Have a new invention, product concept, or software idea?
The Berkeley Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and College of Engineering are happy to announce the FastTracking Founders Competition. This competition is an excellent opportunity for students to capitalize on their ideas and receive support to file a provisional patent. The winners of the competition will receive financial and organizational support to file a provisional patent.
Competition finalists will receive personalized, hands-on support with the patent filing process. All costs will be covered for the first stage of the patent filing process which is for a provisional patent.
Eligibility:
- You are a current UC Berkeley student or recent graduate in one of the College of Engineering professional master’s programs
- Approval from your project sponsor (industry and/or faculty representative)
- Eligible projects include: capstone, coursework, hackathons, and/or independent research
- Team projects: aside from advisor consent, the entire team (vs. select individuals) must be in agreement to participate. Only one team member needs to apply on behalf of their team.
Info Session:
Timeline:
- February – Applications open
- April & May – Workshops
- End of June – Application deadline
- July – Applications are reviewed
- July/August – Notification of application
“Over the last 10 years of the Berkeley MEng program, there have been a variety of extremely entrepreneurial projects that weren’t taken to the next level in terms of being possibly spun off into great companies. Over the years we’ve been brainstorming with exactly how to do this….and approximately two years ago we got to the point where we were able to assemble all of the moving parts on campus to allow this to occur. It is a great leap forward!”
– Tarek Zohdi, Associate Dean of Post Baccalaureate Programs in the UC Berkeley College of Engineering
“From the campus perspective, this is exactly the stage of early enterprise creation that we want to support. And for a master’s graduate to have a provisional patent on their resume is a big win in any event. It’s great that CoE master’s programs can provide this.”
– Rich Lyons, UC Berkeley Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer
Application:
COE FastTracking Founders Competition
The application is currently closed. Applications typically open in early spring and are due in summer.
Last year’s winners:
2021 FastTracking Founders
Winners included:
- MEDiRoller: Revolutionizing Low-Cost Vaccine and Drug Delivery in Low-Resource Communities
- Water Purification Using Non-Thermal Atmospheric Plasma
- Enhancing Minimally Invasive External Stimulation to Alleviate Osteoarthritis
Connect with the Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) and Berkeley BEGIN. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Jennifer Mangold.
