World Building Media Lab
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersLos Angeles, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
World Building Media Lab firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- World Building Media Lab
- Legal name
- World Building Media Lab
- Website
- https://worldbuilding.usc.edu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
World Building Media Lab industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Immersive Media Research
- NAICS
- Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512), Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)
- SIC
- Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Serious Games & Simulation Studios (Training, Defense, Enterprise) (MPAFAAAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- STEM & Lab Simulation Media (Virtual Labs, AR/VR) (EDAGALAF), Cloud & Distributed Real-Time Production (Remote ICVFX, Multi-site) (MPAHADAJ), Outsourced Art/Audio Production Services (2D/3D, Animation, VFX, Audio/VO) (MPAFAKAM)
Keywords
Where World Building Media Lab is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Angeles
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
World Building Media Lab business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Industry Research Sponsorship: WbML receives funding from Fortune 100 companies and institutional sponsors (Boeing, FOX, Intel, Technicolor, Unity, Activision, Autodesk, etc.) for collaborative R&D projects. Sponsors receive access to insights, case studies, and new workflow developments from the lab's research.
- Academic Grants: The lab operates within USC's School of Cinematic Arts and receives institutional support, including grants such as the Harold Hay Research Grant, Sundance Institute support, and other academic funding.
- Student-Driven Projects: Projects are developed through student coursework and thesis work under faculty guidance, reducing cost of development while producing publishable research and demonstration pieces.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
World Building Media Lab product offering
Product offeringCore offering
World Building Media Lab (WbML) is an interdisciplinary research lab at USC's School of Cinematic Arts that develops world-centric narrative design methodology and produces immersive VR/AR experiences, speculative storyworlds, and transmedia research projects. Its offerings include sponsored research collaborations with Fortune 100 companies, art-science visualization projects (e.g., World in a Cell), and educational initiatives (e.g., Spaceship Earth 2050) that apply world-building principles to entertainment, scientific communication, and real-world problem solving.
Product overview
The World Building Media Lab (WbML) is a research lab at USC School of Cinematic Arts that serves as the central entity, integrating imagination and emergent technologies to create new narratives. The lab's portfolio consists of multiple distinct project-based offerings: World in a Cell (an immersive VR/AR experience visualizing biological cells); Spaceship Earth 2050 (an educational initiative for regenerative futures); Project Tesseract (workflow research for transmedia storytelling); The Leviathan Project (flagship interactive narrative project); Rilao (a fictional city narrative laboratory); Hopscotch (transmedia opera collaboration); Dry City (speculative world-building); the Hay Grant Project (neuroscience and architecture research); and Wonder Buffalo (next-generation film and VR production). These projects collectively explore storytelling across VR, AR, film, and interactive media platforms.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- World Building Media Lab (WbML) sponsored research program The central interdisciplinary research lab integrating imagination and emergent technologies to create new narratives across multiple media platforms. Engages Fortune 100 sponsors, academic partners, and student researchers in collaborative world-building R&D, producing insights, case studies, prototypes, and patentable technologies.
- World in a Cell An art-science VR/AR experience creating a fully experiential virtual world of a single Pancreatic Beta Cell using the metaphor of complex urban systems, built as an extensible framework allowing scientists to add results, expand details, and connect related work.
- Spaceship Earth 2050 An educational initiative celebrating R. Buckminster Fuller's vision, using his work as a prompt to imagine a holistic, regenerative storyworld where students and participants contribute designs for possible regenerative futures.
- Project Tesseract A research initiative envisioning a more efficient, collaborative, and immersive future of storytelling by developing case studies on successful transmedia properties and creating ideal workflows for spatial media experiences.
- The Leviathan Project The WbML's flagship project developing a language for interactive narrative combining game, theatre, and film, based on Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy, with VR/AR components including tactile, haptic interfaces.
- Rilao A fictional city built from the DNA of multiple real-world cities, functioning as a narrative laboratory for speculative design and world-building research across multiple disciplines.
- Hopscotch An experimental opera collaboration creating immersive experiences inspired by Yuval Sharon's Hopscotch opera, with students developing transmedia projects for the production.
- Dry City A world-building project imagining a future where water has been privatized and transformed into currency, focusing on Lagos and Makoko in the mid-2030s.
- Hay Grant Project A collaboration between neuroscience, production design, and architectural research investigating visual perception in built environments using immersive media and projection mapping.
