MassDiGI

The Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDiGI) is a statewide center for academic cooperation, economic development, and job creation in the Massachusetts digital games ecosystem. Based at Becker College in Worcester, MassDiGI is the result of an innovative collaboration among academia, state government and the digital games industry, aimed at fostering the growth of the creative economy in Massachusetts. In addition, MassDiGI is a US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center.

Since starting up, MassDiGI has launched several initiatives that support entrepreneurship and enhance the talent pipeline between higher education and the digital games industry. Specific initiatives include the Reverse Sabbatical and Virtual Production Lab Programs which bring student teams, faculty and industry professionals together to work on creative projects in a real game development environment. Numerous other initiatives, including those that focus on K-12 STEM education and industry data gathering, are in the planning stages.

References

http://www.massdigi.org

http://www.mass.gov/governor/massdigi

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-27/business/29479430_1_video-game-latest-innovations-private-sector

http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2011/04/25/daily27-MassDiGI-makes-state-support-of-games-biz-official.html

http://www.telegram.com/article/20110612/COLUMN22/106129876/1017/rss01

http://www.masstech.org/agencyoverview/releases/MassDiG.pdf

http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-27/business/30209042_1_entertainment-software-association-video-game-game-sector

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37515/US_Commerce_Department_Grants_500K_For_Mass_Game_Dev_Support.php