FELLOWSHIP QUESTIONS?
Our team is here to help! Feel free to send any questions regarding the Innovator Fellowship to innovatorfellowship@ucdavis.edu.
- Timeline: January through August 2024, part-time for 9 months. Fellow will be working with their firm remotely or from/on the UC Davis campus
- Application deadline: Friday, October 15
- Selection: Two fellows will be selected to join the next cohort, one with each firm
- Support:
- PhDs: take over support of existing GSR appointment at 50% time
- Postdocs: 50% of salary covered
- Support for professional development, travel, conferences, and limited research expenses
- Info Session: Tuesday, October 3, 12-1 pm; Register on Zoom
- Timeline: June through December 2024
- Spring start may be allowed
- 3 months part-time, remote followed by
- 3 months full immersion in-person at offices of venture capital firm
- Application: Not Yet Open (January)
- Selection: Three fellows will be selected to join the next cohort, and engage part-time
- Support:
- PhDs: support existing GSR appointment at 50% time
- Postdocs: 75% of salary covered
- Support for professional development, travel, accommodation while working onsite, conferences, and limited research expenses
- Info Session: TBD
Innovator Fellowship | Cohort 16 | Radicle Growth + The March Group
OPPORTUNITY 1
Radicle Growth selects innovative, early-stage companies for investment, ensuring that disruptive AgTech & Food Tech companies reach their full potential. In addition to providing seed-stage capital, Radicle Growth provides a fertile environment for visionaries in the ag and food space to flourish. Their proprietary platform is one of a kind in the ag and food industry, filling a huge void in the market by identifying the most innovative technologies and accelerating them with a range of value-creation initiatives.
Based in: San Diego
Your appointment: Remote
Candidates with coursework or experience related to one or more of the following areas (or similar) are strongly desired: Digital Agriculture: Predictive Analytics, Sensors and IoT, Supply Chain Tech, Connectivity, Robotics and Automation etc; New Consumer Food Demands: Natural Ingredients, Clean Label, Sugar/Salt Reduction, Health and Wellness, New Protein Sources; Implementation of New Business Models in Ag: Ag Fintech, Carbon Markets, Vertical Farming/CEA, Farming-as-a-Service; Emerging Tech in Ag: Genomics & Proteomics, Genome Editing, Edge Computing, Computational Biology, High-Resolution Imaging, Synthetic Biology.
OPPORTUNITY 2
The March Group (“March”) is a VC fund platform committed to supporting and investing in entrepreneurs and companies developing and bringing exponential technologies to food, health and sustainability. March’s investment strategy involves becoming recognized as the leading investor in critical and transformative technology solutions, and aims to achieve this by investing into companies and funds that focus on developing core intellectual property around game-changing sustainable solutions that are aligned with globally relevant sustainability trends and benefits.
With over a decade of experience as a team, our General Partners have a proven track record of investments and operations: visit this page to read about our team in detail.
Based in: Davis and Hong Kong
Your appointment: UC Davis campus, and Remote
Candidates with coursework or experience related to one or more of the following areas (or similar) are strongly desired: synthetic biology, data science, artificial intelligence, clean energy, microbiome & gut health, carbon capture, any sustainability related.
Details
Expectations & Deliverables
- Enthusiastic engagement with venture capital host
- 1-quarter Enrollment in Graduate School of Management’s MBA Food & Ag Immersion seminar
- Completion of UC Entrepreneur Academy
- Attendance at 3 Student Startup Series at the Student Startup Center
- One-day X (Twitter) Takeover
- Participation in book club and gatherings
- Kickoff and final meeting presentations
- Final report
Eligibility
Applicants from UC Davis only:
- PhD students who have passed Qualifying Exam
- Post doctoral scholars
- Technical fields preferred
Candidates from all fields welcome to apply, but most successful candidates come from technical fields that align with needs of VCs, listed above.
Candidates must have support from PI approving the applicant’s engagement.
Selection Criteria
Looking for candidates with:
- Interest in using innovation to solve food, ag or health challenges
- Interest in entrepreneurship and advancing innovative research or business concepts
- Professional drive to bring their scientific expertise to the business sector and help shape the future of the food and health industry
- Skill sets and knowledge of relevance to recruiting venture capital firms (see descriptions above)
Application Requirements
Please apply to one or both venture capital groups by providing the following documentation:
- Resume or CV (PDF)
- Letter of interest detailing current PhD research, why the program is of interest to you, and how your career goals align, and relevant experience (max. 2 pages, PDF)
- Letter of support from PI approving the applicant’s graduation. (max. 1 page each, PDF)
- Optional: Letter of recommendation from someone other than PI, speaking to complementary strengths
Please combine items 1-4 above (in the order they are listed) into one single PDF for submission. Further information can be found on the submission form.
Please note you must be signed into your UC Davis or Google account to apply. Problems? Contact innovatorfellowship@ucdavis.edu.
Deadline to apply Friday, October 15, 2023