Becker College’s MassDiGI Program Awarded $583K in Federal Funding

Friday, September 30, 2016
GoLocalWorcester Business Team

MassDiGI at Becker

The MassDiGI Program at Becker College was awarded a five year $583,000 University Center program grant by the U.S. Economic Development Administration to support its ongoing efforts to promote entrepreneurship, academic cooperation and economic development across the state’s video and digital games ecosystem. 

“As chair of the MassDiGI Advisory Board, I am extremely pleased that we have been selected again by the EDA for funding. MassDiGI is one-of-a-kind and delivers tremendous value to the many students, faculty, startups and industry professionals it reaches each year, be they on campus, here in Worcester or throughout the Commonwealth – and increasingly, across the country and around the world,” said Becker College President Robert E. Johnson, Ph.D.

This is the second grant for MassDiGI from the University Center program. The first was awarded in September of 2011.

“The work MassDiGI does in leveraging our state’s strengths in higher education, technology, innovation and creativity continues to stand out. This EDA grant will give MassDiGI the chance to level up their ability to have an even greater impact. I've seen their work firsthand and I’m excited for what the next five years will bring,”said U.S. Representative James P. McGovern.

MassDiGI 

MassDiGI was established in April of 2011, and is the result of creative collaboration among academia, industry, and government, aimed at nurturing the growth of the game industry in the region.

The program offers a various programs and activities which nurture collaboration among students, faculty and the public, private, as well as non-profit sectors.

Of the MassDiGI programs, the Summer Innovation Program (SIP) is one of the best  known. The program lets students take a game from concept to market in 12 weeks. 

Since the SIP program started in 2012, over 700 students from schools around the world have applied. Of the applicants, more than 100 students have participated from schools like MIT, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, WPI, USC, RISD, Northeastern, LYIT, Hampshire, Smith, Berklee, NYU and Becker. 

SIP alumni have gone on to work at a range of companies including Harmonix, Microsoft, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Amazon, Warner Bros., 2K, Disruptor Beam, Uber, Nickelodeon, Sony, Facebook, and Hasbro or startup their own studios such as Zephyr Workshop, Starcap Games, and Petricore Games.

Other MassDiGI programs include its Game Challenge pitch competition, live studio cross -registration courses at Becker and mentoring on demand advisory services for entrepreneurs and non profits. 

For more information, click here.