Construction begins on Bakar Labs incubator for energy-efficient startups | Research And Ideas

UC Berkeley has begun construction on the Bakar Labs for Energy and Materials, or BLEAM, facility, which will be designed as a business incubator for startups working on innovating the energy and materials science industries. 

This facility is a partnership between Bakar Labs, Turner Construction Company and campus. Architecture firm Gensler, as well as engineering and design services company A Squared Solutions, also collaborated with Turner on the facility. The planned five-story, 145,000-square-foot building will provide lab and office space for up to 75 early-stage companies with specialized equipment and support. It is intended to maximize UC Berkeley’s mission of providing long-term societal benefit. 

BLEAM is part of Bakar Labs, which has already hosted dozens of biotech companies on campus.According to its website, the parent organization’s mission is to reduce barriers to commercializing scientific discoveries and pursue “a double bottom line of profit and social good.” 

“The building is designed to foster breakthrough innovation in energy, materials, and manufacturing,” said campus spokesperson Kyle Gibson in an email. “Our goal is to give founders the tools and ecosystem they need to turn scientific discoveries into viable technologies and products.”

According to Gibson, the building is funded by donors and will provide startups with the opportunity to collaborate with faculty and students across diverse disciplines, such as chemistry, engineering, business and law.

Construction on the planned facility began in the fall of 2025 and is expected to finish in 2028. Once complete, the building will be gifted to UC Berkeley. 

“Tenants will include startups developing new materials, energy systems, advanced manufacturing, industrial decarbonization technologies, and circularity solutions,” Gibson said.

The companies that Bakar Labs typically hosts work at the intersection of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. Many come out of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They hope to expand by serving experienced founders across the Bay Area. 

Startups encouraged to apply include those working in carbon capture and storage, transportation, agriculture and energy generation, among others.

“(BLEAM) will underscore UC Berkeley’s leading role in these fields of research and innovation,” Gibson said in the email.