Finalists Share Visions of a Better Future
It starts with a gut feeling, an epiphany, or a slowly-simmering hunch. A scientist or engineer sees a throughline between a new or improved technology and a significant market need. Perhaps that is a new pathway to clean energy generation or storage, backed by an early proof-of-concept. Or maybe it’s a zero-carbon bioindustrial manufacturing process or sustainable agricultural product. Or a better method for computing or sensing. Or a highly manufacturable, low-carbon material with breakthrough properties.
For 80 of the 624 Cohort 2022 applicants, those visions brought them all the way through numerous eligibility filters, external reviews, and phone interviews. And in early March, these Cohort 2022 finalists made their final pitches to the Activate community. At stake for the finalists: the chance to dig in deep as they launch their startups with the financial, educational, research, technical, and network support of the Activate Fellowship. The competition was intense—only two-thirds of the finalists will be asked to join Cohort 2022, which we’ll announce in June.
Finalists had just seven minutes to explain their vision, and another 15 to field questions from selection committee members, subject-matter experts, and current and alumni Activate Fellows. As in past years, the finalists’ presentations showcased their innovative thinking, solutions-oriented worldviews, leadership potential, and their remarkable ambition.
The energy and potential were palpable, and the pitches provoked thoughtful, sometimes intense discussions. Three of our expert reviewers and Leadership Council members shared their reflections:
“There was an amazing assembly of technical experts for each presentation,” said Laura Smoliar, founding partner at Berkeley Catalyst Fund.
“It was inspirational and reassuring to witness the combined high quality and sheer number of young researchers and entrepreneurs who have stepped up to help solve our planet’s most pressing problems,” said Sunpower founder (retired) and former Activate board member Dick Swanson. “I came away convinced that we will surely meet and solve these problems.”
“Hearing the finalists’ passion and thoughtfulness about their proposed work was a highlight for me,” said Cheryl Martin, founder, and principal of Harwich Partners.
Seeing finalists engage with so many leading tech-to-market experts from across industry, academia, government, defense, venture capital, and philanthropy is always one of the most rewarding events of the year for the Activate team.
And every year current and alumni fellows, who directly understand what the finalists are going through, offer great perspectives and feedback.
“As a current fellow, it was great to see the future of Activate and pass on a bit of our experiences—in a candid and supportive way—to the finalists,” said Josué López, Cohort 2020. Aaron Hall, Cohort 2021, said he loved seeing “the passion for innovation and impact that the community has fostered and attracted in candidates.”
For our staff members who had spent many weeks of intensive work to prepare the finalists and coordinate with more than 200 reviewers, watching everything come together was hugely rewarding. “I was really impressed with the finalists’ dedication to problem-solving. So many of them worry that if they don’t push their solutions forward, their work will be stuck in academia,” said Spencer Babcock, fellowship associate for Activate Boston.
And for Julie Fornaciari, a fifth-year UC Berkeley Ph.D. student who is studying green hydrogen and joined us as a selection intern, the experience was edifying and invigorating. “It was really helpful to see the breadth of possibilities,” she said. “It also showed how important Activate is for people like me, who may have an idea or concept but are still looking for how to best apply it to solve really significant problems.”
With four fellow communities—Berkeley, Boston, New York, and Activate Anywhere—Cohort 2022 will be our largest and most geographically diverse, to date. Building a more diverse and inclusive fellow community remains a top priority at Activate. Though modest, we believe the improvements we saw in the racial and ethnic diversity of the applicant pool, as well as an increase in applicants who identify as women, mean Cohort 2022 will be our most diverse to date.
44 percent of Cohort 2022 finalists identify as Black, Indigenous, or as people of color (BIPOC), up 3 percent from Cohort 2021 finalists.
25 percent of Cohort 2022 finalists identify as women, up 5 percent compared to Cohort 2021 finalists.
Cohort 2022 finalists are based in 15 U.S. states–a 67 percent increase compared to Cohort 2021 finalists—and four countries: Australia, Canada, Taiwan, and the U.K.
Technology Trends
This year debuts our Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Imperative, and finalists presented a wide range of approaches, including:
Harnessing the power of organic chemistry to efficiently remove CO2 from the atmosphere
A proposal to permanently capture billions of tons of carbon dioxide on farms annually, generating CDR offsets and carbon-negative agricultural products
Other notable proposals include:
High-efficiency data center cooling with air
An additive manufacturing approach to zero-carbon steel production
A raft of bio-based technologies for everything from toxics remediation to engineering the plant microbiome to improve agriculture
Technologies aimed at cleaner and sustainable approaches to extracting and recovering minerals that are essential to renewable energy and decarbonization efforts
The table below provides more insights into finalists and their projects.
Note: Some of our finalists chose not to disclose some or all of their information publicly.