As its director, Jodi Goldstein, explained to me in a July 30 interview, HIL brings together students from across Harvard to work on start-up projects rent-free while tapping a network of experts.

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What makes Dearing happy is working with small start-up teams on projects that matter to the world, with people who are underdogs.

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Other projects include Blue Origin, a start-up run by Amazon.com Inc.

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