Strengthened disaster preparedness. Clearer information about supportive housing programs. Less waste in landfills, more accessible city websites and a community where small and underrepresented businesses have a greater chance at succeeding. 

These aren’t projects unique to the East Bay. But with a new collaboration between UC Berkeley and the city, their potential solutions might be. 

Applications opened today (Oct. 20) for the new Berkeley Civic Innovation Challenge, an initiative that will bring students’ entrepreneurial energy to those five civic challenges. After participants are selected later this semester, student teams will combine their creativity and technical expertise early next year in a seven-day contest, culminating in a pitch event at Berkeley SkyDeck where teams will share their prototypes and service models with local leaders. 

The project is being led by the UC Berkeley Big Ideas Contest, the campus’s 20-year-old accelerator program that has catalyzed more than 550 social ventures spanning 50 countries. Multiple winning teams of the new project will receive up to $4,000 plus fast-track opportunities into the Big Ideas final round.

It’s forging a deeper partnership between the city of Berkeley and the UC Berkeley campus.

Phillip Denny, UC Berkeley

Phillip Denny, director of the Big Ideas Contest, said the new project brings the campus’s unique entrepreneurial energy directly to local issues. 

“It’s forging a deeper partnership between the city of Berkeley and the UC Berkeley campus as students tackle real-world challenges identified by civic leaders right here in our own backyard,” Denny said. 

Leaders from across the community submitted over 20 ideas for challenges. A group of 100 students voted on the challenges that they felt were most urgent and exciting. 

The collaboration in some ways has been a long time coming. Past civic innovation projects that have stemmed from the Big Ideas program have included technologies to enhance disaster preparedness, address hunger and reduce food waste and improve college transfer success. The UC Office of the President, Berkeley Startup Cluster and Blum Center for Developing Economies are also supporting the initiative.

Plus, Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii participated in Big Ideas as an undergraduate. Her winning project proposed a student-led program to assist community college students with the transfer process and provide them with enhanced leadership opportunities.

Ishii said the new challenge is an exciting opportunity for students to engage with the city beyond campus borders. 

“As Berkeley residents, this is a chance for them to feel more connected to the community they live in and empowered to make a difference,” Ishii said. “The Challenge also allows students to apply what they’re learning in the classroom to develop tangible, real-world solutions to city challenges that Berkeley may not always have the capacity to address.”

The deadline to apply is Dec. 1.

Chancellor Rich Lyons likewise said he hoped this will be the start of a longstanding collaboration that fosters a more resilient and connected Berkeley community. 

“This is a wonderful example of how our support for, and leadership in, innovation and entrepreneurship programs can advance the greater good,” Lyons said. “I’m also thrilled to see how our programs are constantly adapting to the evolving interests and aspirations of our students.”