The University of California (UC) is recognized for its significant contributions to innovation and entrepreneurship. The National Academy of Inventors has consistently ranked UC as the top university worldwide for patents since 2013. In addition, TIME magazine recently included 13 ideas from UC faculty or alumni in its list of the best inventions of 2025. Data from Pitchbook shows that more companies have been founded by UC alumni than those from Stanford, Harvard, or MIT.
This environment supports students and faculty through a network of incubators, accelerators, commercialization experts, clubs, and curriculum programs aimed at moving research into practical applications.
Dominic Milano, founder and CEO of Milano Technical Group and a graduate of UC Merced with a degree in engineering, said: “I didn’t come from a wealthy family. I figured if I stayed in Merced and built a successful company after graduation, then a couple years down the road somebody else who came from a background like mine would see us and think, ‘If they can do it, so can I.’”
After working at Morning Star Company in research and development for agricultural production, Milano noticed a lack of local companies focused on agricultural innovation despite challenges such as an aging workforce and climate change. He stated: “That’s how I came to realize the massive gap between where California agriculture needs to be, in regards to technology innovation, and where it is. We have a lot of tradition in California agriculture, and the reluctancy to adopt new solutions is very, very clear.”
Milano founded his company in 2014 to develop automation solutions for agriculture. His firm has introduced technologies such as robotic harvesters and automated packing systems. Milano credits his company’s success partly to its Central Valley location near growers rather than Silicon Valley investors or developers. He also collaborates with CITRIS across four UC campuses to provide programming opportunities for students.
He added: “The best possible thing that could happen for the Central Valley is for people who are educated at UC Merced to stay here and build up the talent base and capital base. One way to retain really good people is to have really good companies, both monetarily and socially. So that’s what we are trying to do.”
Heather Hochrein co-founded EVmatch after earning her master’s degree from UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School. She explained: “In retrospect, starting EVmatch was a risky move because the electric vehicle market was so new when I started the company. But I felt the industry needed more leadership, especially focused on charging equity and access, and I didn’t see that happening anywhere else. Starting a company was the best way I saw to change that.”
While studying at UCSB in 2015 during early days for electric vehicles (EVs), Hochrein identified limited charging access as a barrier for renters wanting EVs. She worked with classmates on a business plan for peer-to-peer charger sharing among property owners.
“I didn’t expect to start a company,” Hochrein said. “But after working on this idea for a year and a half, we knew we were on to something, and we had too much momentum to let it go.” With support from UCSB grants and alumni investment she launched EVmatch in 2017.
Now leading ten employees at EVmatch focusing on software management for shared chargers at multifamily housing developments, Hochrein emphasized: “It’s important that the environmental sector consider jobs and job creation because frankly, economic development has been left out of the environmental conversation for decades. And what better way to fix that than to actually create your own company, where you also get to lead the culture and decide how you want to manage it?”
JuJu Clark graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in data science and business in 2023 before becoming CEO/cofounder of TANDM Surf as well as founder/CEO of Daramel.
Clark said: “I’m driven by wanting to bring the joy that I feel to others through what I create. Even though businesses do have to make money, the most rewarding thing to me is creating something new that didn’t exist in the world.”
She began her entrepreneurial journey teaching piano lessons as a teenager before joining her family’s surfboard business pitched on Shark Tank while still an undergraduate student.
Clark noted about her education: “My degrees from UC Berkeley prepared me not only with the technical skills needed to start and operate a business but also with the confidence that I can learn new things as I go.”
UC provides an ecosystem supporting these types of ventures by offering resources such as accelerators alongside networks of experienced alumni founders.
