Startups accepted to Berkeley SkyDeck’s accelerator program will have access to Jacobs Makerspace equipment, tools, and in-house design and machine specialists.
BERKELEY, Calif.—Startup accelerator Berkeley SkyDeck reported that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, UC Berkeley’s state-of-the-art interdisciplinary hub for learning and making at the intersection of design and technology.
The new partnership emphasizes the strong cross-functional collaboration between different parts of the UC Berkeley ecosystem to support entrepreneurs and startups. It will enable selected companies from each SkyDeck accelerator cohort to access the Jacobs Institute’s comprehensive facilities for prototyping hardware and products, according to a release from Berkeley SkyDeck.
Hardware startups accepted to Berkeley SkyDeck’s accelerator program will be granted Entrepreneur Maker Passes, which provide access to the state-of-the-art Jacobs Makerspace. These passes allow holders to use Makerspace equipment, including standard, experimental, and advanced 3D printers; acrylic, wood, and metal laser cutters; electronics and textile labs; a woodshop and metal shop; industrial robots; CNC routers and mills; and 3D scanners, among other tools, the release said.
The program will also provide access to Jacobs’ in-house design specialists with expertise across design, engineering, and fabrication; free workshops and tool training to explore new skills; and access to the Material Store, offering base materials at low cost for prototype development and testing.
“The quality of a startup’s prototypes can make all the difference when working to secure funding,” said Berkeley SkyDeck Executive Director Caroline Winnett, in the release. “With the Jacobs Institute’s investments in both tooling and talent now available to selected companies, SkyDeck will now be able to service hardware startup founders and their engineers.”
By providing startups access to state-of-the-art equipment in close proximity to their business home base, SkyDeck’s partnership with the Jacobs Institute can potentially save tens of thousands of dollars and significantly speed up the prototyping process. With the assistance of the Jacobs Institute’s in-house design advisors, startups can also design iteratively and fine-tune their prototypes. In turn, SkyDeck startups will also engage with the student community at Jacobs Institute, either via a workshop or career conversation.
Jacobs Institute will present at the start of each SkyDeck orientation to introduce cohort companies to available resources.
“The Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation was designed as an interdisciplinary hub bringing together design methodology, technological innovation, and societal impact to tackle the biggest problems of today and tomorrow, unlike anything universities have done before,” said
Faculty Director of the Jacobs Institute Eric Paulos, in the release. “Working with SkyDeck allows us to expand our mission to a brand-new set of users. This is an exciting example of Berkeley’s various capabilities and resources coming together in a unique way to support entrepreneurs on a critical part of the product development process.”
Jacobs Hall and its facilities are the result of a $20 million gift from the Paul and Stacy Jacobs Foundation. Unlike many makerspaces on university campuses, the Jacobs Makerspace’s resources are available to students, staff, and faculty of all disciplines for coursework, student club projects, and also for personal projects—provided they apply for a Maker Pass.
“After working with the team at the Makerspace I was able to reduce the costs for a mold down from $40,000 to under $7,000 and the price per unit from $6 to $0.69,” said UC Berkeley alumnus Alex James Eyeman, in the release. “If I had not known what I could learn only at the Jacobs Makerspace, my small business could have never gotten started.”
“Adapting a research technology for a harsh and complex field takes a lot of prototyping and tests and requires a hands-on understanding of design for manufacturing,” said Taylor James Waddell, SpaceCAL Suborbital Project Principal Investigator; Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering.
“The SpaceCAL project was created to test a new type of 3D printing in space environments, and working with JIDI allowed us to be hands-on with our designs and quickly learn from our mistakes to create the perfect experiment.”
Berkeley SkyDeck said in the release that it accepts around 1 percent of startups that apply, and approximately 20 to 25 startups overall, for each of its Cohort accelerator programs. Cohort companies receive $200,000 in funding, $750,000 worth of free and discounted resources, and access to SkyDeck’s network of UC Berkeley alumni, faculty, and advisors. Demo Day for Batch 17 is set to take place on April 10, 2024. Berkeley SkyDeck Europe, Milano will soon begin working with its fifth cohort, the release said.