The SCET Student Innovation Fellows program is currently on hiatus and will return in Fall 2023.
Sign up to be a SCET Innovation Fellow
- Register to start playing any time during the Fall 2022 semester!
- Participate in immersive entrepreneurial experiences
- Build genuine connections with community of SCET students, alumni and industry
- Learn new skills to launch your career
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
SCET founding director, Ikhlaq Sidhu, makes a guest appearance on the New Zealand cable morning show Breakfast, where he comments on whether entrepreneurs are born or made and explains Berkeley’s approach to developing entrepreneurs.

Grow Your Entrepreneurial Mindset
SCET student innovation fellows will engage with the program over 12 weeks from Feb. - Apr. through a series of in-person and virtual tasks and opportunities. Upon successful completion of the program, fellows will be awarded a SCET Entrepreneurship and Technology Fellowship Title that can be added to your resume/CV. Students are allowed to join anytime during the 12 week period.
How to Play
The SCET Innovation Fellows program is structured as a game to encourage students to push themselves out of their comfort zone and grow by trying new entrepreneurial experiences.
Fall 2022 Challenges
- New challenges will be posted here weekly starting with the first challenges launching on September 12, 2022.
- Be sure to register as a player to be notified each week about new challenge opportunities.
- By completing challenges, you will earn points that will count toward the SCET Innovation Fellows Certificate and have a chance to earn prizes.
Challenge 2: Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk ( 3 Points)September 12, 2022
Challenge 3: Attend a Class Not Associated With Your Major ( 5 Points)September 12, 2022
Challenge 6: Attend the Berkeley Lab Research Slam ( 5 Points)September 19, 2022
Challenge 7: Capture the Flag ( 30 Points)September 19, 2022
Challenge 9: Kathleen Glaub – CEO, Afferent Pharmaceuticals ( 3 Points)September 26, 2022
Challenge 10: Entrepreneur Coffee Chat ( 5 Points)September 26, 2022
Challenge 13: 30/30/30 Building Your Network ( 30 Points)October 3, 2022
Challenge 15: Aaron Levie, CEO of Box ( 3 Points)October 10, 2022
Challenge 21: Share Your Opinions! ( 5 Points)October 24, 2022
Challenge 25: Finding the Right Fit with Cat Li ( 3 Points)November 7, 2022
Challenge 26: Mitchell Baker, Chairwoman of Mozilla ( 3 Points)November 7, 2022
Challenge 28: Olivia Wang, Founder of ZhenFund ( 3 Points)November 14, 2022
Challenge 33: Tell Us About Your Experience ( 5 Points)November 28, 2022
New challenges will be released here every week during the Fall 2022 semester.
Challenge 1: Your Relationship With Entrepreneurship Hosted by Professor Tarek Zohdi ( 3 Points)
- Write down your current relationship with entrepreneurship.
- Write down 2-3 goals of where you would like to be by the end of the semester.
- How do you want to grow your entrepreneurial skills and endeavors?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 2: Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk ( 3 Points)
- What is Bass’s perspective on innovation?
- How does he think technology should integrate with innovation?
- Does this change your thinking on how we should go about innovation
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 3: Attend a Class Not Associated With Your Major ( 5 Points)
- What class did you attend?
- Why did you pick that class?
- What did you learn or discover?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 4: Frustration List Hosted by Professor Frank Schultz ( 3 Points)
1) Jot down when someone around you gets frustrated/upset, and the root cause of their concern
2) Submit your list and ideas for potential solutions
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 5: Adam Cheyer – Co-founder of Siri, Change.org, Viv Labs, and Sentient ( 3 Points)
1) What does Adam articulate as the keys to a successful business?
2) How have you seen these aspects implemented as broader concepts in your own personal projects or career?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 6: Attend the Berkeley Lab Research Slam ( 5 Points)
1) Which presentation helped you understand the research the best? How?
2) Which presentation made you want to know more about the research? How?
3) Which research do you think has the most potential? Why?
