← tnt.so
Summer 2026 · Applications Open

TNT Research

Compute and infrastructure credits for AI researchers and builders at MIT and Harvard. No equity, no required programming, no catch.

Cohort Summer 2026
Decisions Rolling through June
Activation Starts June
Location Remote
// why tnt research

Built for AI researchers and builders, not generic startup teams.

A few things that make TNT Research distinct from other AI grant programs.

01
Real credits at scale
$100K+ across the stack the field actually uses: Cloudflare, GCP, Azure, AWS, Anthropic, ElevenLabs.
02
MIT and Harvard only
Small, curated, exclusive to researchers at MIT and Harvard and affiliated AI groups. Not a generic open application.
03
No equity. No commitment.
No equity at intake. No required programming. No commitment to commercialize. Take the credits, do the work.
04
Connected to a real network
Backed by TNT, the largest accelerator across MIT and Harvard. 45+ alumni and $20M+ raised across portfolio.
// what you get
$100K+ per team in compute and infra credits
credits scale with usage across our partner stack
// who it's for

Researchers and builders working on AI/ML, or AI applied to other domains.

Physics. Biology. Robotics. Materials. Healthcare. Defense. Climate. And beyond. We support both pure AI/ML research and AI applied to specific domains where you're building novel architectures, models, or systems.

// selection

What we're looking for.

Strong technical foundation and a clear research direction with a novel angle. Examples of the signal we weight:

// the community

What TNT looks like.

Firesides with unicorn founders, cohort dinners, and a community of MIT and Harvard founders, mentors, and operators across both campuses and remote.

Suno fireside at TNT
Past Fireside · Suno
Mikey Shulman, CEO
TNT cohort dinner
Cohort Dinner
Cambridge
TNT co-founder matching event
Co-Founder Matching
TNT Event
// questions

What you might be wondering.

Do I keep my IP? +
Yes. TNT takes no equity, no IP rights, no licenses. You own your research. Period.
Do I have to commit to starting a company? +
No. The point is to give you compute and community while you figure out whether you want to commercialize. Some researchers form companies, some publish papers, some go work at frontier labs. All are fine outcomes.
Can I apply with my advisor or co-PI? +
Yes. Solo researchers, advisor-PhD pairs, and pre-formed teams of 2-3 are all welcome.
Are there required events or check-ins? +
No. The summer research track is remote-first and has no required programming. You'll get optional invites to TNT firesides and dinners when relevant, but participation is entirely up to you.
Can I apply if I'm not formally affiliated with MIT or Harvard? +
We focus on MIT and Harvard researchers, including affiliated institutions like CSAIL, Kempner, Lincoln Lab, MGH, Broad, and Whitehead. If you have strong ties to either ecosystem and exceptional work, mention it in your application.
When do credits become available? +
Activation starts in June and depends on each partner's provisioning and approval process, so exact timing varies by vendor.
// apply

Tell us what you're working on.

5-minute application. Rolling decisions through June. We respond within a week.

Your info is only seen by the TNT team.
✓
Application received.
We'll review and get back to you within a week. If you have questions in the meantime, email hello@tnt.so.