Innovation Ecosystem

Activate Fellows are entrepreneurial scientists and engineers who spend two years embedded in a world-class research laboratory, where we provide them funding and a program of intensive mentorship, professional development, and networking. Activate does not take any equity in fellow-founded companies.

Our goal is simple: Empower our fellows to mature their ideas from concept to first product, positioning them to align with the most suitable commercial path to bring their technology to scale. Since 2015, we have supported 84 fellows who have gone on to generate more than $170 million in funding to support their companies. Each fall, we recruit a new cohort of fellows.

Our support provides science innovators a pathway for turning their concepts into real-world products that can have profound impacts on industries and resources. Activate operates two fellowship locations: Activate Boston, in partnership with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and other Boston-area research partners, and Activate Berkeley, in partnership with the Cyclotron Road Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.