Welcome to Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Berkeley!
This page - including the downloadable 1 pager - is designed to help you kick-start (or accelerate) your entrepreneurial journey during your time at UC Berkeley and beyond.
What is innovation and entrepreneurship?
Innovation puts new ideas into practice. Entrepreneurs create enterprises of all kinds across the public, civic and private sectors. If you have an idea to activate, an enterprise to scale, or just want to get better at thinking entrepreneurially, UC Berkeley is the place for you.
Why do it?
Generations of students have come to UC Berkeley to question the status quo and engage in entrepreneurial thinking that makes our world a better place.
Perhaps you’d like to minimize food insecurity in your community like Berkeley Changemaker Sadia Khan, change the way we game like Kevin Chou, benefit humanity through groundbreaking scientific discoveries like UC Berkeley Nobelist Jennifer Doudna, or simply hone your leadership and critical thinking skills as you collaborate with others.
Be sure to check out this list of Innovation & Entrepreneurship campus leaders, too, and the many programmatic opportunities for students that they represent.
How do I start?
- Start with BEGIN: Whether you are just getting started in your entrepreneurial journey and want to learn more about the myriad campus resources awaiting you or you’re a seasoned entrepreneur looking to scale, the BErkeley Gateway to INnovation (BEGIN) is the place to begin.
- Take a great class: For a wider lens into entrepreneurial thinking, join the more than 20% of undergraduates who enroll in one of 30+ Berkeley Changemaker® courses.
- Take the next step. Through its focus on i) critical thinking, ii) communication, and iii) collaboration, Berkeley Changemaker curriculum activates undergraduates’ passions and develops a sharper sense of who they want to be and how to make that happen.
- Develop an entrepreneurial mindset by pursuing a Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Technology offered through the Sutardja Center.
- Consider learning from tech entrepreneurs (most of them Cal alumni) in the one-unit Newton Lecture Series: A Berkeley Changemaker Course.
- Find opportunities beyond coursework: Explore entrepreneurial scholarships and fellowships in the Discovery Opportunities Database.
What does it look like?
UC Berkeley students engage in entrepreneurial thinking constantly in their coursework, student organizations, and extracurricular activities.
Students can participate in weekend hackathons, take a ten-week course in entrepreneurship via StEP, work on passion projects in startups, or pick a class from the myriad academic programs listed on the BEGIN site.
