The integrated Team Project is part of core courses stretching over nine months on the foundations of systems architecture (SA), systems engineering (SE) and project management (PM). In these projects, teams apply systems thinking and methods on key decisions for the design and implementation of a particular technologically enabled system. These Team Projects run for 4 months, from January to May.
Industry and government organizations are encouraged to pitch a proposal. The proposal should describe a problem rather than an anticipated solution. Students vote on topics, from which teams of 4 to 5 are formed. Not all proposals are selected; historically, half of projects are chosen.
Types of Projects
Projects must involve a technical system to be designed and developed; however, there is flexibility in the type of projects. MIT instructors will work with Partners to refine proposals.
Options include:
- Bringing promising new cutting-edge technology from the lab to market
- Enhancing an existing product by infusing one or more new technologies
- Proposing a next-generation architecture or assessing threats to the dominant design
Projects should be non-trivial and involve a complex technical system with significant societal, technological, or programmatic challenges. Projects should have a non-obvious answer: projects supporting existing designs with no decision at stake will be less likely to be adopted.
What is not possible as a Project?
- Process improvement. The project must include some hardware or software to be designed.
- Consulting projects, including market landscapes studies, business model evaluations, portfolio pruning studies, or organizational design.
Pitch and Selection of Projects (December 2025 – January 5, 2026)
Organizations hoping to pitch a project topic are asked to submit a 1 pager based on the Pitch Template by December 1, 2025. MIT instructors may provide feedback to improve the pitch. Not all topics will be selected for presentation. Selected pitches will be delivered in person* on the MIT campus on Monday, January 5, 2026. Students vote and organize teams that same day. A gala dinner for students, Partners, and faculty will be held that evening, and results announced by Tuesday morning, January 6, 2026. Typically, half of the topics pitched are selected.
* While online presentation is possible, Partners are highly recommended to present in person that Monday.
Team Project – MIT Presentation Events (May 11 and 12, 2026)
By the end of the semester, each team will deliver: (1) a presentation and (2) an executive memo that summarizes their results and recommendations. The presentation from each team will exhibit the framing, design, analysis, and future recommendations for their system including architecture, systems engineering, and project management aspects. A detailed schedule and evaluation criteria for the projects are shown below. These sessions are in-person only at the MIT campus.
Team Project – Partner Final Briefing (May or June 2026)
Since the final project presentations are addressed to the MIT instruction team for the purpose of pedagogic evaluation, it is recommended that Partners set up a separate in-depth 1-hour briefing by students in May or June 2026.
Guidance for Partners
The primary role of the Partner is to provide real-world context, review progress as requested by students, and advise on the relevance of the team’s focus – the “voice of the challenge.”
- Projects are selected, managed, and ultimately delivered by the students; the students have the prerogative to choose where to focus, how to evolve, and what to deliver. We ask that Partners remain flexible as students explore, even if their direction diverges from any initial direction requested by the Partner.
- In a university, students may choose an unexpected path, make errors, or simply do a mediocre job earning a lower grade. This academic liberty is important to promote ownership and motivated learning.
- Overall, the experience of past Partners has been very positive, including regular interaction with MIT students, insights into different ways of framing the challenge, and access to the latest techniques in SA, SE, and PM. The team project can stimulate follow-on industry internships and jobs and Partnered research with a deeper dive and research deliverables.
Key Dates
Draft proposals do not need to be complete. All project information should be ready for delivery to the team by January 5th, 2026.
| Draft Proposals Due | December 1, 2025 |
| Integrative Project Showcase – Pitches | January 5, 2026 |
| Intensive Week – Initial Meeting | January 6, 2026 |
| MIT Spring Term | February 2 – May 7, 2026 |
| Final Presentations | May 11 and 12, 2026 |
Complete information on dates and deadlines of the project proposal and process are contained in the project proposal guide below.
Topic Submission Process
Industry, government, and other organizations are encouraged to review the Project Proposal Guide.
Submissions should be formatted as a 1-page PowerPoint slide based on the provided template.
Please use our Project Portal to upload your project proposal as a PDF:
You will need to visit the portal to request an account. SDM will review your contact information, approve your account request, and send you a password. Then you can upload your project proposal to the portal.
For a complete guide to using the project portal and uploading your proposal, please refer to this document.
If you would like to submit a proposal after the deadline of December 1, please contact sdm-teamproject@mit.edu.
Information Sessions
SDM will host virtual information sessions for interested project sponsors each fall. The Q&A sessions for 2025 will all happen on November 3 (Monday):
- 09:00 to 10h00 Eastern Standard Time (15:00 to 16:00 Central European Time)
- 12:00 to 13:00 Eastern Standard Time (09:00 to 10:00 Pacific Time)
- 20:00 to 21:00 Eastern Standard Time (10:00 to 11:00 Japan Standard Time, on Nov 4)
The sessions are the same in content. We work on accommodating multiple time zones. To join the Q&A session, please register by sending an email to sdm-teamproject@mit.edu and let us know which one works for you.
For specific questions, please contact the project team at sdm-teamproject@mit.edu.