaling to more alumni via Launch Lab expansions amid VC funding rebounds.[3][4][6]
As Harvard's innovation bridge—from LISH's rigorous science to i-Lab's venture acceleration—these labs position the university to lead digital-era breakthroughs, turning academic insights into societal impact.[2][6]
