Activate — Activating the world’s innovators to redefine how science serves society and sustains the planet

Activate is a nonprofit organization that partners with funders and leading research institutions to support the Activate Fellowship, a new path for entrepreneurial scientists and engineers to transform their discoveries into world-changing technologies.

Mission

Activate exists to discover, fund, champion, and propel individuals who have a technology vision that could benefit society and who are committed to bringing it to the world as a new product or business. Every year, they select a cohort of entrepreneurial scientists and engineers from around the world to be Activate Fellows.

For two years these innovators embed in a world-class research institution, where they are supported with funding, mentorship, education and connections with our network of industry leaders, investors and philanthropists.

Their goal is simple: empower Activate Fellows to mature their ideas from concept to first product, while positioning them to align with the most suitable commercial path to bring their technology to scale.

History of the Organization

Activate is a nonprofit organization that partners with funders and leading research institutions to support the Activate Fellowship, a new path for entrepreneurial scientists and engineers to transform their discoveries into world-changing technologies.

Since their launch in 2015, Activate has supported more than 50 innovators developing transformative energy, climate, and manufacturing technologies, resulting in more than 30 new companies that have collectively raised more than $100MM to support their work. The two-year Activate Fellowship provides funding, access to world-class research facilities, entrepreneurial mentorship, networking and education.

Activate’s entrepreneurial fellowship model was developed at Cyclotron Road, in Berkeley, CA location, which Activate has managed in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2016. Cyclotron Road was originally launched as a pilot program by Berkeley Lab in 2014. The Department of Energy, through its Advanced Manufacturing Office, provided foundational support to Cyclotron Road as the first external sponsor after Berkeley Lab selected the pilot cohort of eight fellows in 2015. Now, Cyclotron Road supports nearly 15 new fellows each year thanks to continued support from DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office and a range of additional funders including the California Energy Commission, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a number of leading philanthropies and corporations.

In 2019, Activate launched a second fellowship location in Boston, MA in partnership with MIT Lincoln Laboratory. This is the first step of a new effort led by Activate aimed at scaling the fellowship model created at Cyclotron Road to support a greater number of scientists and engineers around the world in driving their ideas to impact in areas such as energy & climate, manufacturing and electronics.

Upcoming Events

Activate is looking for their next cohort of fellows! Are you a scientist or engineer with an innovation that could benefit society? Do you know one?

If so, check-out the Activate fellowship. Activate Fellows receive a yearly cash stipend of $80K -$110K, health and travel benefits, access to world-class research facilities at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and MIT Lincoln Lab, $100K in research funding, a program of intensive entrepreneurial training, mentorship and networking. Applications open October 1st: here are the links to apply or nominate someone to apply.