ByJon Kalish

It's no coincidence that some of the key figures at one of the nation's most innovative research and development laboratories were once kite surfers. They're anything but risk-averse, and have parlayed that trait into a slew of cutting-edge technologies at Otherlab, which operates out of a former pipe organ factory in San Francisco.

The lab was founded by Saul Griffith, an Australian native and MacArthur genius grant recipient who moved to the Bay Area with three other MIT engineers in 2004. They wanted to be close to world-class universities, plus they were looking for a good place to pursue their passion for kite surfing.