USC Iovine and Young Academy (IYA) and USC Marshall have announced the launch of a new joint degree, BS Business of Innovation (BUIN), starting fall 2025. The program is designed to build expertise at the intersection of human-centered design, technology, and business innovation, merging IYA’s integrated challenge-based learning framework with Marshall’s comprehensive business education to prepare students to be leaders at the cutting-edge of innovation.

“Successful ventures require 21st-century creatives who can navigate the complexities of interconnected innovation, and adapt to rapidly changing technological tools and evolving socioeconomic structures,” said Iovine and Young Academy Dean Thanassis Rikakis. “This new joint degree is a prime example of USC’s unique tradition of developing professional schools and programs that stay ahead of market needs.”

The Bachelor of Science degree will mark the fifth undergraduate joint degree for USC Marshall in partnership with another USC school.

“We’re excited to launch our fifth interdisciplinary program for undergraduates combining the creativity of the Iovine and Young Academy with the business know-how of Marshall,” said USC Marshall School of Business Dean Geoffrey Garrett. “Business of Innovation graduates will be future-forward entrepreneurs and leaders, ready to transform ideas into marketable products, or more importantly, scalable and sustainable solutions for global challenges.”

The joint degree addresses the growing industry demand for graduates fluent in the languages of design, technology, business, and entrepreneurship.

“Multilingual leaders are essential in building exceptional cross-functional teams and identifying serendipitous opportunities offered by technologies such as AI,” said Florenta Teodoridis, Jorge Paulo and Susanna Lemann Chair in Entrepreneurship. Teodoridis will serve as the academic director for the program, alongside Chris Swain, assistant professor of teaching at IYA.

From prototyping, interactive computing, and product design to finance, economics, data analysis, and strategic management, the collaboration between Marshall’s core strengths in business and leadership and IYA’s unique learning framework (known as Challenge-Based Reflective Learning) will equip students with essential knowledge, skills, and a powerful mindset that encourages thinking beyond disciplinary boundaries, synthesizing diverse ideas, and creating new technologies, ventures, and humane solutions for purpose-driven change.

“The Iovine and Young Academy is where the products, services, and interactions of the future are born. USC Marshall is where systems and structures for scaling change are built,” said Matthew Manos, associate dean for Challenge-Based Reflective Learning at IYA. “The two schools together create a new kind of superpower to imagine, build, and scale impact.”

Business of Innovation students will have access to IYA’s state-of-the-art prototyping facilities which includes fabrication labs, 3D printing, laser cutters, computer graphics and AI labs, and a mixed reality studio. Students will also have access to significant resources offered through the LLOYD GREIF CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL STUDIES at USC Marshall. With a 50-year legacy in entrepreneurship, the Greif Center provides an array of dynamic programs, funding, coaching, and a thriving investor network in Los Angeles and around the globe.

“Together, we’re cultivating a new generation of leaders who can turn ideas into impactful realities,” said Ramandeep Randhawa, senior vice dean for academic programs at USC Marshall.