UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET)

This summer, I participated in the European Innovation Academy in Portugal. I had a wonderful experience learning about how to start a business and building my leadership skills. My team and I tied for first place out of 75 total teams and won the first-ever award for the Most Innovative Team. In just 3 weeks, we created a Startup that predicts high-risk wildfire areas using Artificial Intelligence to protect ecosystems and communities. Thank you to the UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET) for making this opportunity possible!

[A Look Back at Our Mercy Corps Win 🎉 ] This year, my incredible teammate Rashmi V. and I had the privilege of participating in the Mercy Corps Challenge, hosted by the UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET). What started as a week of intense problem-solving led to the creation of HACIT (Humanitarian Aid Cost Integration Tool), a solution to optimize humanitarian aid costs using real-time data for faster, more efficient resource allocation. Link to the project: https://lnkd.in/gagYfNhR In May, our hard work was rewarded with a win at the DisasterHacks Challenge—a moment that reaffirmed the power of collaboration, mentorship, and innovation in addressing global challenges. We are deeply grateful for the guidance and insights shared by Drew Foxman, Alicia Morrison, and Aaron Eubank from Mercy Corps, as well as Sukh Singh from the Berkeley Disaster Lab. This challenge reinforced our passion for tackling global issues through innovative problem-solving, reminding us that even small efforts can create ripples of meaningful change. “You will only ever see less than 1% of the effect you have in people’s lives. Reflect on that and never be discouraged.” As we step into the new year, inspired by this journey, we look forward to taking on new challenges, collaborating on impactful solutions, and driving progress in the years ahead. Thank you to Mercy Corps, University of California, Berkeley, and all who champion humanitarian innovation—we’re just getting started 🙂 !

💡UC Berkeley innovation in action! SkyDeck’s General Manager, Sibyl Chen, was proud to judge the next wave of entrepreneurs thriving at UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET)'s Collider Cup XV. 🎉 Congrats to the teams that pitched, and a special shoutout to the winning team, 1Village, who will join SkyDeck’s Pad-13 incubator program in May. 🚀 Welcome to SkyDeck!

🚀 Spring 2025 SCET Innovators in Residence (IIR) Leadership Roles – Apply Now! 🚀 Are you ready to shape the future of innovation and entrepreneurship at Berkeley? The SCET Innovators in Residence (IIR) Decal is now accepting applications for leadership roles! This unique opportunity allows you to: ✨ Mentor startup projects for challenge lab classrooms of 60+ students. ✨ Leadership opportunity on high-impact projects within the Berkeley startup ecosystem and plan innovation and AI related workshops events. ✨ Collaborate with industry leaders, founders, and experts to drive innovation. ✨ Plan events, mentorship activities, and explore cutting-edge trends in technology and entrepreneurship. Open to any student, undergraduate, MBAs, graduate students, and alumni. Weekly meetings will keep you at the forefront of the action, helping to guide SCET challenge labs and the SCET Innovation Student Fellows Program. ⏳ Apply by December 27th for priority consideration! Interviews are held on a rolling basis. 📄 Application link: https://hubs.li/Q030xLsD0 Don’t miss this chance to leave your mark on Berkeley’s startup and innovation ecosystem. Take the leap—apply now! 💡 Questions? Reach out to us! danicat@berkeley.edu or hkang02@berkeley.edu

Every company is now a data company! With all of the excitement around #generativeai, people sometimes forget that the best enterprises have already been using AI for almost everything. It was great to hear about the wide range of AI use cases enabled by C3 AI during our visit as part of the UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET)'s Emerging Tech Management program last month. We heard from SVOG and C3.AI founder Thomas M. Siebel along with CTO Nikhil Krishnan. In addition to our partners Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and IE University, we were joined by the Italgas group who were participating in a digital innovation program thru INNOVIT - Italian Innovation and Culture Hub, organized along with Olaf J Groth, PhD and Alberto Acito Thanks to Jeff Uken, CFA for making it possible! UC Berkeley College of Engineering Alan Chen, Ed.D. Kristina Susac

What a great pleasure to offer our SKEMA Business School students this amazing partnership with UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET) #GlobalEd #HigherEd #PGE Alice Guilhon Nathalie Hector Christophe Germain Christophe Dispas, PhD Nicolas Servel Adrien Vansteelant Cédric BEDINI

