Alameda County Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

40-year program that offers classes, consulting services, and business planning resources for new and small businesses throughout Alameda County.

California Life Sciences Institute

Non-profit with the goal to develop California’s leadership in life sciences innovation through entrepreneurship, education, and career development.

Entrepreneurship.org

General website with a vast amount of entrepreneurship educational resources managed by the widely respected Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Has a glossary of terms, a current list of relevant websites for entrepreneurs, and access to various research tools. Supplementing these features are over 1,000 articles on relevant issues for small business owners such as "Building with Boards," about the effective use of advisors and directors.

Harvard University Course: Technology Entrepreneurship: Lab to Market

Free introductory course on topics such as a systematic approach to technology entrepreneurship, how to generate new use scenarios by matching customer needs with promising technology seeds, how to align business and operating models, and more.

OLLIE — Online Legal Library and Information for Entrepreneurs

Website developed by Berkeley Law to walk new entrepreneurs through the process of getting a business off the ground. Topics covered include Business Modeling, Capitalization, Managing Risks, Entity Formation, Operational Relationships, and Permits / Licenses (last updated 2019).

PhD to CEO

Free newsletter for deep tech entrepreneurs launched by Raymond Weitekamp, who was a Berkeley Lab researcher, Cyclotron Road founding cohort member, and is CEO of polySpectra. Sign up to also receive “Raymond’s Five Most Common Pitfalls of Deep Tech Founders.”

The UC Berkeley College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (CET)

SCET offers paid courses and certificate programs for UC Berkeley students as well as professionals.

The UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship

Springboard for innovations developed in university research programs. Supports science and engineering undergrads, graduate students, researchers, post-doctoral researchers and faculty move their ideas out of the lab and into the world. Open to researchers from national and international universities.

UCSF Innovation Ventures

Classes, programs, and resources to help aspiring entrepreneurs interested in the life sciences industry.

Please contact ipo@lbl.gov if you are interested in gaining access to watch our Entrepreneurship Training lectures.

Bakar Labs 

UC Berkeley and QB3 have combined forces to launch Bakar Labs, a life science-focused incubator for startups developing innovative technologies to benefit society. Bakar Labs helps founders and early-stage teams focus on the science as efficiently as possible, reducing barriers to commercializing their discoveries.

Berkeley Skydeck Accelerator

Formed as a partnership between UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, the College of Engineering, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, SkyDeck offers an environment for startups to grow and launch. The ecosystem includes a deep network of advisors, industry partners, and accredited investors.

Cyclotron Road

Nestled within Berkeley Lab, Cyclotron Road is named for the Lab’s primary address, 1 Cyclotron Road. Cyclotron Road aims to provide funding and support to new scientific technologies, and facilitate bringing them to market.

The Berkeley Startup Cluster (BSC)

The Berkeley Startup Cluster was formed to help make Berkeley more attractive to startups, especially those spinning out of UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab. Lists resources for office space, coworking space, and coworking spaces with lab/R&D facilities.

UC Berkeley BEGIN

BEGIN features Berkeley innovation and entrepreneurship resources, opportunities, events, and news to help you connect with the Berkeley ecosystem and take the next step in your entrepreneurial journey.

Department of Energy’s ARPA-E

ARPA-E released Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs), which are focused on overcoming specific technical barriers around a specific energy area. The program also issues periodic OPEN FOAs to identify high-potential projects that address the full range of energy-related technologies, as well as funding solicitations aimed at supporting America’s small business innovators. ARPA-E funds technology-focused, applied research and development aimed at creating real-world solutions to important problems in energy creation, distribution, and use.

California Energy Commission Funding Opportunities

The California Energy Commission offers a variety of funding opportunities to advance the state’s transition to clean energy and transportation through innovation, efficiency, and the development and deployment of advanced technologies.

General US Department of Energy Grants

The U.S. Department of Energy supports a number of grant, loan, and financing programs. For startup energy businesses looking to launch a pilot project or companies with proven technology that needs help reaching commercial scale.

Grants.gov

General federal funding opportunities managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Small Business Administration Grants

Grants for nonprofits, resource partners, and educational organizations.

The DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT)’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF)

The Base Annual Appropriations TCF is the base program created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. OTT collaboratively works with participating program offices to support the commercialization of the DOE National Lab, plant, and site technologies and build out the National Lab commercialization ecosystem. PIs may apply (call for proposals are in the fall). Cost share (cash or in-kind) from a non-fed source is typically required for all topics. To be considered for the TCF award, an existing patent application, issued patent, or copyrighted work has to be filed with IPO. Visit this page for more details. Contact shanshanli@lbl.gov for details.

SBIR/STIR Funding for Small Businesses

The SBIR and STTR programs are U. S. Government programs, intended to help certain small businesses conduct R&D. At DOE, funding takes the form of grants. Projects must have the potential for commercialization and meet specific DOE mission-specific R&D needs. Contact shanshanli@lbl.gov for details.

If you are interested in pursuing VC funding, please contact IPO at ipo@lbl.gov.

A Student’s Guide to UC Berkeley’s Startup Ecosystem

A comprehensive list of resources available for undergraduate entrepreneurs at Cal (updated 2019).

The QB3-Berkeley Graduate and Postdoc Career Development Office (Biosciences)

Launched in fall 2018, the QB3-Berkeley Graduate and Postdoc Career Development office strengthens professional development support for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biological sciences at Berkeley. In partnership with faculty, and collaborating with other campus entities, QB3-Berkeley Graduate and Postdoc Career Development promotes access to career information, skill development, and experiential opportunities, and enhances students’ and postdocs’ connections to a range of career paths and organizations within academia and in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

UC Berkeley Alumni Entrepreneurship Resources

Entrepreneurship resources provided through the Berkeley Haas entrepreneurship program (BHEP) and UC Berkeley Innovators.

UC Berkeley BEGIN

BEGIN features UC Berkeley innovation and entrepreneurship resources, opportunities, events, and news to help you connect with the Berkeley ecosystem and take the next step in your entrepreneurial journey.