Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Matt Beardsley Innovation photo used for Innovation / Entrepreneurship main image.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

UC Berkeley students showcase their capstone projects

UC Berkeley has a long legacy of innovations and leaders that have created groundbreaking products, revolutionary companies, and entirely new industries. The university plays a critical role in California’s economy and the contributions of our entrepreneurs have a global reach.

The campus continues to expand the dynamic ecosystem that fosters research and its translation into real world applications. Numerous programs that are deeply integrated into the research, educational and service activities of the university help incubate, accelerate and expand tech transfer and a strong pipeline of start-ups. Learn more about this vibrant community of entrepreneurs and innovators.  Many campus programs and centers help bridge the gap between lab and marketplace. You can also review a directory here.

UC Berkeley accelerates the translation of ideas and inventions developed by faculty, researchers, and students into products and services that benefit society.

  • Over the last decades, close to 150 startup companies have been founded to commercialize IP rights under license from UC Berkeley.
  • As of September 2023, companies under the IP licenses from Berkeley have commercialized more than 792 products.
  • The Berkeley Research Infrastructure Commons (RIC) program enables early stage (pre-product sales) startup  companies affiliated with UC Berkeley to temporarily conduct new product R&D in faculty labs - under certain conditions and rigorous oversight.
  • The university holds an extensive CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing portfolio in the United States with 55 US patents to date.
  • A drug royalty, monetized for $93 million, helps fund biological research facilities, students, faculty recruitment and retention, and new initiatives.
  • Two thirds of all biotechnology companies in California are spin-outs from five universities, including UC Berkeley.

See also UC Systemwide Economic, Fiscal, and Social Impact Analysis, Jan. 2021

At UC Berkeley innovators and entrepreneurs are creating groundbreaking products, revolutionary companies, and entirely new industries. The University plays a critical role in California’s economy. Last year the campus expanded the dynamic ecosystem that fosters novel approaches to research and its translation into real-world applications. As of September 2023 UC Berkeley has:

1,451
Total Active Inventions
371
Active License Agreements
850
Active US Patents
1,150
Active Foreign Patents

Steve Wozniak of Apple, Gordon Moore of Intel and Eric Schmidt of Google are among the many UC Berkeley alumni who have founded and run successful corporations. Other prominent companies founded by UC Berkeley affiliates:

4D Molecular TherapeuticsGapRed Octane
AppleGoogle EarthRenaissance Technologies
Cadence DesignIntelRevolution Foods
Caribou BiosciencesKaiser PermanenteRodarte
Catena BiosciencesMarvellSanDisk
Chernin EntertainmentMendel BiotechnologySun Microsystems*
CorelightNational SemiconductorTesla
DatabricksOpenAI 
ExelixisPowerBar 

*Purchased by another company.

See 2023 Innovation & Entrepreneurship Highlights.
See also UC Systemwide Economic, Fiscal, and Social Impact Analysis, Jan. 2021

IPIRA UC Berkeley

IPIRA

The Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) provides a "one-stop shop" for industry research partners to interact with the campus.
IPIRA
Interior view of the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub at Woo Hon Fai Hall.

Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

At BBH entrepreneurs tackle hard problems at the convergence of the life sciences with the physical, engineering, and data sciences.
Bakar BioEnginuity Hub
Bakar Fellows

Bakar Fellows

The Bakar Fellows Program fosters faculty entrepreneurship in the STEM+ fields to help turn ground-breaking discoveries and innovations into commercial solutions.
Bakar Fellows
Skydeck UC Berkeley

Skydeck

Located in downtown Berkeley, Skydeck is a research university startup accelerator that fosters entrepreneurial excellence among UC Berkeley company founders.
Skydeck
Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program

Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program

The Lester Center at the Haas School of Business provides global education and innovation programs in entrepreneurship, venture capital and scalable startups.
Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program
Fung Institute

Fung Institute

The Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership prepares engineers and scientists to lead enterprises in industry, government and the non-profit sector.
Fung Institute
QB3

QB3 for Startups

QB3's startup resources include the Bridge the Gap Fund, QB3 Startup in a Box program, the QB3 Incubator Network, and the QB3-BayBio Accelerator.
QB3
CITRIS

CITRIS Foundry

The CITRIS Foundry is a university accelerator for founders building deep technology companies.
CITRIS Foundry
Cleantech to Market

Cleantech to Market

Cleantech to Market (C2M) is a partnership between students, scientists, engineers, and professionals to translate cleantech research into market opportunities.
Cleantech to Market
Person leaning over bench in lab

BPEP

The Berkeley Postdoctoral Entrepreneurs Program (BPEP) aims to foster entrepreneurship in the UC Berkeley postdoctoral and graduate community.
BPEP
Berkeley Method Of Entrepreneurship Bootcamp 2016

Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology

The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology equips engineers and scientists with the skills to innovate, lead and productize technology in the global economy.
Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology
Berkeley Innovators event

Berkeley Innovators

Berkeley Innovators connects entrepreneurial alumni and friends to Cal's innovation ecosystem through events and other resources including philanthropy -- the Berkeley Founders' Pledge.
Berkeley Innovators
Big Ideas Berkeley winner

Big Ideas

Big Ideas@Berkeley is one of the oldest and most prominent student innovation award competitions featuring 10 contest categories open to graduate and undergraduate students.
Big Ideas@Berkeley
Startup@BerkeleyLaw

Startup@BerkeleyLaw

Startup@BerkeleyLaw supports law students interested in the law surrounding entrepreneurship and provides legal education and services to the Berkeley startup community.
Startup@BerkeleyLaw
Person standing in lab working with equipment

EBI^2 Entrepreneurial Business Incubator

Energy & Biosciences Institute Entrepreneurial Business Incubator (EBI^2) is where aspiring researchers and startups cultivate and test innovative concepts.
Entrepreneurial Business Incubator
Signatures Fellows UC Berkeley

Signatures Innovation Fellows

The Signatures Innovation Fellows Program supports researchers working on innovations that hold commercial promise in the data science and software areas.
Signatures Innovation Fellows