UC Berkeley Bakar Fellows Program (Bakar Family Foundation)

Funds Berkeley faculty-led innovation through entrepreneurship mentorship, translational projects, and collaborative tracks with partner institutions.

The UC Berkeley Bakar Fellows Program is a university entrepreneurship program funded by the Bakar Family Foundation and based at UC Berkeley. Established in 2012, it helps move faculty-led research from the lab toward practical use across engineering, computer science, chemistry, biological sciences, physical sciences, and architecture.

Its core tracks are the Bakar Award, the UC Berkeley-UCSF Collaborative track, the AIC-Bakar climate award, and Bakar Ignite Scholars. The main faculty awards provide up to $100,000 a year per PI for three years, with up to eight Berkeley awards, up to three collaborative awards, and up to two climate awards in a cycle; Ignite Scholars support undergraduate researchers with smaller stipends.

Eligibility is narrow by design: UC Berkeley academic senate faculty are the main audience, with UCSF faculty participating only on the collaborative track. The program favors work that can turn strong research into startup formation, publications, licensing, or other visible translation, and it has already helped seed more than 15 startup companies from Berkeley research.