Activate Fellowship
Forecasted
Activate Fellowship supports scientist-founders with research and development, market exploration, and entrepreneurship guidance to turn scientific discoveries into hard-tech companies with societal impact.
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Funder: Activate
Due Dates (Anticipated): October 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: More than $300,000 over two years, including living stipend and R&D support; zero equity
Summary: Supports scientist-founders developing transformative hard-tech innovations through funding, entrepreneurship education, mentorship, and community support.
Key Information: Applicants must be first-time hard-tech founders committing full-time to their project.
Description
Activate’s two-year U.S. fellowship helps scientists and engineers turn discoveries in the physical and biological sciences and related engineering disciplines into hard-tech companies. It supports research and development, technical de-risking, and market exploration, prioritizing transformative societal impact rather than incremental improvement. Projects should rest on sound science, offer differentiation from existing solutions, and have credible paths to scale.
Fellows join one of five communities: Berkeley, Boston, Houston, New York, or the remote-centric Anywhere community. Alongside financial support, the program provides entrepreneurship education, regular one-on-one mentorship, quarterly advisory meetings, workshops, networking, and retreats. Selection emphasizes both the founder’s potential as a technical and business leader and the additional value Activate would bring to their development and project.
