Redesigning Innovation: Q&A with Krisztina Holly

March 20, 2007

By Elisa Wiefel

Vice Provost and Executive Director talks strategy, vision and mission for the newly- named USC Stevens Institute for Innovation

As vice provost and executive director of USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, Krisztina Holly works with academic units across USC to identify promising innovations and innovators, and to help faculty and students move their ideas into the marketplace.

Aserial entrepreneur, Holly most recently served as the founding executive director of MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, a highly successful and visible program that has supported MIT faculty and students engaged in scientific and technological innovation through grants, symposia, mentoring, and other means. In the first three years, the Center provided $5M in grants, engaged over 250 faculty and students and more than 100 investors and entrepreneurs, and spawned nine startup companies that secured $40M in capital from top-tier venture capital firms.

You just launched the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation. Why is it different from what already existed?

Well, to better understand what we are doing, it helps to understand how we are defining innovation%ue2%u20ac"the process of transforming new ideas into tangible societal impact."

Traditionally, universities tend to focus only on commercialization of university intellectual property, generally in engineering or scientific disciplines. And although we will continue to enthusiastically promote technology start-up and licenses, we believe innovation can also be social or artistic, and can take the form of new products, services, or even non-profits and new organizational models.

As far as we can tell, this is the first time a major research university has approached innovation like this, with a university-wide, centralized hub out of the Office of the Provost to coordinate innovation transfer operations, educational and co-curricular programming, and innovator development. Most significantly, we are just as focused on developing the innovator, as we are the innovation.

How are you going to achieve that? Isn't that a tall order?

Well, yes%ue2%u20ac%ua6 it will be a challenge. Nothing worth doing is ever easy! But to help provide the appropriate support to each innovator, USC Stevens is building a tiered approach. After a brief initial consultation, we'll determine the best next course of action, whether it's some mentoring, an upcoming workshop, or filing a patent, for example. In most cases we'll send the innovator back with some feedback and some homework! We will be pushing innovators to be ambitious and be truly innovative, in addition to entrepreneurial. We will focus additional resources on a few select ideas with committed champions, with a healthy balance between opportunity for impact and likelihood of success, and where we get significant interest from our expert volunteers. This is very important; we will only be successful if we can leverage the cadre of expert volunteers that we have begun to put together.

To expand on our effectiveness, we will build cross-functional teams within our staff and volunteer network, in thematic areas of interest, so we can design specific programmatic support within each area based on unique needs. Our first team will be in Arts and Media, followed closely by Life Sciences, which will launch in conjunction with the opening of the USC Stevens office on the HSC campus.

So you'll write business plans for anyone that has an idea?

Well, not exactly! We are here to provide some initial coaching and connections so that each innovator is empowered to make impact with their own ideas. It's absolutely critical that an idea has a champion%ue2%u20acthe innovator%ue2%u20acthat's willing and committed to driving it forward. And, actually, sometimes a start-up isn't the best next step! So we'll help steer things in the right direction. While some select projects will get in-depth mentoring, we are also developing programs that can reach a broader audience.

What kind of programs?

We have already begun promoting existing programs here at USC, and will be announcing some new programs shortly. Plans include award and grant programs, a student-run venture fund in collaboration with the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, workshops and panel discussions, academic programs in innovation, student group support, as well as community-building VIP events to connect innovators and investors, such as our innovation showcase last week.

Partnering with schools and leveraging their expertise will be important to ensure the programs are successful. We will be piloting various programs and seeing what works best for various themes. If anyone out there has additional ideas, please get in touch with us!

What is the goal for USC Stevens?

To be totally frank, our long-term goal is to make USC the leading university for innovation%ue2%u20ac%ua6

Wow, that's ambitious!

Yes, we know it's a biggie. But we firmly believe that it is doable, given the wealth of multi-disciplinary innovation happening here at USC, and our innovative approach.

The scary but exciting thing is that there is no roadmap; no one has done this before, and it will take time to staff up, pilot various ideas, and fine-tune our model. But we are confident that we can succeed because of the bold support from our Provost; our deep bench at USC Stevens from various start-ups and universities like Stanford, MIT, and CalTech, as well as our existing OTL staff; and our ability to combine best practices with new ideas to make something that works here at USC. We've had overwhelmingly positive feedback so far from on and off campus. We here at USC are all partners in this bold vision, and we look forward to taking on this challenge together!

Why is USC taking on this challenge?

I could argue it is our imperative. Not only is innovation critical to the economic competitiveness of our nation, but also to the well-being and improved quality of life for people worldwide. And as a university, we are not bound by the fiduciary concerns driving corporations to a narrower definition of innovation. We can focus on any idea that is likely to make impact, as long as it addresses a real need or opportunity and has a sustainable model. If we can help cure a disease, slow climate change, or even make people's lives happier or more convenient, that would be a huge win.

In addition, our students and faculty are asking for it. By providing them with the tools to innovate now and into the future, we are nurturing the next generation of innovators. Especially given our diversity and international student population, this approach gives USC incredible leverage to make impact on a global scale.

How are you related to SITeC? Office of Technology Licensing?

Originally, we were established as the USC Stevens Institute for Technology Commercialization (SITeC) in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering through the generous naming donation from Mark and Mary Stevens. USC Stevens is also the current home to the former Office of Technology Licensing, and as such, we support all the innovation transfer functions including licensing, patents and copyrights.

But USC Stevens' mission has grown since our founding. We are now part of the Office of the Provost and you will see us support innovation throughout the university. Last week we were excited to showcase ideas from fine arts, social work, dentistry, and cinematic arts in addition to more technical areas like computer science, pharmacy, and engineering.

Why did you leave MIT to come to USC?

To be honest, I never thought I'd leave Boston. I was quite happy at MIT! But when I heard about the opportunity to create such an ambitious program, and learned about the breadth and depth of research and the quality of students here, it really excited me. But I have only over the last year grown to appreciate truly how amazing USC and LA are, and how lucky I am to be here.

Let's say I'm an inventor at USC. What do I do? How can you help?

Check out our website at http://stevens.usc.edu to get more information on how to work with us and contact us. Depending on the stage of your idea, there are various ways we can help. Every innovation is unique, so there is no cookie-cutter approach. We'll find the right next step for you.

What's the one innovation you can't live without?

You have to check out my bio on our webpage and find out!