USC I-Corps Site Program

通过这个项目，南加州大学i-Corps网站利用了南加州大学两个成功的商业化支持计划：由维特比工程学院运营的Maseeh创业奖大赛，以及由南加州大学史蒂文斯创新中心运营的IDEAS赋能计划。这两个项目都提供教师/学生团队创业/商业化教育项目、行业/商业导师和GAP资金。为了与高校的全国性创业趋势保持一致，南加州大学i-Corps Site计划将提供资金，以支持客户发现、原型设备或材料，以及咨询潜在客户或专家的差旅费。此外，南加州大学i-Corps现场项目将为学生/教师团队创建一个初创/商业化研讨会。本次研讨会将向学生/教师团队介绍商业化过程的基础知识，他们将面临的挑战，他们必须回答的问题，以及南加州大学I-Corps现场计划的价值，包括通过NSF I-Corps计划获得额外资金的可能性。南加州大学维特比工程学院把重点放在“工程”上，其中工程学和其他一些学科是获得更广泛影响的关键。这一建议符合工程创新，处于创新创业的中心。这一目标对美国经济和解决许多全球挑战都很重要，这些挑战需要从根本上改变世界的创新。该网站致力于成为工程师、医学专业人士、科学家和所有研究人员可以学习如何驾驭创业之水并更好地支持他们的想法商业化的地方。探索发明商业化的过程将使教师和学生发明家了解如何评估他们的商业化想法的可行性，使他们能够更好地评估并在未来几年将他们随后的发明推向市场。

With this project, the University of Southern California I-Corps Site leverages two successful commercialization support programs at USC; the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition, run by the Viterbi School of Engineering, and the Ideas Empowered Program, run by the USC Stevens Center for Innovation. Both of these programs offer faculty/student teams start-up/commercialization educational programs, industry/business mentors, and gap funding. In keeping with national entrepreneurship trends in colleges and universities, the USC I-Corps Site program will provide funds to support customer discovery, equipment or materials for prototypes, and travel expenses to consult with potential clients or experts. In addition, the USC I-Corps Site program will create a start-up/commercialization workshop for student/faculty teams. This workshop will introduce student/faculty teams to the basics of the commercialization process, the challenges they will face, the questions they must answer, and the value of the USC I-Corps Site program, including the possibility of additional funding through the NSF I-Corps program. The USC Viterbi School of Engineering practices an "engineering+" focus in which engineering plus some other discipline is the key to achieving broader impact. This proposal is in line with engineering+innovation, at the center of innovation and entrepreneurship. This goal is important for the US economy and to solving many global challenges that call for innovations that will change the world in fundamental ways. This Site strives to be a place where engineers, medical professionals, scientists, and all researchers can learn how to navigate entrepreneurial waters and better support the commercialization of their ideas. The process of exploring the commercialization of inventions will empower faculty and student inventors to understand what it takes to assess the feasibility of their ideas for commercialization, empowering them to better evaluate and push their subsequent inventions into the market in years to come.