Berkeley entrepreneurship begins here
The University of California, Berkeley offers entrepreneurs an unparalleled education, top research centers and faculty, and the opportunity to be part of the innovative culture in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. The Berkeley Gateway to Innovation (BEGIN) is the portal to the entrepreneurship community at UC Berkeley. Our goal is to help students, faculty, researchers, and other innovators understand the resources available at Berkeley to support educating entrepreneurs, commercializing research, and advancing startups.
BEGIN is funded in part by the State of California Assembly Bill 2664 for entrepreneurship and innovation expansion at the University of California, Berkeley .
Roadmap for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UC Berkeley
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State grant accelerates UC Berkeley's innovation and entrepreneurship
The University of California, Berkeley has announced promising early results from a $2.2 million grant provided by the State of California. The grant has helped UC Berkeley, already a global hub for innovation, to expand its entrepreneurship activities with new facilities, courses and programs.
A Watershed Moment in Global Poverty Reduction
Shankar Sastry Two thousand and eighteen has been called a watershed moment in global poverty reduction. It was the year—according to two major analyses—that more than half of the world’s population moved into the “middle class.” And it was marked by a billion people moving out of “extreme poverty” in the time period 2000-2018. In …
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Alt.Meat Lab receives funding to help startups develop alternatives to animal products
UC Berkeley’s Alternative Meats (Alt.Meat) Lab has received $125,000 from the Open Philanthropy Project to support research and development of animal product alternatives. The Alt.Meat Challenge Lab was created in 2017 at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology to give UC Berkeley students the skills necessary to develop sustainable, nutritious and affordable alternatives to …
Olivia Wang talks about Zhenfund and connecting a global community of investors
Credit: Forbes Olivia Wang — a philosopher by trade — broke into the tech industry as the 7th employee at Zhenfund, back in 2014. Wang visited the Sutardja Center Newton Lecture Series on February 5 to talk about Zhenfund, what the startup ecosystem in China looks like and how she got to where she is today. …
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“Imagining the Future Helps Us Engineer Toward that Future”: A Q&A with Will Tarpeh
When Will Tarpeh was an undergraduate at Stanford University, he didn’t know if it was possible to be a research engineer who works in the developing world. His global interests started in high school, when he learned that more than 2 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. And they expanded throughout college, as he …
Siddharth Kara’s Garment Research Receives International Press Attention
“They work in huts with mud floors, shacks with crumbling roofs, and if they are lucky, a semi-concrete structure that may survive this year’s monsoon floods. They are the women and girls in India who toil at the bottom of global garment supply chains, earning between $0.13 and $0.15 per hour sewing, embroidering, and adding the …
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Ann Mei Chang Advises a Lean Innovation Strategy to Maximize Social Impact
By Lisa Bauer Ann Mei Chang, former chief innovation officer at USAID and former senior engineering director at Google, thinks that mission-driven organizations should act more like Silicon Valley startups. At a talk at the Blum Center, she outlined the thesis of her recent book, Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good–which …
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Arrow Capital and Berkeley SkyDeck Launch New Funding Opportunity for Startups
Are you looking to raise investment for your startup? Look no further than “Get Funded,” a new opportunity for founders to pitch their startups and receive funding! This program — launched by Arrow Capital and Berkeley Skydeck in collaboration with The House, Rough Draft Ventures, Dorm Room Fund and Contrary Capital — aims to accelerate the next …
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Yoky Matsuoka talks robotics, road to role as Google Health VP
Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu (left) interviews Google Health VP Yoky Matsuoka (right) at the Newton Lecture Series on January 29. Yoky Matsuoka is many things — a former aspiring professional tennis player, mother of four kids, and EECS extraordinaire. She’s also the vice president of Google Health and holds more than 250 patents. Matsuoka …
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Big Ideas Innovation Ambassadors Nurturing Ideas into Enterprises
By Lisa Bauer Founded in 2005 at UC Berkeley, Big Ideas has become one of the largest and most diverse student innovation competitions in the country. The contest supports the next generation of social entrepreneurs–providing mentorship, training, and the diverse resources required to support big ideas from their earliest stages. In 2017, to ensure the …