Challenge Closes: September 25, 2022
Challenge 7: Capture the Flag ( 30 Points)
Calling all majors! Curious about the 150 billion cybersecurity Industry? This is your opportunity to learn what cybersecurity is and how you can protect yourself from cybersecurity attacks. NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.
Participants will get hands-on cyber security training open to all majors and levels of experience for anyone interested in breaking into the multibillion dollar cybersecurity industry. With our gamified capture the flag, we aim to teach students about a wide variety of cybersecurity and privacy topics. Those topics include phishing attacks, password hygiene and safety on social media.
Get ready to gain real skills that are needed in this growing field which are applicable across disciplines AND have the chance to win a pair of Apple Airpods.
How to Play
Welcome to the first ever Capture the Flag competition hosted by the SCET and Berke1337 (cyber security club). Below are step by step instructions that will help you get started.
- Register for the CTF challenge by creating an account, https://scetctf.org/register
- FAQ’s about the challenge can be found here, https://scetctf.org/faq
- Learn more about cybersecurity and get a tutorial to find the first flag here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65z1TQAuPiw
- You will need to find 7 flags to complete the CTF. Each flag is independent, but the difficulty increases with each number.
- You can ask for help at anytime by posting a question in the Fellow Slack #ctf-challenge or attending the CTF speaker series.
- Once you have found all the flags, take a screenshot and submit the picture for Challenge 7 in the SCET Fellow airtable. You are then entered in the lottery to win a pair of airpods.
- In the submission form you can opt in to share your contact information with our sponsor, HackerOne, for more resources to continue your cybersecurity journey, including earning real cash hacking on bug bounty programs, https://www.hackerone.com/hackers
Speaker Series
As part of the Capture the Flag competition, SCET and Berke1337 will host a speaker series to help you learn more about cybersecurity and how you can join this exciting industry.
Guest Speaker: Samantha Beaumont
Come to learn about how to get started hacking cars or even into banks, Samantha Beaumont will be sharing how she got started working on the latest BMWs to ensure their safety for consumers.
Guest Speaker: Christopher Kirk
Come learn about how to become a real life superhero. Christopher Kirk will be sharing his experience on the DART team at microsoft where he and his team ensure the largest corporations are safe from malicious hackers.
Guest Speaker: Ryen Macababbad
Join to learn from Ryen who is a leader in her industry, previously leading a team at microsoft to her new role as a Senior Manager at New Relic.
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 8: Evaluating Data Products Hosted by Professor Anna Zaitsev ( 3 Points)
- Think of a product that presents data: what 3 facts are crucial that the product showcases?
- How do they communicate the data well?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 9: Kathleen Glaub – CEO, Afferent Pharmaceuticals ( 3 Points)
1) What roadblocks did Glaub articulate as impediments to pharmaceutical success?
2) How does she manage to work with/through them?
3) In what creative ways can you navigate potential roadblocks to also innovate successfully?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 10: Entrepreneur Coffee Chat ( 5 Points)
1) Submit a picture of you with the entrepreneur.
2) Submit a url to a blog or a YouTube video with a reflection on what you learned, what surprised you, what you could relate to, what you couldn’t, etc.. Include the name of the entrepreneur and a brief description of thetheir endeavors.
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 11: Practicing Wellness with Adrienne Greer ( 3 Points)
1) How do you think and feel about health in your life?
2) Where do you see opportunities for building health into your everyday life?
3) A day in your life and think about where the path you are on leads to you healthy things and unhealthy things
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 12: Kevin Chou, Mike Li, Founders of Kabam, Rally, Forte and Super ( 3 Points)
1) What do Mike and Kevin teach us about career changes, expectations for after college, and navigating new fields?
2) How does this make you rethink your current stance towards your career?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 13: 30/30/30 Building Your Network ( 30 Points)
Create a numbered list and tell us about the person you met on campus, their major, their job on campus, what are they interested in? what are their ambitions? What has been the most impactful experience for them at Cal? Did you find any commonalities? etc…
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 14: Team Fantastic Hosted by Dallon Penney, CEO of Tesserol ( 3 Points)
Reflect on teams that you’ve been in that have gone fantastically, and teams where you’ve been frustrated with your team members.
