Innovation was the subject of the day as USC President C. L. Max Nikias talked tech with Silicon Beach-based senior executives from companies like Google, YouTube, Yahoo, SpaceX and IMAX.
The Nov. 18 event at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies in Playa Vista was hosted as part of the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce’s Power Hour series.
Nikias addressed many of the ways in which USC is plugging into Los Angeles’ burgeoning Silicon Beach scene, including efforts to promote startups and technology transfer. He also discussed the ways the university is teaching innovation, including through new educational models like the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy and the top-ranked programs of the USC Marshall School of Business’ Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
USC has carved out a leadership position in digital media, Nikias said, highlighting the contributions ICT has made to a diverse set of industries including gaming, film, education and defense.
“When you put the strengths of the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, the School of Cinematic Arts and the Viterbi School of Engineering together with our School of Social Work, our psychology program and other disciplines, there are few universities that can match the depth and breadth of what USC brings to the table in terms of converged digital media,” Nikias said. “And the flagship of these efforts, ICT, sits right here at the heart of Silicon Beach.”
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