Verizon Launches 5G Innovation Hub with the University of South Carolina | Greenville Business Magazine
By C. Grant Jackson
COLUMBIA — Built around a theme of collaboration,
communication and cooperation, the University of South Carolina and Verizon
Wireless have launched an Innovation Experience Hub at USC for research into
applying Verizon 5-G Ultra-Wideband internet technology to a wide range of
business and industry uses.
The Innovation Experience Hub, located in the university’s
McNair Center on Catawba Street across from the engineering school, is one of
five Verizon 5G Innovation Hubs where Verizon partners with enterprises,
startups, universities, national labs, and government/military organizations to
explore how 5G can transform business and industry. Hubs are also located at Wichita
State University, Arizona State University, Emory University and the University
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Verizon 5G Ultra-Wideband offers massive capacity, super-fast
speeds and low latency, or the time it takes date to be transferred from its
source to the destination, allowing for more efficient transfer of information,
including large data sets needed to power advanced applications.
The partnership was announced Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, at an
event attended by university officials, Verizon executives, South Carolina Gov.
Henry McMaster, and other corporate partners including IBM, Siemens and.
McMaster praised the Innovation Hub as one more example of
how research partnerships are elevating the state’s economy.
“South Carolina’s economic success has been built by our
talented entrepreneurs and innovators, making one of our state’s premier
research universities the ideal partner for Verizon on this project,” said
McMaster. “Combine this with the expertise of our university researchers and
the power of private sector innovation, and we can achieve great things for businesses
large and small across South Carolina.”
The partnership with Verizon continues the efforts of USC’s
Office of Economic Engagement to bring to the university a range of corporate
partners including IBM, Siemens, Yaskawa Motoman Robotics and Nephron. Since
its founding in 2013, the OEE has created more than $790 million in economic
impact, according to the university.
“Our relationship with Verizon exemplifies the benefits of
partnerships between the University of South Carolina and the business
community,” said USC President Michael Amiridis. “This aligns with our focus on
expanding research opportunities that solve problems and accelerate
discoveries.”
Projects developed in the Innovation Hub are expected to
include business solutions for a range of industries critical to South
Carolina’s economy. The initial areas of focus include manufacturing, health care,
and civil infrastructure.
For manufacturing, Verizon said innovators at the hub will
be able to leverage 5G connectivity and solutions to help improve manufacturing
processes “with quality sensing and defect detection.” In health care, 5G “can
enhance emergency response by enabling remote health monitoring and real-time
analysis of patient vitals, as well as hospital connected asset management, to
streamline asset retrieval and dispatch operations.”
As for civil infrastructure, “researchers will examine how
5G communications can enhance monitoring of roads and bridges with condition
analytics and reporting, as well as drone-based visual inspection of roads,
bridges and buildings, using AI-driven computer vision.“
Officials of Verizon and IBM showed those assembled for the
event a video of a drone, in real time, inspecting the Blossom Street bridge.
“Working with the University of South Carolina, we have a
great opportunity to collaborate with dozens of partners to ideate on and
develop new 5G-powered solutions leveraging the latest technologies, including
large-scale IoT, artificial intelligence, computer vision and augmented
reality,” said Jennifer Artley, Verizon Business senior vice president of 5G Acceleration.
“Giving researchers access to Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband,
with its high bandwidth and low latency, can accelerate the innovation process,
leading to new solutions that will transform how enterprises operate and grow,”
Artley said.
Students and researchers at the university also will benefit
from working alongside private-sector partners in the Innovation Experience
Hub, said Bill Kirkland, executive director of the Office of Economic
Engagement.
“The ability to apply the fastest commercial connectivity now
available to real-world applications will give our students a competitive
advantage in the marketplace while also spurring innovation and entrepreneurship
from our own talented researchers.”
The partnership will allow USC “to conduct research at the
highest levels and advance the culture of innovation we have here at the
university,” Amiridis said.
“Our partnership with Verizon demonstrates how we can engage
with businesses around the state to help our students develop skills that will
allow them to apply for top tier jobs. We want this partnership to enhance the
student experience at USC and make it easier for them to find careers,
hopefully ones that will allow them to stay in this area.”