Tuesday, April 13, 2010

USC Creates Diploma in Innovation

The University of Southern California is announcing today that it has rolled out a new program specifically at helping its Ph.D. students better translate their ideas into tangible benefits to society. According to the school, it has created a new Ph.D. Diploma in Innovation, which is designed to complement Ph.D. students training with practical skills and "creative perspectives" to see how their academic expertise intersects with societal needs. The program--which is free to all of the school's existing Ph.D. students--results in a Certificate given to the student at completion of the program. USC--which is announcing the diploma program at TEDxUSC today--said the program covers such information as the financing, development, and commercialization of innovation, the innovation process, and might also help provide information for academics to create a business plan for bringing products to market. USC said that the new diploma will be administered by the USC Graduate School and is supported by the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation.

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