By clicking “Accept All Cookies,” you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site usage.

Skip to main content

Analytics Lab

The MIT Analytics Lab (A-Lab) is the IDE's flagship educational offering that lets graduate students work directly with companies to uncover solutions to real business challenges.

A-Lab is a graduate level seminar course, spearheaded by the IDE and is part of MIT Sloan School of Management’s suite of Action Learning offerings. The course is led by IDE faculty Sinan Aral.

Over the last 12 years, A-Lab has attracted almost 1,000 students from across MIT to work on over 200 projects spanning IoT, digital technology, platforms, finance, marketing, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing, medical supply chains, workplace safety, and global health.

Many projects are tightly focused on challenges organizations face today, which requires that students quickly understand the business circumstances before performing their analysis. Other projects are more open-ended, and students must think entrepreneurially about how to bring new value to existing data and suggest potential business opportunity.

For Project Host Companies

Propose Projects for A-Lab

Organizations from all sectors can participate as A-Lab Project Hosts. Projects can address a diversity of problem types. All must require advanced depth of analysis and have clean and rich data available at the outset of the project.

Once a project is selected, we closely match the students’ capabilities, experience, and interests to the best-fit project.

Have questions? Reach out to us at a-lab@mit.edu

For Students

Apply to A-Lab

Admission to A-Lab is by application only. Evaluation is based on coursework and experience in analytics, statistics, computer science, management, and economics. No bidding necessary. Students should apply for the course as individuals; students will have a chance to form teams in September 2026.

The course includes an extended project pitch session and a final presentation event, in addition to normally scheduled class meetings. The course is not open to the general public. Student attendance at all sessions is mandatory.

Past Projects