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Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials News
Rethinking energy-efficient buildings, from the ground up
At our recent symposium, a multi-disciplinary slate of speakers explored the future of a low-carbon construction industry. Read post
Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials News
Construction begins on Bakar Labs incubator for energy-efficient startups
UC Berkeley has begun construction on the Bakar Labs for Energy and Materials facility, which will be designed as a business incubator for startups working on innovating the energy and materials science industries. The incubator is a partnership between Bakar Labs, Turner Construction Company and campus. Architecture firm Gensler, as well as engineering and design services company A Squared Solutions, also collaborated with Turner on the facility. The planned five-story, 145,000-square-foot building will provide lab and office space for up to 75 early-stage companies with specialized equipment and support. It is intended to maximize UC Berkeley’s mission of providing long-term societal benefit. Read post
Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials News
Turner Breaks Ground on Bakar Labs for Energy + Materials at UC Berkeley
“Turner is honored to partner with everyone on the Bakar Labs for Energy + Materials project,” said Manu Garg, Project Executive, Turner Construction Company. “This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to excellence and innovation in delivering complex research facilities. We look forward to contributing our expertise to a project that exemplifies the power of collaboration in advancing research and innovation.” Read post
Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials News
A playbook for university-driven climate innovation
From an op-ed on the investing site Impact Alpha, authored by Director Dave Schaffer & Director of Partnerships Shilpi Kumar: “Climate tech has matured, with dedicated funds, corporate commitments, and government programs helping the sector grow stronger than it was just a few years ago. The next step is ensuring the most technical, early-stage ventures can thrive within that ecosystem. Universities are showing how this can be done – by blending research, education, and entrepreneurship into a single model that supports founders over the long term. The Berkeley case demonstrates that public institutions can take equity in startups, reinvest returns into their mission, and provide the resources private markets alone cannot. The broader lesson is that universities can act as launch pads and long-term partners for climate ventures, helping ideas move from the lab into the marketplace.” Read post
Company News
How one founder plans to save cities from flooding with terraforming robots
Parts of San Rafael, a city just north of San Francisco, are sinking about half an inch per year. That might not sound like much, but altogether, it has meant that some neighborhoods — like the Canal District that borders the bay — have sunk three feet, placing them at greater risk of flooding from sea-level rise. San Rafael isn’t alone. Cities around the world are threatened by rising sea levels, with 300 million people at risk of routine flooding by 2050. The cost of building seawalls to hold the waters back could top $400 billion in the U.S. alone. A new startup is proposing an alternative: raise the city instead. Read post
Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials News
Golden Shovels, Green Vision: A Collaborative Effort Breaks Ground on the Future Home of Bakar Labs for Energy and Materials
The facility, scheduled to open in 2028 and located on the west side of campus (Oxford Street at University Avenue, in the new Berkeley Innovation Zone), will feature state-of-the-art labs, offices, and collaboration spaces designed to accelerate commercialization of clean energy, advanced materials, and sustainable technologies. Bakar Labs is central to the university’s efforts to enable solutions to one of society’s most vexing challenges and opportunities: the global transition to advanced energy systems. Read post
Company News
FutureBio startup to make completely recyclable plastic cost-competitive
Biotech startup FutureBio, the first tenant of UC Berkeley’s Bakar Labs for Energy and Materials, hopes to produce and recycle a new kind of durable, biorenewable plastic at a lower cost than regular plastic. Its plastic is made from green materials, unlike petroleum-based plastic. It can be depolymerized, meaning it can be broken down into its building blocks or monomers and then recombined to make new plastic. This means FutureBio’s plastic is completely recyclable, whereas only small portions of petroleum-based plastic can be reused after it undergoes mechanical recycling. Read post
Company News
‘We want to change the world:’ Company says it is creating a new kind of plastic
FutureBio is tackling the problem of plastic pollution head-on by creating what its co-founder describes as a new kind of plastic. Different from both the petroleum-based and the biodegradable ones now in use, it is not only durable but also bio-renewable and easier to recycle, said Zilong Wang. “It proposes a different and a novel plastic, which is different from all other kinds of plastic,” he said. Worldwide, only about 9% of today’s plastic is actually recycled. Most of the rest, millions of tons, goes to landfills or ends up in the environment. Even the plastic that is recycled is sent to landfills or incinerators after one or two cycles because the quality of the material degrades. Read post
Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials News
From Chemistry at Chevron to Investing in Clean Energy at BEVC, a Natural Progression for Joshua James
The instinct to roll up his sleeves rather than simply write checks is exactly drew James to BEVC. Founded by Risa Stack, Rowan Chapman, and Widya Mulyasasmita, the fund’s model is unusually immersive: it sits at the crossroads of Berkeley’s research depth and Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial speed. BEVC doesn’t just invest in companies; it helps form them, often spinning out startups directly from university labs. For investors like James, who combine scientific rigor with venture savvy, it’s a rare ecosystem — a place where they can stay close to the science while still driving real-world impact. Read post
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Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials sits at the center of UC Berkeley’s innovation ecosystem, with direct access to over 300 faculty in engineering, science, law, policy, and business—all advancing energy and materials research.
Just steps away are 40,000 students in top-ranked programs and a network of advanced core facilities. Startups can easily recruit top talent and collaborate with expert scientific co-founders.
Today’s best startups blaze a trail all their own, but they don’t do it alone.
They build their support network to help them navigate the multiple challenges they face. At Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials, tenants join a community of as many as 75 like-minded teams willing to share the scientific and business insights that help them advance. The incubator spans more than 145,000 square feet of lab and office space.
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