ETA 2021 Strategic Plan - Flipbook - Page 96
Cyclotron Road Division
Facilitating the translation of hard science into positive societal
impact
ETA’s Cyclotron Road Division is renowned for its fellowship program — launched in 2015 — which
has been supporting leading entrepreneurial scientists as they develop commercially viable
technology solutions for clean energy and bring them to market. Each year, the fellowship program
recruits a cohort of scientific innovators in a highly competitive process. Those selected receive the
unique opportunity to “embed” at Berkeley Lab for two years. In doing so, these innovators gain
access to our state-of-the-art facilities and our world-renowned researchers, both at Berkeley Lab and
the University of California (UC) Berkeley. The fellows not only move their technologies forward, they
also bring inspiration and new ideas to the scientists who work with them. Fellows also participate in
a structured program of intensive mentorship, professional development, and networking.
Cyclotron Road has supported 66 innovators since 2015. Today, these innovators continue to work on
technology solutions ranging from replacing petroleum-derived plastic to pioneering new exploration
technologies that can unlock development of geothermal energy resources to turning food waste into
bio-based chemicals for manufacturing. The fellows have collaborated with more than 70 Berkeley
Lab scientists, and the organizations they have founded have raised more than $215 million in
follow-on funding. The companies they’ve created have already hired more than 240 employees and
introduced new products throughout industry and across the globe.
Simply said, the fellowship
program enables a new path
for the development of an
innovator and their ideas that
would otherwise not exist. The
fellows also receive two years of
financial support to live in the
San Francisco Bay Area.
Access to Berkeley Lab, UC
Berkeley, and the greater Bay
Area scientific and investment
community allows the fellows
to leverage the world class
infrastructure and supportive
community available only in
our environment. This enables
advancement and peer support
of their ideas and technologies
without hefty start-up costs and
the need to go out and build
dozens of new relationships.
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