IBM, Verizon, Levi’s and Mattel teamed up with the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism to support a series of projects and initiatives focused on both real-world applications and a societal impact. Students of the school supervised by teaching staff will work together under the roof of the recently-founded Annenberg Innovation Lab, which projects are sponsored by the brands.

The students and professors from the USC campus will be invited to unveil their own approaches to resolving a range of marketplace dilemmas revolving around technological change in communication. The above-mentioned companies are considered to be visionaries of the tech industries and the Levi’s brand, while being a clothing market player, has developed a plethora of digital campaigns, which managed to capture attention of millions people around the globe.

The Lab will launch a series of design challenges and other outreach to develop innovations which will be later employed for improving the sphere of digital technologies. For current students this is a great chance to promote their ideas and get funding for their implementation.

The Lab’s work is primarily focused on:

—The development of new tools for journalists and communication scholars including the use of semantic web technologies and geolocation applications.

—Interactive Television applications and widgets for the next generation of fiberoptic-delivered high definition TV.

—The evolution of social networking as a platform for commerce, entertainment and journalism.

—The advancement of e-Books into the multimedia realm, using video, music and graphics in addition to text.

—The development of 3D Transmedia storytelling tools for education and entertainment.

—The use of portable digital devices of all sorts in the production, distribution and monetization of news and entertainment content.

So far, there are no dates set as well as no details on the projects specified.