BGA Academy

Experience Deep Tech entreprenuership.

BGA Academy is a summer program for high school and college students. It takes place inside Berkeley Gateway Accelerator, an active deep tech accelerator in downtown Berkeley. Students work on real projects, hear from founders and investors, and develop skills in leadership, entrepreneurship, and professional communication.

Summer program

Use Al tools to research, write, and build across every week of the program

Learn to read a market, size an opportunity, and understand where capital flows in deep tech.

Committed to developing and upholding sustainable practices

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Program Goals

For Students

Hands-on exposure to deep tech innovation, entrepreneurship & venture capital through workshops, expert speakers, and real work assignments.

For Our Community

Real project outputs: ecosystem research, competitive analysis, startup marketing, and media that the BGA team actually uses.

For Us

A concrete connection between high school, university, and the startup community in the East Bay.

Find your Voice

Communication styles, professional presence, personal brand, LinkedIn, cold outreach,
customer discovery, and AI as a work tool. You figure out what you know, how you
communicate, and how to reach the right people.

Learn about Markets

How deep tech gets funded, how IP works, market sizing, business models, competitive
landscape analysis, and visual communication. The mechanics of how companies get
built and backed.

Discovery and Assessment

Investor thinking, pitch construction, personal brand audit, ethics in entrepreneurship, and a personal operating system. The program ends with Showcase Day: a live presentation to founders, investors, and guests.

BGA Academy is built around four signature elements that run across all three weeks. These are not one-off activities. They are the structure the program is built on.

Skill Building

Every skill in the program (communication, presence, outreach, deep tech knowledge, building) runs across all three weeks at increasing depth. Week 1 is introduction. Week 2 is application. Week 3 is ownership. Students don't sample topics. They develop them.

Projects

Each student picks a real project on Day 1 and builds it across three weeks. Options include ecosystem research, startup marketing, competitive analysis, and media production, or propose your own.

Digital Handshake

Every student leaves with a LinkedIn profile that reflects who they are, cold outreach messages written and tested during the program, and at least one professional contact from BGA's expert network. These are not assignments. They are the actual tools professionals use to build a career.

Showcase day

Each student presents their BGA project to founders, investors, family, and guests. Five minutes of presentation, two minutes of Q&A, and poster showcases. The evening closes with a short celebration.

Students are not graded in a traditional academic sense. Progress is tracked through the Skill Tree and the quality of real work outputs. BGA staff provide direct feedback at the end of each week

Get in touch

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Please contact us to learn more.

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Details

Build practical skills through hands-on deep tech projects.

Learn how breakthrough technologies move from idea to market.

Work alongside Berkeley founders, investors, and industry experts.

Leave with a completed project, stronger network, and clear next steps.

BGA Academy

Understand how deep tech companies get built, funded, and brought to market.

Sample schedule

Curriculum

Frequently Asked Questions

BGA Academy

Understand how deep tech companies get built, funded, and brought to market.

Sample schedule

Curriculum

Frequently Asked Questions

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