Harvard entrepreneurs weave silk with science
A business idea born in a Harvard classroom to improve the delivery of vaccines in developing countries has been selected as the grand prize winner of the Harvard University President’s Challenge for social entrepreneurship. Vaxess Technologies, a Cambridge-based company founded by students from across Harvard, will receive $70,000 to support a plan to commercialize new technology that uses silk to stabilize routine vaccines and eliminate the need for refrigeration in transport and delivery. “We thought about how to use silk for tackling the most unmet challenges in global health,” said Livio Valenti, a Harvard Kennedy School student. “We saw the opportunity to build a sustainable, profitable business while creating an important public good: increasing access to health for those who are most in need.” Valenti met his President’s Challenge teammates last fall during the Harvard Business School course “Commercializing Science.” The team has been advancing the idea since that time and this spring...