Our Five Areas of Research
With a particular interest in Innovation, Productivity and Competitiveness, the MIT Industrial Performance Center brings together teams of researchers in engineering, science, management and the social sciences at MIT and beyond to carry out innovative, applied research in the following areas.
The MIT Work of the Future initiative explores the relationship between technology, work and society and how technology and relevant institutions can be developed to enhance human activities and support all workers.
MoreAdvanced manufacturing is at the center of all of the IPC’s work whether at the firm or industry level, or as it relates to systems of innovation at the regional and national level.
MoreBuilding an advanced energy system requires innovation not only in new renewable energy technologies but in institutional and policy arrangements. IPC research examines each of these dimensions to support better energy delivery models.
MoreFocused on the nexus of technology and business strategy, IPC research on globalization looks at how firms and industries organize across geography to compete globally and the implications for economic development in countries and regions.
MoreInnovation is at the center of all of the IPC’s work whether at the firm or industry level, or as it relates to systems of innovation at the regional and national level.
MoreInnovation in Brazil, Advancing Development in the 21st Century
In this book, the editors unite a diverse array of empirical contributions around a few key themes, including public policies, institutions and innovation ecosystems, and firms and industries, that collectively make the case for a new, forward-looking innovation agenda aimed at addressing persistent challenges and exploiting emerging opportunities in Brazil. Its conclusions offer valuable lessons for other developing and emerging economies seeking to accelerate innovation and growth in the modern age.
In May, the book was officially launched at two events in São Paulo and Brasilia.

The Work of the Future: Shaping Technology and Institutions
A new report from the MIT Work of the Future Task Force frames how we might leverage emerging technologies and policies toward a shared prosperity. Read the report now.

Compressed Development
New book by IPC Senior Researcher, Timothy Sturgeon.
Compressed Development updates development theory in light of global integration, financialization, and the proliferation of international actors. Because of these and other changes, economic development has become ‘compressed,’ and processes or stages which were once experienced sequentially now happen nearly at the same time. This has changed how countries develop, and relate to one another. Industrialization has become ‘thin’ in any given country because industries are parceled out in global value chains. National development strategies have become harder to implement as countries face double challenges of managing the backward and hyper-advanced segments of their economies and societies

The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines
The final report of the Work of the Future Task Force
