Starlab#PajamaNation

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.quantumbionet.org/eng/index.php?pagina=97|title=Remembering Starlab|publisher=Quantum Bio Net|url-status=dead|access-date=2017-11-20|archive-date=2017-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034715/http://www.quantumbionet.org/eng/index.php?pagina=97}} The lab sponsored and collaborated with other labs and organized several international conferences and open research symposia.

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.{{cite web |title=Hello, this is your sleeve speaking. Starlab, a Brussels-based research institute, wants to turn robot kitties and talking jackets into cash. |url=https://www.cnet.com/culture/hello-this-is-your-sleeve-speaking/ |access-date=24 October 2024}}

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.{{cite journal |last1=Giles |first1=Jim |title=Utopian dream in tatters as Starlab crashes to Earth |journal=Nature |date=2001 |volume=412 |issue=6 |doi=10.1038/35083727 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/35083727 |access-date=25 October 2024}} The lab's assets were liquidated, and the former embassy building inhabited by the lab was purchased by the Brussels regional government.{{cite web |title=Domaine Latour de Freins |url=https://sites.heritage.brussels/fr/sites/309 |website=Inventaire du Patrimoine Naturel |publisher=Région de Bruxelles Capitale. |access-date=25 October 2024}}

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.{{cite journal |last1=Giles |first1=Jim |title=Utopian dream in tatters as Starlab crashes to Earth |journal=Nature |date=2001 |volume=412 |issue=6 |doi=10.1038/35083727 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/35083727 |access-date=25 October 2024}} 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.{{cite news |title=Starlab, de l'espai a les neurones (in Catalan) |url=https://www.elperiodico.cat/ca/empresa-de-lany-2016/20170218/starlab-de-lespai-a-les-neurones-5845689 |access-date=24 October 2024 |publisher=El Periódico de Catalunya |date=28 December 2017}}

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,{{cite web |last1=Florea |first1=Adria |title=Starlab: Pioneering Intelligent Clothing |url=https://adriaya.wixsite.com/technofashion/starlab |website=Techno Fashion |access-date=25 October 2024}} which won the Avantex 2000 Innovation Prize. Bioprocessors, a biotechnology spinoff,{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} transitioned to Silicon Valley. Pajamanation, a global marketplace for outsourcing microjobs, launched in fifty countries in 2006.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}

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.{{cite web |title=Neurotwin: technological breakthrough improving the lives of people suffering with epilepsy |url=https://eic.ec.europa.eu/success-stories/neurotwin-technological-breakthrough-improving-lives-people-suffering-epilepsy_en |website=EIC Success Stories |publisher=European Innovation Council |access-date=25 October 2024}}

Starlab was featured in a Discovery Channel Special{{Citation|title=Trailer - Starlab Discovery Channel Special|date=2006-11-30|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X_HDSQXMI0|publisher=YouTube|access-date=2018-08-03}}{{Citation|last=Purcell|first=Chris|title=Starlab: The Discovery Channel Special|date=2001-09-05|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8234256/|others=Christopher Altman, Serguei Krasnikov, Jack Tuszynski|access-date=2018-08-03}}

• Futures Studies
• Interval Research

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.space-time.info/starlab/StarlabArchive.html Starlab Archive]
• [http://www.starlab.es/ Starlab Barcelona]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X_HDSQXMI0 Starlab Discovery Channel]
• [http://www.space-time.info/starlab/StarlabPublications.html Starlab publications]

Category:Laboratories in Belgium

Category:1990s in Brussels