This year, the University of California system is launching its first-ever Regents Innovation Awards, recognizing faculty and community partners across all ten UC campuses who turn research into real-world impact. Today, UC Berkeley is proud to announce its five nominees for the inaugural awards, listed below, which include two QB3-Berkeley faculty affiliates, Markita Landry and Jay Keasling.
The nominees exemplify what the university excels at: translating research into tools, treatments and companies that reach the broader world.
“From gene editing to semiconductors to city policy, these nominees show what happens when Berkeley research leaves the lab,” said Darren Cooke, Berkeley’s Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer. “They didn’t just publish a finding and move on; they turned it into a long-term societal benefit.”
This year’s nominees follow a number of recent campus milestones when it comes to entrepreneurship. Last year, Berkeley ranked No. 1 in the world for the third year running in producing venture-backed startups founded by undergraduate alumni, ahead of Stanford, Harvard, and MIT, and leads the world in female-founded companies. And a new book, Startup Campus: How UC Berkeley Became an Unexpected Leader in Entrepreneurship and Startups, traces how the university became the kind of innovation engine that this year’s five nominees now exemplify.