Starlab

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title: "Starlab" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["laboratories-in-belgium", "1990s-in-brussels"] description: "A multidisciplinary blue sky research institute" topic_path: "general/laboratories-in-belgium" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlab" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary A multidisciplinary blue sky research institute ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox organization"]

Field	Value
image	File:Starlab_Headquarters.jpg
caption	Deep Future
logo	File:Starlab Front Seal.jpg
formation	1996
purpose	Fundamental research
headquarters	Brussels, Belgium
affiliations	MIT
University of Oxford
Ghent University
name	Starlab
image_size	260px
founder	Walter de Brouwer
Nicholas Negroponte
staff	130 (2001)
region	International
website	starlab.org
::

| image = File:Starlab_Headquarters.jpg | caption = Deep Future | logo = File:Starlab Front Seal.jpg | formation = 1996 | purpose = Fundamental research | headquarters = Brussels, Belgium | key_people = | affiliations = MIT University of Oxford Ghent University | name = Starlab | image_size = 260px | founder = Walter de Brouwer Nicholas Negroponte | staff = 130 (2001) | region = International | website = starlab.org Starlab NV/SA was a multidisciplinary, blue sky research institute established to serve as an incubator for long-term and basic research in the spirit of Bell Labs, MIT Media Lab, Xerox PARC, and Interval Research. Its primary headquarters was based in Brussels, Belgium from 1996 to 2001. A second base of operations, Starlab Barcelona, was established in 2000 and remains in operation.

Research

At its peak, Starlab employed over 130 scientists from thirty-six nationalities. Starlab projects included intelligent clothing, stem cell research, emotics, transarchitecture, robotics, theoretical physics, e.g., the possibility of time travel, consciousness, quantum computation, quantum information, art, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, new media, biophysics, materials science, protein folding, nanoelectronics, and wearable computing. These research lines were grouped under the acronym “BANG,” or Bits, Atoms, Neurons, Genes, later adopted by MIT Media Lab in 2002. The lab sponsored and collaborated with other labs and organized several international conferences and open research symposia.

Members

Starlab's principal investors included venture capitalist Walter de Brouwer, founder and chief executive officer, MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte, and Pythagorus investment fund manager Johan Konings. Walter Van de Velde served as chief scientific officer. Giulio Ruffini continues to serve as scientific officer for Starlab's Barcelona division. Academic and corporate partners received shared intellectual property rights to research and patents generated by the lab.

Closure

Starlab's business model depended largely upon third-party investment to sustain its operations. When the dot-com bubble burst, the loss of a critical group of investors forced the lab to close its doors in 2001. The lab's assets were liquidated, and the former embassy building inhabited by the lab was purchased by the Brussels regional government.

Starlab DF2 (Deep Future 2) Barcelona

The surviving research division in Barcelona, Starlab DF2, or "Deep Future 2," adopted a different business strategy, focusing on specialized, direct contracts with ESA under support of the Catalan and Spanish Governments. Founded by Manel Adell, [Giulio Ruffini, and Ana Maiques,Barcelona maintains the interdisciplinary spirit of Starlab Brussels, but focuses on neuroscience technologies and applications. The lab has been awarded the Barcelona Innovation prize and other awards.

Spinoffs

Some of the intellectual property generated by Starlab research projects was purchased by investors or continued at university and research centers worldwide. Philips purchased the intellectual property rights to intelligent clothing project i-wear, which won the Avantex 2000 Innovation Prize. Bioprocessors, a biotechnology spinoff, transitioned to Silicon Valley. Pajamanation, a global marketplace for outsourcing microjobs, launched in fifty countries in 2006.

Starlab Barcelona (2000) currently focuses on applied research initiatives in neuroscience. Neuroelectrics is a spinoff from Starlab Barcelona (2011) developing brain stimulation solutions for the clinical sector. It is currently creating personalized computational brain stimulation technologies within the Neurotwin (AD) and Galvani (focal epilepsy) projects.

Legacy

Starlab was featured in a Discovery Channel Special

References

References

1. "Starlab: the 'Noah’s Ark' of scientific research that launched 1,000 startup ideas". Stifted.
2. "WHEN AI MEETS HUMANITY: THE STARLAB’S JOURNEY".
3. "Remembering Starlab". Quantum Bio Net.
4. "Hello, this is your sleeve speaking. Starlab, a Brussels-based research institute, wants to turn robot kitties and talking jackets into cash.".
5. (2001). "Utopian dream in tatters as Starlab crashes to Earth". Nature.
6. "Domaine Latour de Freins". Région de Bruxelles Capitale..
7. (2001). "Utopian dream in tatters as Starlab crashes to Earth". Nature.
8. (28 December 2017). "Starlab, de l'espai a les neurones (in Catalan)". El Periódico de Catalunya.
9. "Starlab: Pioneering Intelligent Clothing".
10. "Neurotwin: technological breakthrough improving the lives of people suffering with epilepsy". European Innovation Council.
11. (2006-11-30). "Trailer - Starlab Discovery Channel Special". YouTube.
12. Purcell, Chris. (2001-09-05). "Starlab: The Discovery Channel Special".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::