LLOYD GREIF CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL STUDIES
With nearly 70 specialized courses taught by 30+ professors and practitioners, a venture incubator, summer accelerator, pitch contests, and an alumni network built over 45 years, the Greif Center at USC Marshall offers everything you need to research, launch, acquire, finance, grow, and sell your company. Our alumni have started industry-leading companies across many industries, including Salesforce, Box, Kinko’s, MySpace, Tinder, and Cherokee Uniforms. U.S. News and World Report currently ranks the Greif Center as #3 in undergraduate entrepreneurship programs.
USC GAMES PROGRAM
Recognized as the #1 game design program in North America by the Princeton Review and GamePro Magazine, USC Games represents an exciting collaboration between the School of Cinematic Arts’ Interactive Media & Games Division and the Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. Incorporating elements of design, artistry and engineering, USC Games offers an utterly unique educational experience for students, and serves as the launching pad for them to play significant roles in the game design field. With rigorous, hands-on instruction from master designers, engineers and working professionals in the industry, students have an unprecedented level of opportunity to delve into every aspect of creating games for a global audience..
IOVINE & YOUNG ACADEMY
Conceived as a collaborative environment that brings exceptional students together with visionary faculty and professional mentors, the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation is a transformational presence on one of the nation’s most dynamic university campuses.
The undergraduate degree program focuses on nurturing and developing original thought, leading to breakthrough products, systems, technologies and more. Drawing on the talents and experiences of industry leaders from a vast array of fields and driven by passionate, committed faculty, the Academy empowers the next generation of disruptors to change the face of society.
USC MARSHALL CENTER FOR GLOBAL INNOVATION
The USC Marshall Center for Global Innovation aims to be a thought leader in innovation as it relates to the welfare of consumers, the success of firms, and the wealth of nations. The Center targets large global companies because of their impact on consumers, governments, and societies — employing more people, making products that more people use, and making the world a better place through innovation.
ANNENBERG INNOVATION LAB
The Annenberg Innovation Lab is a high-energy, fast-paced Think & Do Tank in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. We define innovation as a social, collaborative process involving artists, scientists, humanists and industry professionals working together on new problems and opportunities raised by technological and cultural change. Our mission is to foster real-world innovation at the dynamic intersection of media and culture.
The Lab emphasizes research that combines theory and practice to understand the ongoing evolution of media and its impact on governments, businesses, education, creators and consumers, with a particular focus on the future of the media landscape and its impact on society over the next 3-5 years.
INNOVATION: THE DIGITAL ENTREPRENEUR MINOR
The Minor in Innovation: The Digital Entrepreneur is jointly sponsored by the Information Technology Program in the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in the USC Marshall School of Business. The minor is designed for students from a wide range of backgrounds who are interested in starting their own digital ventures, working for start-up companies, or pursuing traditional jobs with large corporations and consulting firms that may involve launching new digital business units. Students will learn all major elements of launching a digital venture including digital disruption, ideation, high-tech product management, online customer acquisition, technology implementation, online business models, digital marketing and monetization. Open to all students interested in launching their own digital venture while at USC and those that wants to learn the major elements of launching a digital venture.
USC INNOVATION
USC’s research benefits society through innovations in health, the environment, security and energy supply. We also create sound, interactive media and visualization technology that is being used in movies, television and gaming. The resources below are available to USC innovators and to those who wish to work with USC innovators. Also, visit our featured innovations page.
ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY CENTER
The Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California (ETC@USC) is a think tank and research center that brings together senior executives, innovators, thought leaders, and catalysts from the entertainment, consumer electronics, technology, and services industries along with the academic resources of the University of Southern California to explore and to act upon topics and issues related to the creation, distribution, and consumption of entertainment content.
M-HEALTH COLLABORATORY
Mobile health (mHealth) technologies are ubiquitous, interactive and poised to improve the health and well being of people around the globe. Across USC, and with our partners at other institutions, we are fueling a revolution in mobile and connected health.
