Quick Information for Applicants

Registration vs Application
If you have already registered, you don’t need to sign up again to receive the application. The link to your application portal has already been sent to your email. 

Single Applicant vs Co-applicants
There is no advantage to applying solo or with a co-applicant. If you have a co-applicant, only one of you should submit both of your contact information in the form after clicking “apply now”. If you both sign up separately, your application will not be connected. 

Eligibility
The first step of the application this year is an eligibility check. Once you’ve saved your answers to the eligibility check, you will receive an email update with your eligibility status within a few hours. 

Fellowship Timeline

Eligibility

To be eligible, you…

• Must have a bachelor’s degree and four+ years post-baccalaureate scientific research, engineering, or technology development experience.

• Must be the leader of a technical project or company that is relevant to our target industries and is based in the physical or biological sciences, or related engineering disciplines.

• Must be leading the commercial development of a hardware-based technology innovation for the first time i.e. not a repeat hard-tech founder. You may apply as a solo applicant or with one co-applicant.

• Must not have raised more than $2,000,000 in debt or equity funding from non-governmental sources for the proposed project at the time of the application deadline.

• Project or company must still be in development and not yet ready for full-scale product sales at the time of the application deadline.

• Must be legally able to work in the U.S. for the duration of the fellowship.

Learn More

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What We Look For

Entrepreneurial Potential
Can you mobilize the physical, financial, and intellectual resources needed to advance your proposed project? Have you identified and prioritized project milestones to create value and reduce risk? Can you operate in situations with a high degree of ambiguity and incomplete information?

Leadership
We all have professional strengths and opportunities for development, but we want to see how you productively respond to constructive criticism to grow professionally, manage conflict, act with integrity, and demonstrate a willingness to take responsibility for your actions. How well do you engage with diverse technical and non-technical stakeholders? Your written and spoken communications should persuade and inspire others.

Technical Excellence
Fellows should be deeply knowledgeable in the field of their proposed project, but also show the ability to quickly learn new concepts, develop new skills, and adapt to new technical information. Can you independently and safely lead the technical work involved in the proposed project?

Participation
How will you support an inclusive, equitable, and diverse environment—in the fellowship community and in the wider innovation ecosystem? In what ways have you positively contributed to teams, supported others, and participated in professional communities?

Feasibility
Is your proposed project rooted in sound scientific principles and feasible within the confines of the two-year fellowship? Does it have a clear and organized plan with well-reasoned technical milestones and a risk mitigation plan? Does it present a credible path to scale, including viable entry markets or the potential to pivot?

Impact Potential and Sponsor Alignment
Does your proposed project have the potential to impact one of the Activate Imperatives or one of our eight target industries? Is your technology reasonably differentiated from existing solutions and commercial efforts?

Highest and Best Use of Fellowship
Will the fellowship and access to proposed qualified host laboratories meaningfully alter the trajectory of your project? Will participation improve the timeline or probability of success?

Questions about the fellowship or how to apply?