Roberts Innovation Fund FY 2026

Acceleration requires more than funding.  It requires research, mentorship and community. This year we were grateful to deploy one million dollars, while we also worked to expand our network of mentors and entrepreneurs-in-residence, and deliver supportive programming.  The combination of funding, community, programming and mentorship is what can help move a breakthrough in the lab into a company, a license or a technology that can transform the world.—Claudia Reuter, Executive Director, Roberts Innovation Fund

The lab-to-market accelerator for Yale Engineering spans that full range of ambition: AI-enabled scientific discovery, extreme-materials synthesis, bioelectronic platforms for epilepsy, camera-based force-torque sensing for robotics, and privacy-preserving distributed systems for finance and healthcare. Awardees receive not only capital but mentorship, industry access, more than $1.8 million in cloud computing credits from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, and a showcase at the annual Yale Innovation Summit.

Beyond the awards themselves, FY 2026 saw the fund's surrounding ecosystem deepen considerably. Working closely with Yale Ventures Entrepreneur-in-Resident (EIR) mentor network, the Roberts team built its roster of engineering-focused EIRs to more than 70.  In addition, the team, which includes Grace O’Keefe, Senior Portfolio Manager, and several associates from Yale graduate programs, expanded programming on every front including the Yale Engineering Innovation Fellows cohort, a new engineering-focused virtual workshop series, and Developer Day at the Yale Innovation Summit, all of which drew strong faculty and student engagement.  

The fund's impact compounds across cohorts. Prior awardees continue to spin out and scale such as Cohort One's Lagrange to Cohort Two's InPhred and LeibnizAI, validating the model that early accelerator support converts frontier research into companies, licenses, and adopted technology.

Managed by Yale Ventures and overseen by the Office of the Dean of the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science, the Fund focuses on breakthrough technologies developed by Yale Engineering faculty. The Roberts Innovation Fund is made possible by a generous gift from Yale alumnus Will Roberts ’90. 

Top News Stories

Yale Innovation Summit

DEVELOPER DAY

Yale Ventures and the Roberts Innovation Fund spotlighted the future of technology at the 2026 Yale Innovation Summit with the debut of Developer Day, a new, hands-on experience that reframed how innovation shows up on campus. Less panel, more practice, Developer Day signaled a shift toward building in real time. Held on May 27, the inaugural Developer Day program invited developers, engineers, and product leaders into a space designed for experimentation and education. Attendees got early access to emerging tools, engaged directly with the teams behind them, and moved quickly from curiosity to application with companies ranging from Google to D-Wave and Quantinuum.

About the Roberts Innovation Fund

The Roberts Innovation Fund was launched in 2022 to provide funding, mentoring, and strategic support for Yale faculty-led projects to assist in the commercialization of breakthrough inventions that solve real-world problems. Faculty applicants also receive valuable feedback from an experienced team of advisors, including the Fund’s director and an external advisory board from industry, all of whom have invested in and/or built technology ventures.

Led by Claudia Reuter, Director of the Roberts Innovation Fund in Yale Ventures, and overseen by the Office of the Dean of the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science, the Fund focuses on breakthrough technologies developed by Yale Engineering faculty. The Roberts Innovation fund is supported from a generous gift from Yale alumnus Will Roberts ’90.