Open Innovation Program
About the Program
The Open Innovation Program at the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation works alongside the Berkeley Innovation Squad to facilitate open innovation knowledge across industries by assisting industry-leading brands to address core challenges and accelerate growth. The Berkeley Innovation Squad is led by world-renowned academic staff and MBA students from the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, was founded at the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation to generate social impact by solving corporate challenges through open innovation. Join us in challenging the status quo.
Requirements
Interview Process
- Apply online by filling in all the sections
- If there’s a match, our leadership team will reach out for a screening interview over video
- After your interviews, we’ll review your application internally
- We’ll inform you about our decision within 7 days of the last interview
What We Are Looking For
- Enrolled students from any UC Berkeley school who can commit themselves to a long-term project
- Naturally curious students who are passionate about researching and solving problems
- A superb team player – we love sharing knowledge with each other
- Available to attend at least one Berkeley Innovation Forum conference
What Success Looks Like
- Attend at least 80% of the team meetings
- Familiarise yourself with Open Innovation, Business Model Canvas, methods, tools, and strategies used by multinational enterprises & startups
- Learn how to work in a cross-functional team
- Present the final product with the team to the Berkeley Innovation Forum
- Receive an Open Innovation Program Certificate signed by our faculty
Leadership Team
Solomon Darwin
Executive Director, Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation
Henry Chesbrough
Faculty Director, Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation
Almog Goldstein
Berkeley Innovation Squad Lead, Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation
Challenges
Balance Sheet of the Earth Challenge
Join the Earth CEO Movement
Challenge: Develop a tool that is easy to access on mobile devices having the following features:
- Simple to understand at a glance
- Visualize the magnitude of the problem
- Communicates urgency with intended consequences
- Enables interactive communication with a feedback loop to form communities around the world
- Creates regional and global consensus to send a message to global leaders (political and corporate)
- Generates social capital formation to take action against those who are destroying the planet
- Begs a response from political & corporate leaders for the world to hear their response
- Applies to every individual’s contribution – compare it to their peers and global averages.
Student Project Mentors and Corporate Collaborators
Michael Hesse
Director of Science, NASA Ames
Matt Hancher
Engineering Lead and Founder, Google Earth and Earth Engine
Kimberly Miner
Climate Scientist, Jet Propulsions Laboratory
Robbie Schingler
Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at Planet Labs
George Jacob
President & CEO, Bay Ecotarium
Piyush Modi
Business Development and Chief Strategist, Industrial Sector Nvidia
Mallik Tatipamula
CTO, Ericsson
Ericsson Challenge
Challenge: Monetizing 5G – Network as a Platform
- Research 5G network capabilities and use cases or applications that need 5G capabilities.
- Identify top three use cases of 5G backed by data indicating customer need and traction including but not limited to metaverse technologies.
- Study potential business models that could be successful as new applications and models emerge
- Provide possible opportunities for Ericsson and how 5G can unlock opportunities that were otherwise not possible.
- Identify how monetizing 5G will create value for the entire Ericsson ecosystem.
Student Project Mentors and Corporate Collaborators
Salman Taj
VP, Innovation/ Head of Ericsson ONE, Americas, Ericsson
Mallik Tatipamula
CTO, Ericsson