Berkeley MEng students track the impact of IP and entrepreneurship strategy on tech innovation in agriculture
In a world where engineers and technology entrepreneurs are constantly developing innovative solutions, the process of commercializing them for optimal impact is more important than ever. With this in mind, Berkeley MEng has introduced a new concentration which helps aspiring technological leaders manage intellectual property assets in the innovation economy — providing them with the edge to maximize their social and economic impact across various industries. This interdisciplinary concentration or certificate contains the technical depth of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) while incorporating business and legal aspects. Students actively collaborate with candidates from across campus — including Berkeley Law and Haas School of Business. WeedBot is one of the Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Strategy (IPES) concentration projects that provide a glimpse into how patent analysis of technology to implement business strategy has widespread application in the innovation space at UC Berkeley and beyond.WeedBot: Analyzing and Modeling Agriculture-Sector Patents
Team: Nicholas Foo, Qi Deng, Zihao Zhou Faculty Advisor: Lee Fleming Team WeedBot created a commercialization plan for agriculture-based intellectual property assets through use of patent analysis tools and modeling. Through the extensive analysis, the team identified one of the most promising components to be laser-based unwanted plant removal — hence the name “WeedBot.”

“The culmination of all the analyses is the commercialization plan — dictating how the applications of the patent technology can be brought to life in industry.”
— Nicholas Foo, MEng ’21 (IEOR/IPES)For WeedBot, the plan includes three main components, each with a go-to-market strategy: (1) licensing deals, as for an agricultural equipment manufacturer, (2) startup creation, as if the team were to create a firm, and (3) additional research, as the sponsoring organization PARC might continue. Learn more about the Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Strategy (IPES) concentration.
Capstone Project Profile: WeedBot, Analyzing and Modeling Agriculture-Sector Patents was originally published in Berkeley Master of Engineering on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.