USC Hosts Third Annual "Silicon Beach" Event

Today, the Marshall School of Business and School of Cinematic Arts hosted their third annual "Silicon Beach" conference, featuring tech entrepreneurs, entertainment executives, and venture capital advisors.  This two-part event, open to faculty, students, and the general public, also recognized the winners of the Silicon Beach Awards, a competition for new ventures focused on technology or entertainment.  Fifty-eight venture teams, each with at least one USC-affiliated member, applied for $50,000 in cash prizes.  The creators of Movn, a motivational exercise app, came in third and received $10,000.  In second place was the team behind StatisLabs, who won $15,000.  The winner was sales accelerator LeadBoost, which won $25,000.  The team behind LeadBoost includes Karen Rudy, an MBA candidate at Marshall, and Mark Otutye.

While these finalists were waiting for their awards, over 500 of the area's brightest minds spoke on panels and in discussions about the future of the technology and entertainment industries.  In one panel, "The Future of Television (on any screen)", Douglas Montgomery, the Vice President of Category Management at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, spoke about the increasing importance of tech innovations to the television industry, saying, "The demand has never been greater, the number of eyeballs has never been higher, but the money has never been less."  It's uncertain what the future holds for the TV industry, but with Los Angeles seen by some as a growing center for the tech industry, it's safe to say that students at USC are more than prepared for what's yet to come.