It’s been such a wonderful year! I wish you all a nice break during the holidays to recharge. 🎄🔌 Remember to check in on each other and give each other space for real talk and feelings also in business - it’s the biggest gift we can give. LinkedIn Posts don’t reflect how we are really doing ;) Happy Holidays to you all and here are some of the absolute highlights of 2025 thanks to wonderful partners to me, The GUILD and Crest Collective like my husband Jos Cocquyt, Zahar Barth-Manzoori Brenda Lamboy from German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH) San Francisco, Pui San Tam and Orestis Trasanidis Deema Jubran Scullin, CTP from J.P. Morgan and Darryl Grant from Inspiring connectivity, Lara Foster from Fenwick & West Simone Friese from GACC WEST - Representative of German Business Ken Singer from UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET) Mathieu Aguesse Kelly Chou Vivian Faustino-Pulliam from City College of San Francisco Michelle Tran Asya Bradley Venga Brands Maaike Doyer And so many more who made this a truly unique year * First photo from the Khruangbin concert at Berkeley’s Greek Theater

Elevate your career in the New Year! 🚀 Ready to lead the future of tech and business in 2025? UC Berkeley Professional Programs are offering two transformative programs to help you take the next step in your career. Engineering Leadership Professional Program – Silicon Valley 📅 Jan 22 – Jun 4, 2025 | 📍 Silicon Valley Learn from industry experts and gain real-world experience in Silicon Valley with UC Berkeley's leadership program built by engineers, for engineers. 🗓️ Apply by Jan 14, 2025. Learn more: https://hubs.li/Q030ppzD0 AI for the C-Suite 📅 Feb 10 – Feb 12, 2025 | 📍 Berkeley, CA Learn how to navigate the AI revolution from experts like Brandie Nonnecke, Ali Ghodsi, and Pieter Abbeel. 🗓️ Apply by Jan 15, 2025. Learn more: https://hubs.li/Q030pkq_0 #engineeringleadership #AIForTheCSuite #careergrowth #techleadership #SCETprofessionalprograms

Cheers to Our Global Students! Congratulations to all global students who participated in this semester's Collider Cup! A special shoutout to Innocent Farai Chikwanda for winning First Place and the People's Choice Award with his project, One Village. The collaboration between visiting international students and UC Berkeley students exemplifies the talent, hard work, and dedication needed to address key societal challenges. Last Friday, we also celebrated our international students from the Startup Semester and Entrepreneurship, Technology & Startup Management programs as they wrapped up an amazing semester at University of California, Berkeley. We're so proud of the diverse perspectives and innovative solutions that emerged from our global community. Learn more about SCET's global program: https://hubs.li/Q030jLjC0 David L. Ricardo Rodríguez Iglesias Ashesi University SKEMA Business School #globalinnovation #collidercup #ucberkeley #startupsemester #berkeleyglobal #fall2024

🚀"The signs that took us from 1 to 10 are not always the signs that were required when we had to pivot."🔥 Andrea Kates shared that game-changing insight at last month's 'Building Startups That Don't Get Stuck' panel (full recording in comments) with Dave Hersh during the DECODE's conference. 🙌 She added a unique perspective: “You can’t tell a soil scientist to pivot away from soil—they’ll get clinically depressed… They brought in people with different skills to help them with the pivot.” 🤯🌱 Dave also dropped some hard truth: "Only 10 percent of founders succeed, yet most believe they have an 80 percent likelihood of success." 💡 🔑 Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to bring in fresh perspectives when things need to change. It's easy to get lost in our own optimism, but being realistic about the journey is key to surviving the startup rollercoaster.👥💼 Keith Enright Shuo Chen Jerel Lim Mike Grandinetti Esther Wojcicki William Allison Sandy Diao Dave Hersh Mayank M. Amrutha Suresh Kevin Hsieh Kathy Hua Danica T. Amy Jain Risa Shimmura Sepehr Khosravi Manan Bhargava Justine Juillard Vihaan Mathur Ardan Giordjie Preyasi Shah Yuchong Zhang Ashwin Joshi UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET)