Media Lab: mechanisms driving sci-fi to real world technological innovations

Can science fiction (sci-fi) be transformed into real innovations? This is the challenging question that inspires Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab to turn imagination to future technological innovations. This research study analyses futuristic innovations of MIT Media Lab through the integrative lens of the competitive diamond model and the triple helix model. The results show that the government has to be less controlling in order to engender the process of 'innovation to create demand' and thrive high-tech initiatives. The 'demo-or-die' culture, a free-ranging and interdisciplinary approach to research, has effectively linked the Media Lab science fiction to the process of technology transfer. The empirical results and lessons of MIT Media Lab provide an interesting model of moving sci-fi to reality.