Chancellor Gary S. May issued the following letter to faculty and staff today (Jan. 9).

Dear Colleagues:

The UC Board of Regents is now inviting nominations for the UC Regents Innovation Awards, a new systemwide program that recognizes exceptional innovations by UC faculty and research scientists across the University’s ten campuses and three national laboratories.

This awards program stems from recommendations by faculty advisors to the Regents Working Group on Innovation Transfer & Entrepreneurship, which the UC Board of Regents convened in December 2019 to strengthen UC’s ability to translate academic discoveries into real-world products and services that improve lives. The working group’s recommendations were adopted by the full Board in May 2021 and codified in Regents Policy 5105, which governs the University’s innovation transfer and entrepreneurship enterprise.

These annual awards will highlight groundbreaking research, impactful startups, and transformative partnerships that exemplify UC’s commitment to advancing societal well-being through innovation. In addition to recognizing individual achievements, the program will showcase the collective impact of UC innovation on society, the economy, and the advancement of knowledge.

Award categories (five):

• Gamechanger Award – Honors a faculty member or researcher whose invention has resulted in a product, technology, or service now in public use and has demonstrably improved societal well-being, generated economic benefit, and/or advanced scientific understanding.
• Disruptive Research Award – Recognizes use-inspired research of exceptional novelty that has not yet been translated into practice but shows strong potential to lead to transformative technologies, products, or services.
• Best Startup Award – Awarded to a faculty member or researcher who founded an outstanding new company grounded in UC research and aimed at addressing societal needs.
• Community Changemaker Award – Honors a private-sector leader or organization that has made substantial contributions to advancing social and economic prosperity through support of UC’s innovation enterprise.
• Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award – Celebrates a faculty member or researcher whose career includes multiple innovations that have produced long-term positive impacts and who serves as an inspiration to aspiring UC inventors and entrepreneurs.

Up to three systemwide awardees will be selected in each category. Recipients of the Gamechanger, Disruptive Research, and Best Startup awards will receive a minimum cash prize of $10,000.

UC Davis nomination process

UC Davis may advance one nominee per award category for systemwide consideration. We are now seeking nominations from faculty and staff.

• Please submit the name of your nominee along with a brief justification (100 words or fewer) explaining why they should be nominated.
• Submit nominations via InfoReady by Feb. 6, 2026.
• Nominators may submit nominations in any or all categories; however, only one nomination per category per faculty or staff member is permitted.
• The Chancellor’s Innovation Council will select the UC Davis nominees to advance to the systemwide competition.

The UC President’s Entrepreneurship Network Council will conduct the systemwide review in June 2026, with final selections made by the Board of Regents in July 2026. Awardees will be honored at a celebration in August 2026 at the UC Student & Policy Center in Sacramento, with legislators and special guests invited. Additional details on eligibility criteria, nomination procedures, and timelines are available on the UC Regents Innovation Awards webpage. Should you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to Chief Strategy Officer and Chief of Staff Karl Engelbach at kmengelbach@ucdavis.edu.

Thank you in advance for your participation and for helping to recognize the extraordinary innovation taking place at UC Davis.

Best regards, 

Gary S. May
Chancellor