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Ideas Empowered Program


The Ideas Empowered Program supports groundbreaking projects emerging from USC research that, with mentoring, other programmatic support, and a small amount of grant funding, could “spin out” of the university within a year or two and make significant impact. The program grants help identify the most exciting and game-changing ideas at USC, reduce the risks, and bring together the pieces necessary to translate the discoveries to market.  Successful projects could spin out in a number of ways: attracting investment to establish a high-growth start-up company, licensing to a corporation that turns the invention into a new product or service, establishing a non-profit, or scaling a new model for organizational change.

The program bridges the gap between ideas and the marketplace by supporting both the idea and the innovator through mentoring and coaching, connections to resources, and grants of about $50K for validation of technical feasibility through proof-of-concept experiments and prototype development.

The program is open to teams lead by full-time tenure-track or non-tenure track faculty. Teams can include USC faculty, student researchers and staff members. This two year pilot program serves to help advance the most promising USC innovations, integrates students into translational research projects, and further develops USC students and faculty as lifelong innovators.

USC innovators that desire to participate in the Ideas Empowered Program submit a pre-proposal that is evaluated by a review committee conformed by industry experts. After an interview process, eight to ten teams are selected and invited to become part of that year’s Ideas Empowered Class.

The Ideas Empowered Class is required to participate in a mentoring and idea feasibility analysis process before any granting of funding is considered. Through a combination of lectures and exercises, the participants advance their ability to develop a commercialization feasibility plan, and to communicate potential opportunities arising from their research. Each team is matched with one or two industry mentors, is assigned an MBA student and receives one-on-one support from the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation. The teams develop compelling milestone-based final proposals and feasibility analysis presentations that they deliver to a granting committee. After the granting committee identifies the recipients of the grants, the funds are distributed and the teams execute their plans with the ongoing guidance and support of USC Stevens.

Download the Ideas Empowered brochure by clicking here.

Download the Ideas Empowered Program Presentation - Workshop 1, September 13, 2011
 

For more information, please email: IdeasEmpoweredProgram@stevens.usc.edu

Or, contact:
Juan Felipe Vallejo 
jvallejo@usc.edu
213-821-5000

PROCESS AND SELECTION CRITERIA
We seek committed teams with pioneering ideas that have a high potential for making impact and a feasible plan for reducing the risks around attracting outside investment. We aim to support those projects that will benefit the most from the program and which are most likely to turn into startup companies, licenses, or non-profits within a year or two.

More information about the process and selection criteria is available here.

 

CLASS OF 2011 CHARTER MEMBERS


More information about the Class of 2011 is available here.

 


Generous gifts from our Ideas Empowered Charter Members support in part the grant funding for our Ideas Empowered Program. This invitation-only group of industry leaders are also providing counsel on the design and advancement of the program.

More information about Charter Members is available here.

 


MENTORS & COLLABORATORS UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS
Mentors provide guidance and connections to USC innovators as their expertise allows, and assist in recruiting new mentors to the program.

More information about Mentors and Collaborators is available here.

 


Ideas Empowered Program has partnered with different centers across USC to provide comprehensive and specialized support to the participating teams.

More information about how we work with our University Partners is available here.

The university partnerships include:

Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC) at the USC Marshall School of Business;

The Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the USC Keck School of Medicine;

Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Marshall School of Business

Regulatory Science Program at the USC School of Pharmacy

 


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

USC faculty, students and staff can apply for the Ideas Empowered Program, but the team leader must be a faculty member. One of the goals of the Ideas Empowered Program is to integrate students into translational research projects. The participation of students in the project must align with their overall academic interests at USC. Teams that leverage USC students, and with at least one devoted champion that will focus on the project, are encouraged.

For more information, click here.

Media

To watch the 2010 Ideas Empowered video, click here.

In 2010, the University of Southern California’s Stevens Institute for Innovation, a university-wide resource that helps USC innovators make maximum impact beyond traditional academic means, awarded $459,000 in gap funding for seven breakthrough USC innovations that have a high potential to spin out within a year or two.

Templates and Forms

Statement of Principles and Guidelines/Release Form

Quick Links

Archive

Click here to view program information from 2010!