Lessons from Evolution of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem at UC Berkeley

Lab to Startup

Richard Lyons, Ph.D., is the Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer, at the University of California, Berkeley. Rich is an economist and the former dean of the business school. Rich will become the next chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.

We talk about a wide variety of topics around the Evolution of innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at Berkeley. We covered topics like paradigm shifts, cultural transformations, overcoming inertia; global impact and many others.

I hope you get some insights from this story, and walk away with appreciation and potentially actionable steps if you are trying to build startup ecosystems on your campuses.

Show Notes:

• https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/rich-lyons
• Report on entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley from the Faculty Entrepreneurship Committee: https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/2018-08/Entrepreneurship_at_Berkeley.pdf
• UC Regents taskforce report: From Discovery to Societal Impact: A Roadmap to Unleashing UC Innovation and Entrepreneurship: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may21/g1attach.pdf
• Cultural transformation at UC Berkeley: https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/berkeley-named-top-university-for-number-of-venture-backed-companies-founded/#:~:text=PitchBook%20has%20ranked%20Berkeley%20%231,public%20university%20for%20startup%20founders.
• Bakar fellows program: https://bakarfellows.berkeley.edu/
• Cultural transformation to embrace entrepreneurship
• Mission of academic institutions is impact
• Overcoming inertia at academic institutions
• Ecosystem dynamics & talent pipeline
• Start with “Yes, if” framework to address difficult questions
• Pilot programs
• Berkeley RIC
• I&E Council
• Inclusivity: Dual degree program
• Berkeley Changemaker program
• Failures and hurdles
• Ethical considerations
• Parts of the ecosystem that could be replicated and hard to do so by other universities
• Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET)