Ready to Change the World?
Start with the Activate Fellowship
One fellowship, infinite possibilities
Cohort 2017 Fellow and CEO of MicroByre, Sarah Richardson, explains in her own words how the Activate Fellowship helped her transform possibilities into results.
Learn more about applying to the 2024 cohort.
Activate transforms scientists and engineers into founders, empowering them to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. The two-year Activate Fellowship provides early-stage science entrepreneurs with funding, technical resources, and unparalleled support from a network of scientists, engineers, investors, commercial partners, and fellow entrepreneurs.
Activate spearheaded the entrepreneurial fellowship back in 2015, and we have evolved the program to provide best-in-class support.
We do not charge any fees or equity to participate. Our foremost priority is supporting fellows and helping them develop as thoughtful, inclusive, and effective technology leaders.
The fellowship includes a living stipend, additional benefits, services, and tailored mentorship that afford fellows the freedom to explore and define their own entrepreneurial path.
What we provide
-
Fellows receive a yearly living stipend of $100K, plus travel allowance, health insurance, and relocation. This enables them to focus on their project full-time.
Each project also receives $100K in R&D funds at zero cost and access to at least $75K in additional flexible capital.
-
Bringing technology to market can be a long and lonely road. Our fellows take this journey together as part of a dynamic community of scientists, engineers, and technologists who share what they know and celebrate each other’s victories, including Managing Directors, the Activate team, and a vibrant fellow and alumni community.
-
We facilitate connections between fellows and our broad network of industry executives, investors, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other experts from academia, industry, government, and finance—any of whom can serve as advisors or partners.
-
Fellows access vital research tools, equipment, facilities, and expertise through collaboration with a host laboratory. Activate takes no rights to fellows’ intellectual property and works to ensure that fellows retain ownership of any IP developed during their two-year fellowship term.
-
Tailored for scientists and engineers and delivered weekly, our startup curriculum includes intensive sessions on core business and product development concepts, VIP speakers, skill development workshops, and shared learning from other fellows and alums. Custom-built mentorship supports your individual growth and professional development.
-
Our experienced team meets with fellows one-on-one regularly to help develop priorities, provide guidance, and make connections to our broader network of advisors, industry experts, and investors.
Communities
Activate Fellows form close-knit communities across the United States. Each community receives intensive and personalized support from its dedicated team.
Activate Anywhere
Fellows work in their local innovation ecosystem, plugged into Activate’s national network of mentorship, education, community, and other resources they need to succeed.
Activate Berkeley
Fellows access an unmatched research and innovation ecosystem. Activate’s partnership with UC Berkeley provides access to a well of research and laboratory resources.
Activate Boston
Activate Boston sits in the heart of a world-renowned innovation hub, a nexus for cutting-edge research from defense to energy to biotech.
Activate Houston
Houston is the heart of the global energy industry, and the city is moving fast to become the energy transition capital of the world.
Activate New York
Activate New York collaborates with NYSERDA and Columbia University to provide entrepreneurs with resources, training, and a global network.
The Activate Fellowship impact
Miguel Sierra Aznar, Cohort 2018 Fellow and CEO of Noble Thermodynamic Systems, explains in his own words how the Activate Fellowship helped him take his technology out of the lab and start his own company.
Leah Ellis, Cohort 2020 Fellow and the CEO and co-founder of Sublime Systems, uses renewable electricity in a process that reduces emissions from cement production.
Cohort 2016 Fellow and CEO of Liminal Insights Andrew Hsieh describes how the Activate Fellowship enabled him to bring the company's battery ultrasound technology to market.
We’ve taken 188 scientists from zero to one, helping them start 147 impactful companies
Fellowship sponsors
Leading innovation agencies and philanthropies support Activate Fellows
The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science, advance national health, prosperity, and welfare, and secure national defense. NSF is the only federal agency whose mission supports all fields of fundamental science and engineering disciplines, from mathematics, engineering, and geosciences to biological, behavioral, and computer sciences.
The Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office is the only technology development office within the U.S. government dedicated to improving the energy and material efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness of manufacturers across the industrial sector.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Microsystems Technology Office works to ensure far-reaching improvements in electronics performance beyond the limits of traditional scaling by supporting research and development in microelectronic architectures, design, and materials and integration.
The Grantham Environmental Trust knows that climate change will require the best of humanity’s talent, leadership, and innovation. Along with environmental philanthropy, it makes investments in entrepreneurs and firms that are building solutions to the climate crisis.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Science Program seeks to advance basic science through developing new technologies, supporting imaginative research scientists, and creating new collaborations at the frontiers of traditional scientific disciplines.
The Woka Foundation aims to create a just world that values environmental vitality and recognizes the dignity of all peoples. The foundation's guiding principles include addressing harms caused by human activities, addressing underlying causes rather than treating symptoms, supporting self-sustaining solutions rather than causing dependencies, and supporting the transition from a consumption-based economic society toward a low-waste empathic society based on the sacredness of all life.
The New York State Research and Development Authority’s mission is to advance clean energy innovation and investments to combat climate change, improving the health, resiliency, and prosperity of New Yorkers and delivering benefits equitably to all.
The California Energy Commission supports investments in clean energy technologies that promote greater electricity reliability, lower costs, and increased safety for ratepayers in California.
Three Cairns Group is a mission-driven investment and philanthropic firm focused on the climate crisis. It develops and supports cross-sector initiatives to accelerate the clean energy transition and drive transformative, equitable progress.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of local communities. Across its work in science, education, and within communities, the initiative pairs technology with grantmaking, impact investing, and collaboration.
ICL is a leading global specialty minerals company that creates impactful solutions for humanity’s sustainability challenges in the global food, agriculture, and industrial markets. ICL creates impact by scaling up food production, ensuring food quality, enabling sustainable agriculture and industrial production, and protecting the environment.
In addition to those listed above, our growing coalition of sponsors allows us to support fellows across all of our industrial sectors. You can see our full list of partners here.