Activate Fellowship

Benefits & funding

• More than $300,000 over the two years, covering an annual living stipend, R&D and other common living costs.
• $100,000 in research funding for each project or company, for laboratory access and related needs.
• No fees and no equity. Activate takes no financial stake in fellow companies.
• A choice of five communities: Berkeley (partnered with Berkeley Lab’s Cyclotron Road program, with access to facilities such as the Molecular Foundry), Boston (Kendall Square, with CIC coworking membership), Houston (the Ion Innovation District), New York (Manhattan office space plus two years of Newlab Brooklyn membership), and Activate Anywhere, which lets fellows build from anywhere in the United States with quarterly trips to the four hub cities.
• A relocation stipend for new fellows who live more than 70 miles from their community and move to join it.
• Leadership development: workshops, virtual trainings and skill-building sessions, plus regular one-to-one sessions with the community team.
• A standing network of peers, alumni and advisers.

Eligibility

• A bachelor’s degree plus at least four years of post-baccalaureate scientific research, engineering or technology development experience.
• Leading the commercial development of a hardware-based technology innovation for the first time, so not a repeat hard-tech founder.
• Full-time commitment to the proposed project or company. Any other primary job or degree must end no later than 1 September, and a Ph.D. must be finished before the fellowship starts.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States for the full length of the fellowship. Activate cannot sponsor, hold or petition for work visas, and points applicants toward routes such as the Global GEIR program or an O-1 visa.
• Proficient communication in English.
• The project must sit in the physical or biological sciences or a related engineering discipline, must still be in development rather than ready for full-scale product sales at the deadline, and must not have raised more than $2M in debt or equity from non-governmental sources.
• Technologies that only have application in mammalian health, in particular those pursuing FDA approval, are not currently supported unless the work could pivot to non-healthcare markets.
• Up to two co-founders may apply together. Fellowship funding goes to one principal applicant; the co-applicant joins as an Activate Affiliate Fellow.
• Applicants affiliated with entities or countries that the U.S. Department of Energy designates as restricted go through an additional review, which can delay a start or rule out embedding at Berkeley Lab.

Application process

1. 1
   Fill in the applicant interest form on the Activate apply page to receive the application portal link.
2. 2
   Register an account in the application portal.
3. 3
   Work through the application tasks and prepare the materials: a one-page blinded resume, a three-page Technical Vision PDF, and a 3-4 slide Technical Reality deck covering current status, progress on the first product and potential business model, and a two-year work plan.
4. 4
   Confirm every required item is complete and submit before the deadline.
5. 5
   Community selection committees and expert reviewers assess the applications. Shortlisted applicants take a video interview, and a smaller group is invited to finalist interviews.

Program timeline

1. Cohort 2026 applications closed

   Oct 28, 2025

2. Cohort 2027 applications open

   Sep 15, 2026

3. Autumn 2026

   Cohort 2027 deadline, date not yet published

4. After the deadline

   video interviews, then finalist interviews

5. 1 June

   fellowships formally begin; a delayed start is approved case by case, up to 1 September

6. the fellowship term ends

   31 May, two years later