Bakar fellows program celebrates 15 years of breakthroughs & collaboration
After backing 110 faculty fellows since 2012, the Bakar Fellows Program reflects on a major milestone.
On our tenth anniversary in 2021, faculty director Dave Schaffer described his vision for the Bakar Fellows Program and Bakar Labs. He envisioned the long-running academic program and newly founded incubator space working together to help our innovators change the world. Five years later, his dream has come true — but that’s only part of the story as we celebrate our 15th year.
Compostable plastics. A potent cancer treatment made scalable. A voltage regulator that could cut data center energy use by nearly 10%. These once aspirational applications have made strides toward commercialization with Bakar Fellows Program support. Since 2012, our program has backed 110 faculty fellows as they accelerated discoveries like these beyond the lab and into the world.
Today, the Bakar Fellows Program is even better positioned to support faculty’s proof-of-concept projects. Our award has expanded across the Bay, as we now welcome faculty from UCSF to apply alongside UC Berkeley researchers. We’ve also entered a generous partnership with the Academic Innovation Catalyst (AIC), allowing us to fund more researchers. Additionally, our relationship with Bakar Labs has deepened. Many of our fellows take advantage of QB3’s Innovation Discovery and Early-Stage Mentoring programs to advance their projects towards commercialization, and faculty forming companies often go on to become Bakar Labs tenants.