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Pursuing a Career in Engineering Co-Design: A Q&A with Ryan Shelby
By Tamara Straus When Ryan Shelby left UC Berkeley with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2013, he and his advisor considered his dissertation unusual. Shelby’s PhD research went beyond traditional engineering. It presented design theory and methodologies and was based on his involvement in building sustainable housing and renewable power systems with the Pinoleville …
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Respecting our Relations: Dori Tunstall on Decolonizing Design
Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall is a design anthropologist, public intellectual, and design advocate who works at the intersections of critical theory, culture, and design. As Dean of Design at Ontario College of Art and Design University, she is the first black and black female dean of a faculty of design. She leads the Cultures-Based Innovation Initiative …
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Pursuing a Career in Engineering Co-Design: A Q&A with Ryan Shelby
By Tamara Straus When Ryan Shelby left UC Berkeley with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2013, he and his advisor considered his dissertation unusual. Shelby’s PhD research went beyond traditional engineering. It presented design theory and methodologies and was based on his involvement in building sustainable housing and renewable power systems with the Pinoleville …
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SCET Hosts Software Maestro Program for the First Time
This winter, SCET hosted the Software Maestro (SOMA) program for the first time in collaboration with Silicon Valley Reboot Program and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP). Students participating in the two-week innovation program were from top Korean universities, selected from a highly competitive pool based on their past performance …
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Maria Artunduaga’s Mission to Manage Chronic Lung Disease
By Tamara Straus On February 26, 2018, Maria Artunduaga had a eureka moment that medical entrepreneurs dream of. In the office of UCSF Professor Mehrdad Arjomandi, she was soliciting advice about a wearable prototype she had developed to monitor oxygen in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Dr. Arjomandi—a clinical professor in the Division …
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UC Berkeley Launches Accelerator to Support Blockchain Startups
The University of California, Berkeley has just announced the formation of a new blockchain-focused accelerator, the Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator. The new accelerator will help entrepreneurs pursue new ventures in the blockchain space, tap into the vast resources of UC Berkeley and Silicon Valley, and receive expert industry guidance to create high-value blockchain startups. The effort …
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FABIEN CAPPELLO: SILLAS CALLEJERAS/STREET CHAIRS
March 22-May 19Exhibition opening, March 21, 7pm Fabien Cappello’s SILLAS CALLEJERAS (STREET CHAIRS, 2018) offers lessons in design and ingenuity from Mexico City. The photographic series depicts a collection of chairs assembled from everyday contexts across the sprawling metropolis — market stalls, shops, street stands, and elsewhere. Cappello casts an anthropological eye on artifacts that reflect a city …
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Graduate-Undergraduate Mentorships Grow
When Chancellor Carol Christ released UC Berkeley’s strategic plan for 2019-2029, two overarching goals were relevant to the GPP minor and the Blum Center’s graduate program, Development Engineering. The first goal was to “empower engaged thinkers and global citizens to change our world. Specifically, Christ wrote: “Acts of discovery—self-initiated projects that create new knowledge—will be …
Alumni Perspective: Diane Wang on Melding Design and Technology at Berkeley and in Business
Diane Wang is a Lead UX Designer at Google’s Daydream Labs, leading rapid prototyping efforts for AR/VR. She is passionate about designing across emerging mediums to create seamless, thoughtful, and desirable experiences. Previously, she was a UX Designer at Nest Labs, where she worked on experiences for the thoughtful home. Her work has received product …
Fletcher Lab CellScope Is Ready for Scaling
By Lisa Bauer Nearly a decade ago, more than 80 global organizations came together to sign the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, to control, eliminate, or eradicate at least ten of the diseases by 2020. Progress has been made on “NTDs” (neglected tropical diseases), but they still affect nearly one billion people, reinforcing poverty …
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Want to work on disruptive technologies? Make your big ideas come to life through Samsung’s UVENTURE Program!
Samsung UVENTURE Office Hours: Learn firsthand about Samsung’s UVENTURE Program or get guidance on drafting your proposal. RSVP for the event on Facebook here. More details below: Date: Thursday, January 24 th Time: 2:30 PM – 5:00 PM Location: Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (2227 Piedmont Ave) UVENTURE Program Do you have lots of …
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