- How do they differ in communication?
- How could you have changed your communication in the team you were frustrated with to make it the fantastic team?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 15: Aaron Levie, CEO of Box ( 3 Points)
1) What does Aaron teach us about being a good leader?
2) What does Aaron teach us about starting a successful company?
3) How can we incorporate these lessons into our broader lives?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 16: Startup Ideation Hosted by Matthew Milford, Cal Alum & Founder at Foresight ( Points)
- Write down 4 start-up ideas per day for a week (28 total)
- Pick top 3; reflect on why you’re most drawn to those ideas, and how you came up with them.
- Would you pursue these ideas?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 17: William Bao Bean, General Partner SOSV, Chinaaccelerator and MOX ( 3 Points)
1) What is William’s experience with failure, and his perspective towards it?
2) How can we use his experience to build our own paths of perseverance during difficult times?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 18: Climate Challenge, SCET Fellows x Berkeley Changemaker® ( 30 Points)
SCET is proud to announce The Climate Change Challenge in partnership with Berkeley Changemaker®. Registration is now open for all Berkeley students.
Everyone can make a difference! You don’t need any skills or qualifications to join this year’s Climate Challenge. If you have an idea that you’re passionate about, don’t hesitate to sign up! for the Challenge, and we will follow up with more details. Learn more about the Challenge.
For this challenge, students will automatically receive points after attending the final presentation.
To qualify:
Each competing individual will need to present a slide deck (roughly 5-8 slides) with:
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The name and description of the issue they are focusing on
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The issue needs to be specific as well as have the name of the affected country/locale they are focusing on
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Example: ‘lack of fresh water supply in Saudi Arabia’, not ‘water’
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Description must include how the issue affects the population, and why is it a problem
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The solution, including basic scientific background and financial information, and how the solution will work
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This can be basic (ballpark numbers for cost, source of funds etc)
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Science needs to be reasonable but not too high level if the candidate does not have a scientific background
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Potential problems and how to overcome them
The slide deck should also have an introductory slide with the individual/team members’ photos, names and short descriptions (including major), similar to a business pitch.
Challenge Closes: November 30, 2022
Challenge 19: Math and Music Hosted by Professor Carmine Cella ( 3 Points)
1) Submit a document with links to sounds that define your story, whether that be songs, recorded sounds, or sounds taken online (ex: did you go camping as a kid? submit sounds of fire crackling!)
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 20: Gurbaksh Chalal – Founder & CEO, Radium One ( 3 Points)
1) What piece of advice that Gurbaksh gave resonates with you the most?
2) How will you apply it in your everyday life to reach your goals?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 21: Share Your Opinions! ( 5 Points)
Earn points and help us improve for future cohorts by providing feedback on challenges you’ve participated in so far.
- Rate the tasks you have participated in on a scale of 1 to 5 (mark N/A if you have not participated in that task)
- Which of the tasks you have participated in have been your favorite and why? (free response)
- What would you change about the game (if anything) and why?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 22: Extending Your Hobbies Hosted by Philip Brook, Founder @ Voiceform ( 3 Points)
1) Write down 4 start-up ideas per day for a week (28 total) 2) Pick top 3; reflect on why you’re most drawn to those ideas, and how you came up with them. 3) Would you pursue these ideas?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 23: Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen, Founder & CEO of Openwater ( 3 Points)
1) What is Dr. Jepsen’s perspective on getting people to use new technologies? 2) What can we learn from Dr. Jepsen about convincing consumers to adopt new innovations?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 24: Blockchain Xcelerator Demo Day @ Crypto Economics Security Conference, hosted by Berkeley Center for Responsible Decentralized Intelligence ( 5 Points)
1) Which company/companies had the most compelling case for solving a demonstrated problem? 2) Which company/companies described their product and customer the best? What are they building and for whom? 3) Which company/companies demonstrated the best market opportunity and the most traction?
Challenge Closes: November 1, 2022
Challenge 25: Finding the Right Fit with Cat Li ( 3 Points)
- Do you have an idea that you’re set on? Or are you open to exploring new ideas?
