Newswise — A new collaboration between the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) allows up to three Hertz Fellows a year to attend LLNL’s annual National Labs Entrepreneurship Academy.
The National Labs Entrepreneurship Academy is an intensive four-day commercialization program that gives researchers the tools to transfer their research and technologies out of the lab. Attendees hear lectures from experts in the technology development space and participate in hands-on exercises to craft and pitch their own commercialization ideas. LLNL’s long-time partner UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship develops and presents the curriculum.
“The goal of the Entrepreneurship Academy is to train scientific researchers in business skills. Being able to identify and communicate a value proposition for your technology is useful not only in creating a company, but also in your day-to-day job of science,” says Hannah Farquar, who leads the Business Intelligence and Market Analysis group within LLNL’s Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO).
The academy was originally developed for scientists who work at LLNL and Sandia National Laboratories. The new collaboration expands access for Hertz Fellows across the country who are selected through an application process. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been hosting the academy since 2015 and has trained over 400 national lab researchers and their partners. Including Hertz Fellows is beneficial because it aligns similar goals: to expand the national pipeline of science and technology leaders, accelerate opportunities and increase collaboration among the top scientific minds.
The new partnership builds on years of collaboration between the Hertz Foundation and LLNL. Many Hertz Fellows have come to work at LLNL throughout their careers, including Lab Director Kim Budil and Will Evans, Physics Division leader in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate. They both now serve on the Hertz Foundation board. In total, 48 Hertz Fellows have worked at LLNL and 12 have worked at Sandia National Laboratories during their careers.
The Hertz Foundation believes that investment in science and technology fuels our nation’s security and economic vitality and leads to life-changing innovation. This vision strongly aligns with LLNL’s aim to fearlessly and relentlessly pursue big ideas to solve the most important security challenges.
Hertz Fellows are tackling some of the most transformative scientific challenges of today, working to advance U.S. security and economic vitality. Fellows are accepted into the prestigious Hertz Fellowship program as doctoral students and remain part of an influential network as they complete their studies and go on to become leaders in academic, public and private sectors in various roles. Hertz Fellows have been elected members of the National Academies, selected as Nobel and Breakthrough Prize winners, and recipients of other noted national and international awards. Their research often has direct utility in commercial settings, and many Fellows eventually invent new technologies and launch or lead companies.
“We’re thrilled to have a new opportunity for Hertz Fellows to build their entrepreneurial skills,” says Hertz Foundation President Robbee Baker Kosak. “This collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory offers Hertz Fellows a new tool to forge connections and launch commercial ventures, which can accelerate the impact of their work throughout their careers.”
In March 2024, Hertz Fellow Charles Dove, a fourth-year electrical engineering and computer science PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley, became the first Hertz Fellow to attend the Entrepreneurship Academy. Dove studies how to use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to simulate the behavior of light and better understand electromagnetic wave physics. His research has implications in developing new microscopy, medical imaging, and photonic and remote sensing technologies.
Dove expects to graduate from UC Berkeley in 2025 and is planning to launch a startup company commercializing AI-based physics simulation. Leveraging this experience, Dove is planning to apply for additional funding through Hertz’s Newman-Galas Entrepreneurial Initiative to advance his ideas.
“The National Laboratories program was an excellent opportunity for me to grow as an entrepreneur,” he says. “It was very tailored toward people like me who are starting from the more technical side but want to develop their business leadership skills.”
Entrepreneurship Academy attendees do not need full-fledged business pitches, but many — like Dove — come with ideas in the early planning stages that they want to develop further, or a deep interest in business leadership. Throughout the four-day academy, attendees have opportunities to discuss their ideas with technology transfer experts and connect with leaders across academia, government and industry.
“The best part of the academy experience for me was the people,” says Dove. “I got to interact with Lawrence Livermore National Lab scientists who are working on similar technologies to me, and I’ve already been in touch again with several of the people I met there.”
The opportunity to attend the National Labs Entrepreneurship Academy adds to the plethora of lifelong programming that Hertz Fellows have access to, including mentoring, events and networking. Fellows already benefit from partnerships with influential organizations in science, technology, national security and philanthropy, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hertz Corporation and the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group.
“We know that Hertz Fellows can benefit from our entrepreneurship training, and we hope that it also leads to continued collaboration between those Hertz Fellows and our national laboratory scientists, so we see this as a win-win,” says Farquar.
Applications for Hertz Fellows to attend the 2025 National Labs Entrepreneurship Academy will open in August 2024.
About Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a premier applied science laboratory that is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration within the Department of Energy. LLNL's mission is strengthening national security by developing and applying cutting-edge science, technology, and engineering that respond with vision, quality, integrity, and technical excellence to scientific issues of national importance. The Laboratory's science and engineering are being applied to achieve breakthroughs for counterterrorism and nonproliferation, defense and intelligence, energy and environmental security. The world-class programs and capabilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory span one square mile, what many consider to be "the smartest square mile on Earth."
About the Hertz Foundation
Founded in 1957, the John and Fannie Hertz Foundation accelerates solutions to the world's most pressing challenges, from enhancing national security to improving human health. Through the Hertz Fellowship, the Foundation identifies the nation's most promising young innovators and disruptors in science and technology, empowering them to become the future leaders who keep our country safe and secure. Today, a community of more than 1,300 Hertz Fellows are a powerful, solution-oriented network of our nation's top scientific minds, working to address complex problems and contributing to the economic vitality of our country.
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