- Wonder Buffalo An R&D film short and interactive VR/AR companion piece exploring next-generation production processes including volumetric capture, photogrammetry, ambisonic sound and interactivity.
Quantifiable outcome
- WbML's Leviathan Project reached over 1,500 people at its Sundance New Frontiers 2016 exhibition.
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use World Building Media Lab
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
World Building Media Lab technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability1 record
Feature3 records
World Building Media Lab partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
22 partnerships are on record, tiered core, key, primary sponsor, technical sponsor, project sponsor and creative partner.
- Bridge Institute (USC)coreMajor collaboration with the Bridge Institute at USC Dornsife College to create the World in a Cell project — a fully experiential virtual world of a Pancreatic Beta Cell. The Bridge Institute, co-directed by Scott Fraser and Raymond C. Stevens, provides scientific leadership while WbML provides world-building and immersive media expertise.
- USC Entertainment Technology Center (ETC)keyKey academic partner within USC's ecosystem, working on next-generation production processes and technologies. Project Cloud and ETC initiatives provide infrastructure and funding for WbML projects including Wonder Buffalo.
- Salk Institute for Biological StudiescoreCollaboration on the Hay Grant Project combining systems neuroscience with world-building and architectural design. Sergei Gepshtein leads the Salk side, working on visual organization of spaces for immersive media research.
- USC Media Arts + Practice (MAP)keyThe MAP division within USC's School of Cinematic Arts provides the academic home and interdisciplinary curriculum that underpins WbML's world-building methodology and student participation.
- World Building InstitutecoreThe WbI extends WbML's world-building methodology to a broader global community of practitioners, educators, and researchers. Co-led by Alex McDowell, it serves as the cross-media knowledge space complementing WbML's research.
- SPaCE: Spatial Perception and Concrete ExperiencekeyA key USC-based research group focused on spatial perception and concrete experience, aligned with WbML's work on immersive environments and world-building.
- Boeingprimary sponsorPrimary project sponsor supporting WbML's world-building research and its application to future scenario development across multiple domains including defense and aerospace.
- FOXprimary sponsorPrimary project sponsor supporting transmedia storytelling research and next-generation content development at WbML, with interests in franchise and storyworld development.
- Intelprimary sponsorLongstanding partner of WbML since its inception, collaborating closely on the Leviathan Project. Intel Labs featured WbML's AR/VR work at CES 2014 keynote. Intel provides technical sponsorship and support for immersive media development.
- Technicolorprimary sponsorPrimary project sponsor supporting WbML's next-generation production processes and technologies, with interests in future content creation and immersive media workflows.
- Unityprimary sponsorPrimary project sponsor providing the Unity game engine platform for WbML's VR/AR development. Unity's generous support and technical assistance enabled the Leviathan Project's multiple VR/AR components.
- Silverdraft Supercomputingtechnical sponsorTechnical sponsor providing cutting-edge computing hardware that enabled the Leviathan Project's Sundance New Frontiers 2016 exhibition, delivering machines that were both cutting-edge and reliable for VR demonstrations.
- HTC (Vive)technical sponsorTechnical sponsor providing VR hardware and platform support for WbML's immersive experience development.
- Oculustechnical sponsorTechnical sponsor providing VR hardware and platform support for WbML's virtual reality experiences including The Leviathan Project.
- Samsungtechnical sponsorTechnical sponsor supporting WbML's immersive media development with hardware and technology resources.
- Activisionproject sponsorProject sponsor supporting WbML's research into next-generation interactive storytelling and game-related narrative design.
- Autodeskproject sponsorProject sponsor providing software tools and technical support for WbML's 3D modeling, animation, and world-building design processes.
- Warner Bros.project sponsorProject sponsor supporting WbML's storyworld development research with interests in franchise IP and next-generation entertainment.
- Pigeon Hole Productionscreative partnerCreative partner led by Trisha Williams and Joseph Unger, providing world-building and visualization expertise. Contributing to World in a Cell VR development and Spaceship Earth 2050 project.
- Situation Labcreative partnerCreative partner contributing speculative design and world-building methodology to WbML projects.
- The Industry (opera company)creative partnerCreative partner collaborating with WbML on the Hopscotch opera project, integrating world-building into experimental live performance and transmedia storytelling.
