MEPC MEPC Information Session Peter A. Beerel

MEPC at a Glance Founded via a generous $1M gift from Fariborz Maseeh Annual Business Plan Competition Business-Plan Boot-Camp Sessions Seasoned Mentors $50K Grand Prize Housed in the Viterbi School of Engineering

Creating Life-Long Innovators 15 Teams will be selected Key team member must be VSoE student 7 Biz-plan boot-camp sessions Feasibility, market analysis, financials, the pitch Lead by investor/business leader/entrepreneur 1 Mentor Each team gets at least one mentor Mentor commits 4 hours per week 5 Finalists Present to panel of judges for $50K grand prize Support the innovators as well as the innovation

Target VSoE Students MEPC motivation and goal Engineering innovation central to address of big challenges Desire to support engineering innovators Desire to support VSoE and USC MEPC Rule Each team must have as a key member a VSoE Student VSoE student need not be team leader Must be student at time of application Teams can have faculty members Teams can have members from other schools/communities

Grand Challenges 14 NAE Grand Challenges Make solar energy economicalEngineer better medicines Provide energy from fusion Reverse-engineer the brain Develop carbon sequestration methods Prevent nuclear terror Manage the nitrogen cycleSecure cyberspace Provide access to clean waterEnhance virtual reality Restore / improve urban infrastructureAdvance personalized learning Advance health informatics Engineer tools of scientific discovery

Last Year’s Finalists Last Year’s MEPC Finalists Abtum, Inc* Enable the development of low-power low-cost universal wireless devices by designing and selling break-through integrated programmable wireless transceiver chips. Green Engines Design, build, and sell aftermarket on-board fuel reformers which can reduce emission pollution of automobile. OC Systems, Inc Design and sell advanced environmental control systems that reduce energy consumption by adjusting the energy consumption based on occupants’ perception Play on Social Provide a social login tool-kit for developers of online games, websites, and apps that allow visitors to login with existing accounts (e.g. gmail, facebook, yahoo, msn, etc.) thereby eliminating the traditional registration process and significantly increasing user adoption and retention. *Winner – see for presentation and biz-plan executive summary

Last Year’s Finalists Last Year’s MEPC Finalists (Con’t) Somatos, Inc Develops and commercializes bio-inspired optical tactile sensors for industrial robotics and healthcare applications, including prosthetic limbs and breast cancer detection tomography. Transient Plasma Systems Design, manufacture, and sell nanosecond pulsed power systems, an enabling technology for a diverse range of research and commercial areas including applications that can improve combustion efficiency, enhance the production of biofuels, treat skin cancer, and improve the quality and quantity of juice extracted during the wine making process. Zoomriders Develop a cheap and reliable alternative transportation system that combines the salient features of the Metro with those of Prime Time, Super Shuttle and ZipCars.

Team Rules MEPC Team Rules Ensure expectations about Status of (proposed) company, including previous funding Team composition Originality of idea For more details see

Participant Guidelines MEPC Participant Guidelines Ensure expectations about intellectual property / conflict of interest role of mentors / interaction with mentors proprietary information Participants must sign Acknowledgements and Release From Liability See maseeh.usc.edu for details

MEPC MEPC - Key Dates Pre-proposal Application Deadline Sunday Oct. 2 nd, 2011 (midnight) Notification of AcceptanceWednesday, Oct 12 th, 2011 MEPC Kick-off EventTuesday, Oct. 25 th, 2011 Seven (7) MEPC LecturesTBD (Friday Afternoons) Semi-FinalsFriday, March 23 rd, 2011 FinalsFriday, March 30 th, 2011

Application Process Team Information Status of (proposed) company, including previous funding Team member information Originality of idea Three page business summary Executive summary of eventual business plan A few additional questions Make sure you cover what we need to see

Engineering Entrepreneurship at USC Theme of coordination and collaboration

Team Formation Note: Several Marshall MBA students already contacted me with interest in joining Viterbi teams For now, will be used to foster pairings Get started early –USC Start-up Weekend

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