SCET Announces New Initiatives at Global Venture Lab 2017 Summit
During the week of August 21st, professors from over 20 countries around the world came together to discuss innovative entrepreneurship at the Sutardja Center’s Global Venture Lab (GVL) Summit. Throughout the two-day summit, professors from various countries spoke about how they plan to implement entrepreneurship at their prospective universities. Dr. Ikhlaq Sidhu, founding Director of SCET and professor at UC Berkeley, opened the summit by announcing new programs that are to come to the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology this semester.
Labs @ SCET
Dr. Sidhu introduced Labs @ SCET, which is a new collaborative initiative among students, faculty and new ventures to work on industry emerging topics, such as Data Science and Blockchain.
The Data in Action (Data-X) Lab helps students acquire experience in data science as well as offering them the opportunity to tackle complex data problems together. The Data X Lab offers resources, mentorship, and networks for students to collaborate and learn about the depths of how big data is making its mark.
The Blockchain Lab @ SCET is working to create new growing sectors of blockchain technology through applied research. Lab participants will grapple with topics like the formation of mobile blockchain applications, the broader execution of smart contract creation, and analyzing policy and regulatory issues within blockchain technology.
Some of this semester’s project ideas range from visualizing investment opportunities in specific regions to using blockchain based social currency to manage social media sites.
Join us in making future projects in blockchain.
BEGIN
Sidhu then discussed the launch of the BEGIN website. After seeing how difficult it was for new students to learn about on-campus entrepreneurial opportunities, the SCET founder decided to launch BEGIN to make these opportunities more accessible to students.
The goal of BEGIN is to help students, faculty, researchers, and other innovators understand the resources available at Berkeley to support educating entrepreneurs, commercializing research, and advancing startups.
Plant-Based Meat and Internet 3.0
Finally, Sidhu touched upon the growth and impact of Challenge Lab (IEOR 185), one of the campus’ first entrepreneurial classes, on students of all majors. This semester, two Challenge Lab courses are being offered: Internet 3.0, which will be taught by Ken Singer, and Plant-Based Meat, which will be taught by Professor Ricardo San Martin.
While Internet 3.0 focuses more on the how and why of protecting your data from large corporate companies, the Plant-Based Meat course helps bridge the gap between nontechnical and technical majors to transform fresh food into an alternative meat source.
You can learn more about the Plant Based Meat Challenger Lab course by reading this SF Chronicle article.
SCET is proud to launch and continue these programs this semester. SCET hopes to empower students to lead in their classes and beyond.
Edited by Brenna Smith