- How much time a week can you dedicate to working on a startup? How much do you need your potential co-founder to dedicate?
- What areas of a startup (product, engineering, design, sales & marketing, operations) are you willing to take responsibility for? What do you need your co-founder to be responsible for?
- What topics and industries are you interested in?
- Is location of your co-founder important to you? How often would you like to work together IRL?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 26: Mitchell Baker, Chairwoman of Mozilla ( 3 Points)
- What do we learn about bridging corporate interest and public good from Mitchell?
- How can companies serve the public good while still innovating?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 27: Being an Accelerator Partner with Health Engine ( 3 Points)
Look through the companies Health Engine has worked with worked with
- Pick one you like, and describe 2 potential challenges you think it might face in growing as a company in the healthcare industry
- Describe any thoughts you have on how they could overcome the issue
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 28: Olivia Wang, Founder of ZhenFund ( 3 Points)
- What does Olivia teach us about innovating very common ideas and structures, and adapting them to fit another market?
- How has this changed the way you view innovation?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 29: The Future of Technology hosted by Luke Kowalski ( 3 Points)
- How do you predict we will interface with technology in five years? How about 10? What about 50?
- What lessons from previous technologies can we apply to future innovations?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 30: Heather Franzese, Director, Good World Solutions ( 3 Points)
- What does Heather teach us about good data and incentives?
- How can good data work well with helping people?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 31: Find Your Co-Founder hosted by Cat Li, Lead Startup School @ Y Combinator ( Points)
- How do you predict we will interface with technology in five years? How about 10? What about 50?
- What lessons from previous technologies can we apply to future innovations?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 32: Dr. Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor of CRISPR, Nobel Laureate, UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry and Founder of 5 companies ( 3 Points)
- What does Dr. Doudna teach us about persistence and combatting strife?
- How can we adapt these lessons to our personal lives?
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Challenge 33: Tell Us About Your Experience ( 5 Points)
1) Which of the tasks you participated in have been your favorite and why?
2) What would you change about the game (if anything) and why?
3) Do you feel you gained exposure to opportunities in entrepreneurship and innovation? (yes/no)
4) Did your experience in the Fellow program change your perspective of entrepreneurship? If so, how?
5) Have you increased your network with meaningful connections?
6) What advice would you give future SCET Innovation Fellows?
7) Would you participate in this program again?
8) What content/events/activities would you want to see for future programs?
9) How would you rate your overall experience? (rating from 1-5)
10) Describe your interest level in taking a SCET class in the future (rating from 1-5?)
Challenge Closes: December 11, 2022
Fall 2022 Leaderboard
Certificate and Prizes
The SCET Student Innovation Fellows program offers the SCET Innovation Fellow Certificate for students that participate in the program. In order to receive the badge, you must qualify by completing one of the tier criteria below.
Certificate Tiers
Gold Tier Innovation Fellow ....................................
Silver Tier Innovation Fellow ..................................
Bronze Tier Innovation Fellow ...............................
Cybersecurity Challenge Winner ..........................
Climate Challenge Winner .......................................
180-217 points
142-179 points
92-141 points
Win the Cybersecurity Challenge
Win the Climate Challenge
Certificate Tiers

Prizes
*Students who receive Bronze, Silver and Gold Tiers are eligible for the following prizes.
- Play video games with entrepreneurs Mike Li and Kevin Chou
- Lunch with Rich Lyons, Chief Innovation Officer at UC Berkeley
- Caviar gift certificates
- Cal Athletics Tickets
- Prototyping session with Olivia Wong (1 hour), Senior Partner of Prototype Thinking Labs
- SCET Mentor Studio Session (30 minutes)-career coaching or start up mentoring
-
Aura Coffee and Tea Products
-
iFly session with a Cal entrepreneur

Program Details
Who is Eligible?
Any UC Berkeley student interested in Entrepreneurship and Technology
When can I sign up?
The application deadline is ongoing. Students are welcome to join at anytime throughout the semester!