The USC mHealth Collaboratory has emerged at an historic nexus, where academia, industry, designers and users are joining forces to push the boundaries of trans-disciplinary science to develop personalized, adaptive health promotion, disease prevention and patient-centered care “just in time” — in the context and at the moment that can make the most impact. mHealth offers accessible, informed and responsive prevention and treatment modalities, with unprecedented capacities to reach the underserved.
ISI – INFORMATION SCIENCES INSTITUTE
The Information Sciences Institute (ISI) is a world leader in research and development of advanced information processing, computer and communications technologies.
A unit of the University of Southern California’s highly ranked Viterbi School of Engineering, ISI is one of the nation’s largest, most successful university-affiliated computer research institutes. The Institute attracts nearly $60 million annually for basic and applied research from federal agencies and the private sector.
Our work ranges from theoretical basic research, such as core engineering and computer science discovery, to applied research and development, such as design and modeling of innovative prototypes and devices.
INSTITUTE FOR CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
At the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), leaders in the artificial intelligence, graphics, virtual reality and narrative communities are working to advance immersive techniques and technologies to solve problems facing service members, students and society.
ICT brings film and game industry artists together with computer and social scientists to study and develop immersive media for military training, health therapies, education and more.
Research projects explore and expand how people engage with computers, through virtual characters, video games and simulated scenarios. ICT is a recognized leader in the development of virtual humans who look, think and behave like real people.
M2E – MEDIA, ECONOMICS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
USC Annenberg’s Media, Economics & Entrepreneurship program is an interdisciplinary academic program providing insight and conducting actionable discussion about evolving business models for communication and journalism.
The world is changing. Technology is transforming the platforms that have been the backbone of content publishing industries such as music, television and journalism. The volatility of the economic environment and the quickening pace of technological change are forcing policy makers, communications professionals and news organizations to adapt and innovate as never before.
Now more than ever, journalists and communication professionals must lead the way in determining how news and information will be produced, packaged, and distributed.
USC MARSHALL CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION
The Center for Technology Commercialization’s mission is to identify, encourage, and support technology entrepreneurship activities among the faculty, students, and staff of the University of Southern California. CTC assists in the areas of IP issues, business feasibility analysis, business design, start-up financing, management team acquisition, preparation for funding, and related issues. Since 1997 when the original Technology Commercialization Alliance was launched, a partnership of the Marshall School of Business, the Keck School of Medicine, and the Viterbi School of Engineering, CTC has worked with hundreds of researchers and students as well as with other centers and programs across the UPC and Health Sciences campuses. CTC also offers a university certificate in Technology Commercialization.
USC INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GAMES
In the Interactive Media & Games Division (IMGD), you’ll explore the full potential of game design and interactive experiences. You’ll learn about the depth and diversity of the form-from AAA development processes to indie and experimental genres of play, from virtual and alternate realities to expressive and meaningful games designed to enrich, educate, and influence a wide audience. You’ll explore how game design intersects with emerging interactive experiences like networked environments and social media, theme park design, environmental media, interactive cinema, as well as experimental and art games.
VITERBI STUDENT INNOVATION INSTITUTE
VSi2 is the engineering entrepreneurship center at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. VSi2 is dedicated to educating and cultivating the next generation of engineering entrepreneurs and boosting their entrepreneurial ventures.
STEVENS CENTER
The USC Stevens Center for Innovation is a university-wide resource for USC innovators in the office of the Provost. Designed to harness and advance the creative thinking and breakthrough research at USC for societal impact beyond traditional academic means, we focus on the licensing of technologies, expanding industry collaborations, and supporting start-ups.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
ITP is an academic program at the Viterbi School of Engineering whose mission is to offer courses in applied technology to all students at USC. The program offers cutting edge and hands-on courses in web development, new media, 3D animation, security, programming, video game design and programming, and other innovative topics in information technology. The unit is a leading source of curriculum innovation on campus and is also a leader in integrating emerging instructional technologies in the classroom. We offer minors and specializations; we do not offer any majors.
CTIP – SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PEDIATRIC MEDICAL DEVICE CONSORTIUM
In an effort to improve pediatric care, CTIP was formed in 2011 at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) with the support of the Office of the Provost at the University of Southern California (USC). CTIP’s main mission has been to address the substantial unmet need for novel pediatric medical devices, as well as the appropriate adaptation and validation of existing adult devices for children. CTIP recently received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which enables it to bring together the best experts to accelerate the development of pediatric medical devices.
CENTER FOR BODY COMPUTING
The CBC is an independent health innovation center. Headquartered at the USC Keck School of Medicine, the CBC is an interdisciplinary brain trust that works with other USC Schools, including the Marshall School of Business, the Viterbi School of Engineering, the School of Cinematic Arts, USC Athletics, and other innovators to study, accelerate, and create digital health solutions.
The CBC creatively synthesizes business, engineering, entertainment arts and medicine into new paradigms that will innovatively enhance the quality of life, especially for the 2 billion people worldwide who lack access to healthcare.
MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS LAB
The USC Media Communications Lab, led by Prof. C.-C. Jay Kuo in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, is devoted to theoretical studies and practical applications of multimedia data processing, communication and networking technologies. Current research activities of the lab include: multimedia data compression, audiovisual content analysis, abstraction and management, graphic modelling and rendering, machine learning and computer vision.
There are about 30 PhD students and several post-doctoral research fellows/visiting scholars working in the lab. The lab has produced about 220 journal papers, 850 conference papers and 12 research monographs over the last 25 years.
CENTER FOR INNOVATION @ CHLA
The Center for Innovation at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) provides technology transfer services and facilitates industry collaborations for USC faculty that are based at CHLA as well as CHLA staff. The Center for Innovation @ CHLA helps industry partners engage with CHLA-based clinicians, administrators and researchers for the purpose of generating, testing, and commercializing new products and services that are sought by the marketplace. The Center for Innovation @ CHLA focuses on solutions to life-changing conditions that are experienced by children or that originate in childhood with the potential to deliver benefits throughout the cycle of human life.
WISE – WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
The WiSE program is a groundbreaking effort to increase the representation and success of women in science and engineering at USC through a series of creative programs that enable women to thrive at every stage of their careers.
Committed to developing fresh approaches to policies and to building a supportive environment for both women and men, the WiSE program is driving USC to the leading edge of diversity in science and engineering.
BRITTINGHAM SOCIAL ENTERPRISE LAB
The USC Marshall Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL) provides opportunities for USC students, faculty, and other individuals to use business principles to solve world problems. Through education, programs, events, and career development, we inspire the next generation of enlightened business leaders and social entrepreneurs.
NON TRADITIONAL SOCIAL WORK
The USC School of Social Work identifies and develops opportunities in organizations and departments that may not ordinarily hire Master of Social Work professionals. We have established a strong reputation for linking companies with MSW students and alumni whose transferable skills are proving valuable in non-traditional social work settings.
Jobs in these industries typically offer higher salaries, greater variety and organizational exposure, secondary career development, management skill building and senior leadership mentoring.
USC COULTER TRANSNATIONAL RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
The Seed Program creates, develops, and/or de-risks translational projects. Funds can be used to generate preliminary data, acquire more substantial validation data, obtain expert advice to address a defined risk, develop a business case or substantiate clinical utility, generate product development and commercialization strategies, etc. Capped at $25,000, awards are intended to achieve a key milestone or enable a de-risking activity to attract follow-on funding, including but not limited to the Coulter Pilot Program.
The Pilot Program offers grants of up to approximately $100K awarded for a one year period and may be submitted for renewal. Project proposals are evaluated by a core team on the basis of their clinical merit, their potential health care impact and significance, their timeline and pathway to commercialization, and most importantly their potential for obtaining further financial investment to translate the particular solution to healthcare.
INTEGRATED MEDIA SYSTEMS CENTER
IMSC is an informatics research center that focuses in data-driven solutions for real-world applications. We are motivated by the need to address fundamental Data Science problems related to applications with major societal impact. Towards this end, we target four application domains: Transportation, Social Media, Security, and Health, for each of which we are developing a large scale System Integration Prototype. Each prototype is designed to address real world problems and to conduct fundamental and applied multidisciplinary research in the area of Big Data.