13 UC Berkeley Student-Led Teams Named Finalists of the 20th Annual Big Ideas Competition
With a record number of submissions this year, we tasked our most seasoned judges to review and rank this year’s Big Ideas. Scored on innovation, social impact, and feasibility, 13 UC Berkeley student-led teams were invited to advance to the final round of the 20th Annual Rudd Family Foundation Big Ideas Contest. These 13 Finalists will now attend workshops and be mentored by experts to help them vie for the 20K grand prize.
The 2025-2026 pre-proposal applications included numerous innovative, sustainable solutions to a wide variety of real-world challenges, collectively supporting the Big Ideas and Blum Center’s mission of using human-centered and sustainable technology to make a social impact. UC Berkeley students showed a high-level of creativity as they reimagined infrastructure, healthcare, and digital tools to work in the most constrained, high-impact, and underserved contexts. Many projects tackled challenges in public health in areas such as cell therapy, glaucoma prevention and overdose reversal. The environment was also a notable concern, including many ideas centered around clean energy and materials, such as reducing methane emissions and toxic PFAS.
“The most valuable part of the pre-proposal process was how Big Ideas’ emphasis on meaningful social impact pushed us to deepen our research far beyond our initial assumptions,” said Erica Chen and team Narcopen, a finalist. “The application criteria compelled us to return to foundational literature, engage more intentionally with field data, and rigorously examine the lived realities of the communities we aim to serve. This process not only strengthened our problem definition, but also sharpened our understanding of the systemic gaps our solution must address.”
This competition will culminate in May 2026 with the 20th Anniversary Pitch Day and Gala, an invite-only event to name the Grand Prize Winners and recognize and thank distinguished judges, long-serving mentors and key partners over the years.
Applicants who do not progress to the final round still benefit from first-round judging feedback, the opportunity to network, attend workshops and flesh out their ideas with support from Big Ideas advisors and industry professionals.
For more information on how you or your University can collaborate with Big Ideas, please email Phillip Denny, Big Ideas Director, at pdenny@berkeley.edu. To stay updated on events and opportunities, please sign up for the Big Ideas newsletter or email bigideas@berkeley.edu.
About Big Ideas: The Big Ideas Contest is an annual competition that empowers students to use their skills, knowledge, and creativity to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. The contest provides a platform for students to develop and showcase their innovative ideas, fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to positive change. It is made possible thanks to its generous partners which include: The Rudd Family Foundation, Blum Center for Developing Economies, and University of California Office of the President.
The 2025–2026 Big Ideas Finalists:
Aether
Big Ideas Finalist
Over 700M people lack electricity, especially in Africa. Half of buildings that will exist by 2050 have not yet been built, while global power demand surges. We embed modular supercapacitor cassettes in concrete, bridging energy storage and building design so buildings become energy infrastructure.
BahaWatch
Big Ideas Finalist
A holistic flood early warning system that integrates low-cost IoT sensors and AI forecasting to deliver locally relevant risk communications. Working with Philippine disaster relief partners on the ground, BahaWatch empowers climate resilience in the country’s most underserved communities.
GlaucoGlasses
Big Ideas Finalist
We are the world’s first ultrasound-integrated smart glasses continuously monitoring eye pressure at 92% accuracy, 95% cheaper than existing devices. With 30+ clinical partners, 7+ LOIs, & $168K+ in customer intent, we aim to save vision for 80M glaucoma patients & revolutionize eyecare at scale.
MagGenix
Big Ideas Finalist
MagGenix is developing a magnetogenetic platform that seeks to enable precise, magnetically-localized activation of cell therapies (such as CAR-T) at and only at solid tumor sites, reducing off-target toxicity and expanding the safety, efficacy, and therapeutic reach of cellular immunotherapies.
MedicAI
Big Ideas Finalist
MedicAI is an AI-powered pediatric decision support tool that uses computer vision to estimate child’s weight from single smartphone image and instantly generate medication dosing. Designed for low-resource emergency settings, it helps clinicians deliver safer, faster care when time and cost matter.
MOFarm
Big Ideas Finalist
MOFarm is paying farmers to capture and sell their dairy methane emissions. Using MOFs (Metal Organic Frameworks) and Magnetic Induction Swing Adsorption, we can capture and release methane at ultra-low concentrations. Our innovation will bring a much needed new revenue stream to dairy farmers.
Narcopen
Big Ideas Finalist
Rasma
Big Ideas Finalist
ReWeave Bio
Big Ideas Finalist
ReWeave Bio eliminates toxic PFAS from firefighter gear using a novel enzyme-based coating. Our bio-catalytic process permanently grafts safe, water-repellent molecules to fabrics, offering a durable, drop-in solution that protects frontline heroes and the environment.
Rooh
Big Ideas Finalist
Communication infrastructure helping students rehearse and improve through private practice, interactive simulations, and multimodal feedback. Built for K–12 and higher ed, it enables equitable, culturally responsive verbal and nonverbal development at institutional scale.
SipDisk
Big Ideas Finalist
SipDisk is a discreet 1.5-inch drink-spiking test that detects the eight most common date-rape drugs—more than any test on the market. Built into a small keychain disk, it gives women a fast, affordable way to verify a drink is safe, so they can enjoy nights out with confidence.
SteamClave
Big Ideas Finalist
Existing autoclaves are often electric, expensive, or too complex for low-resource healthcare settings. SteamClave provides an affordable, multi-fuel, off-grid, sensor-guided sterilization solution for clinics with unreliable electricity, ensuring WHO-compliant sterilization.
Veridian
Big Ideas Finalist
Veridian seeks to expand access to justice. It is a human rights case law discovery tool that takes descriptions of harm and provides cogent, citation-supported summaries of relevant cases across global courts and treaty bodies.