Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts

Lincoln Lab is a large electronic technology R&D center operated by MIT, and located on the edge of Hanscom Air Force Base, to which it is physically and financially connected. It was founded off campus in 1951, to continue research developed by the Rad Lab, the pioneering World War II radar lab at MIT. The lab is a leading developer of national missile detection systems (it developed the DEW line system and the SAGE system), and is one of the nation's pioneers in satellite communications, laser technologies, advanced forms of radar, flight safety, ground and space-based sensors, supercomputing, and space and surface surveillance. More than 100 commercial companies and nonprofit labs have been spun off from Lincoln Lab. The lab is one of a number of federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), which are non-profit, public-private partnerships between the U.S. government and the sponsored entity.