Other Questions?
Slack @JenniferNice or email jennifernice@berkeley.edu for questions about the program.
More FAQs

"The SCET Innovation Fellow Program is, by far, the most enriching and fun activity I pursued during my undergrad years. The various challenges gave me the incentive to expand my network with students and entrepreneurs, learn about blockchain, attend classes I never thought of going to, and listen to the teachings of SCET entrepreneurial guest speakers. The program is also a wonderful self-discovery process. By facilitating methodical exercises for me to become aware of/shape my growth mentality, problem-solving style, and technology interests, I'm keen on making mindful decisions to impact in the ever-growing world of innovative changes."
Lilian Wang, SCET Innovation Fellow, Spring 2022, Gold Tier Winner
"Having been involved in the technology and entrepreneurship scene on campus, the SCET Innovation Fellows Program served as the perfect opportunity to build genuine connections whilst reflecting on my experiences, developing new skills, and gaining domain knowledge in areas I had not explored previously. The challenges were quite varied in nature: small group panels with successful startup founders, innovative consumer analysis and customer discovery exercises, a machine learning competition to predict traffic collision injuries in partnership with the UC Berkeley Disaster Lab, and even an NFT creator challenge that featured MBA students. The gamified nature of each activity made the program more enjoyable, and kept fellows engaged throughout its duration. I feel as though being an innovation fellow has made me more aware of my strengths and passions, and I look forward to witnessing how the program evolves over time, continuing to enable students to have a meaningful impact on the campus community."
Akhil Venkatesh, SCET Innovation Fellow, Spring 2022, Gold Tier Winner

Challenge Archive
Resources
Websites
- Berkeley BEGIN (Cal Entrepreneurship Resources)
- Founder Culture
- Web3 University
Podcasts
- How I Built This
- Berkeley Greater Good Science Center
- A Slight Change of Plans
- Tech Buzz China
Host, Rui Ma, Cal Alum - Lab to Startup
- Brand New Blueprint by Smoketown, Host, Ryan Pintado-Vertner, Cal Alum
- Founders Church, Hosts, Justin Forsett and Wale Forrester, Cal alums
- The Knowledge Project
- DeFi MOOC
- This Is Small Business
- All Time High
- Paranoids Pod
Books
- Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
- The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain
- Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
- Range, Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein,
Tools
- Pitchbook - UC Berkeley students can access Pitchbook for free through the library to research startups, entrepreneurs, deals, and industry trends.
Challenges & Competitions
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Cal Hacks, https://calhacks.io/
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Kaggle Competitions, https://www.
kaggle.com/ -
XPrize, https://www.xprize.
org/ -
Challenge.gov, https://www.
challenge.gov/
Videos
NFT Creator Challenge Workshops
Workshop #1
The basics of blockchain and NFTs
Workshop #2
How to create and mint an NFT
Cybersecurity Capture the Flag (CTF) Challenge Speaker Series
Samantha Beaumont
Principal Offensive Cyber Security Consultant, IOActive
Christopher Kirk
Principal Cybersecurity Consultant, Microsoft
Kate Kuehn
SVP, vArmour
Renee Guttmann
Fortune 50 Chief InfoSec Officer & Startup Advisor
Samantha Beaumont
Principal Offensive, Cybersecurity Consultant, IOActive
Christopher Kirk
Principal Cybersecurity Consultant, Microsoft
Ryen Macababbad
Senior Manager, Product Security, Customer Trust, Engineering, New Relic
Climate Challenge Speaker Series
Marcus Lehmann
CEO of CalWave Power Technologies Inc.
Alireza TayebNama
Founder and CEO of Marli Technology Solutions Inc.
Trista Bridges
Principal and Co-Founder, Read the Air
A special thank you to Professor Robert L. "Bob" Powell for his generous and insightful contribution to the gaming point system. Bob shared his domain expertise in game theory to develop the individual components in the point system and game tiers. Bob expressed immense excitement for the opportunities provided by the SCET Innovation Fellowship.
Sponsors
Cal-Founded





Corporate
