C2M–the First Cleantech Accelerator–is a capstone, experiential, interdisciplinary program in which UC Berkeley graduate students from a wide range of disciplines help innovators commercialize emerging cleantech from: (1) startups across the US, (2) top-tier universities such as UC Berkeley, Stanford, Caltech, Harvard, and MIT, (3) DOE-sponsored programs such as ARPA-E and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and (4) other accelerators and incubators such as Activate/Cyclotron Road, Cleantech Open, LACI, CalCEF, and others in the CalSEED network.

C2M first selects a cohort of innovations that have strong potential for commercialization. C2M then hand selects graduate student commercialization teams from over 20 programs at UC Berkeley, including business, engineering, science, law, policy, and the Energy and Resources Group. C2M supports the teams with professionals who bring deep subject matter expertise (e.g., renewable energy, clean water, green chemistry, early-stage venture, etc.). These professionals guide the students as speakers, mentors and key contacts (each team interviews approximately 40 relevant industry contacts). Brian Steel, Bill Shelander, and other experienced faculty lead the C2M process, contributing a combined 100+ years of experience in cleantech, innovation and entrepreneurship.

During the fall semester, each cross-disciplinary C2M team provides approximately 1,000 hours of market research and develops recommendations for each project, including the identification of initial target customers, commercialization pathways, market-based performance specifications, and potential funding sources. These activities are guided by C2M’s carefully honed commercialization process, which is reflected in a detailed online syllabus. The teams are also extensively coached by C2M’s experienced faculty and outside mentors.

Four phases of C2M’s curriculum:

C2M is a very teamwork-oriented experiential course

C2M’s 15-week commercialization process trains C2M students in a range of leadership, decision making, and commercialization skills that help them become the next generation of leaders capable of addressing critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues. As a result, C2M students have gone on to become a “who’s who” in cleantech leadership. Here is a sampling of the companies they work for:

Here are testimonials and a “word cloud” from 10 years of C2M alums on what they valued:

• Commercialization training: “It was a really good experience learning how to commercialize new technology – first understanding the technical hurdles, then the commercial hurdles, and then working with an interdisciplinary team to package that into a coherent story. That basically describes my current job.”
• Engagement with startups: “No other program rivals C2M on meaningful engagement with cleantech startups.”
• Cleantech learning & networking: “C2M involves tremendous learning, amazing professors, and an incredible network.”
• High-quality experiential learning: “Fantastic experience & learning opportunity.” “Remarkable real-world applicability.” “This class was one of the reasons I decided to go to Haas and it lived up to its expectations.” “One of the best reasons to attend Berkeley.”
• Career switching into cleantech: “This class has given me access to clean energy. It helped me make the transitions MBAs are always trying to make.”
  Business learning for other disciplines: “If you’re a science or engineering Ph.D. thinking about options outside of research and are interested in cleantech and business, you can’t NOT apply for this course.”

Innovators value C2M’s help with technology positioning, target market assessment, customer needs identification, business model brainstorming, funding ideas, cost–performance tradeoff insights, and other deep market research that can be used with potential partners and investors. A recent study offered entrepreneurs from past cohorts the chance to describe C2M’s impact:

Any graduate student at UC Berkeley may apply for the C2M course, and we’ve accepted students from over 20 different disciplines as they are relevant to each year’s projects.

Haas students bid into the C2M course during the normal bidding process. Students from outside Haas fill out an online application and are selected based on the needs of each project. We have Haas students fill out the same application form after they bid into the course so we can assign them to teams based on their project preferences and backgrounds.

Students work on 4-6 person teams. The teams usually have 2-4 MBAs and 2-3 students from other disciplines. For example, a 6 person team might have 3 MBAs, a PhD in biochemistry, a law or public policy student, and one of the relevant engineering disciplines.

In addition to interim deliverables, C2M students produce two final work products:

Market Research Report (approximately 100 pages of core content plus appendices). In their market research reports, students cover topics such as:

• Potential application in multiple markets
• Alignment with target or desired market(s)
• Distinguishing advantages and disadvantages
• Customer and user profiles
• Top competitors
• Commercialization and scale-up challenges
• Relevant government policies
• Revenue potential and cost sensitivities
• Intellectual property issues
• Business and licensing models
• Possible venture, industry or research partners

Public Symposium: At the end of the semester, students present their findings to an audience of approximately 250 cleantech professionals. Each team has 20 minutes to present their technology and findings, after which they field 10 minutes of live Q/A from a very knowledgeable audience. Over the years, C2M’s annual symposium has evolved into a well-attended public conference where C2M students and our project entrepreneurs engage in valuable networking.

C2M is a three-unit course and is part of the Haas Applied Innovation Initiative. The course meets at Haas two days a week with additional events and teamwork outside of class. While we have to reconfirm this every year, C2M’s typical time slot is on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm with occasional guest speaker lunches after class at the Faculty Club (attendance at those are optional). C2M students are expected to invest roughly 9 hours per week in the course – 3 in class and 6 outside of class (teamwork and market research).

C2M sponsors, partners, and supporters share our vision of helping translate early-stage cleantech into successful startups. As a result, they help with project selection, team mentoring, financial support, and introductions to leading industry experts. In some cases, we share redacted versions of our commercialization studies to thank them for their support.

To learn more, check out:

• C2M Website
• C2M’s 2020 Projects
• Feedback from Students, Entrepreneurs & Partners on C2M Benefits.
• 2020 C2M Information Session Slides.
• 2019 C2M Syllabus Sample.
• 2019 C2M Symposium Brochure (showing projects, teams, and sponsors).