- Buckminster Fuller Institutecreative partnerCreative partner collaborating on the Spaceship Earth 2050 project, which celebrates R. Buckminster Fuller's vision and applies his principles to world-building for regenerative futures.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
World Building Media Lab competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- NYU Future Reality Lab: NYU-based research lab focused on XR/immersive media innovation, narrative VR, and volumetric capture. Comparable to WbML as an academic research entity exploring immersive storytelling and novel production technologies, with similar enterprise sponsor model.
- USC Entertainment Technology Center: Sister research center within USC exploring next-generation production processes, technologies, and entertainment innovation. Most directly comparable to WbML as both operate within the same institution, share corporate sponsors (Boeing, Intel, Unity), and collaborate on overlapping projects like Wonder Buffalo.
- Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab: Stanford research lab studying VR's psychological and behavioral effects using immersive simulations. Comparable to WbML in operating as an academic research lab producing immersive experiences, though with more social-science rather than narrative-arts orientation.
Broad incumbents
- Framestore: Global VFX, immersive, and virtual production studio serving entertainment, advertising, and brand experiences. Comparable to WbML in delivering immersive creative content for Fortune 100 enterprises (e.g., similar Boeing/automotive sponsor relationships), though operating as a commercial incumbent rather than academic lab.
- Industrial Light & Magic: Legendary VFX and virtual production studio behind Star Wars, Marvel, and ILM StageCraft LED volume virtual production. Comparable to WbML's Alex McDowell (who worked on Minority Report) in pioneering virtual production for film, though ILM operates as a commercial incumbent across all major Hollywood productions.
- MIT Media Lab: Premier academic research lab at MIT focused on emerging media technologies including VR/AR, immersive experiences, and human-computer interaction. Comparable to WbML in operating as an academic-industry hybrid lab with corporate sponsorship and cross-disciplinary research, but with broader scope beyond narrative/storytelling.
Emerging players
- Wevr: VR content studio and network producing immersive experiences and interactive virtual worlds. Comparable to WbML in producing VR experiences that push narrative and interactive boundaries, with similar technology stack partnerships (Unity ecosystem).
- Magnopus: Los Angeles-based immersive content studio developing VR/AR experiences, virtual production pipelines, and real-time 3D content for entertainment and enterprise. Comparable to WbML in producing immersive experiences using Unity/Unreal and serving enterprise sponsors across entertainment and adjacent industries.
- Penrose Studios: VR narrative content studio creating emotionally-driven immersive stories. Comparable to WbML's The Leviathan Project in developing VR experiences that combine narrative design with interactive technology, though operating as a commercial studio rather than academic lab.
- Within (formerly VRSE): VR content platform and studio producing immersive narrative experiences. Comparable to WbML in creating VR storytelling experiences that blend narrative design with interactive technology, with overlapping festival distribution channels and creative ambitions for transmedia narrative.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
World Building Media Lab social profiles
Digital presenceWorld Building Media Lab financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
World Building Media Lab leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
World Building Media Lab funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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World Building Media Lab M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about World Building Media Lab
What does World Building Media Lab do?
World Building Media Lab (WbML) is an interdisciplinary research lab at USC's School of Cinematic Arts that develops world-centric narrative design methodology and produces immersive VR/AR experiences, speculative storyworlds, and transmedia research projects. Its offerings include sponsored research collaborations with Fortune 100 companies, art-science visualization projects (e.g., World in a Cell), and educational initiatives (e.g., Spaceship Earth 2050) that apply world-building principles to entertainment, scientific communication, and real-world problem solving.
Is World Building Media Lab a public or private company?
World Building Media Lab is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was World Building Media Lab founded?
World Building Media Lab was founded in 2012. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is World Building Media Lab based?
World Building Media Lab is headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, in the North America region.
How does World Building Media Lab make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Industry Research Sponsorship is the primary driver. The others are academic Grants and student-Driven Projects.
Who are World Building Media Lab's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are NYU Future Reality Lab, USC Entertainment Technology Center and Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab. Broad incumbents are Framestore, Industrial Light & Magic and MIT Media Lab. Emerging players are Wevr, Magnopus, Penrose Studios and Within (formerly VRSE).
Does World Building Media Lab have an API?
No public API is recorded for World Building Media Lab.
What industry is World Building Media Lab in?
World Building Media Lab's product category is Immersive Media Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAAAH, Serious Games & Simulation Studios (Training, Defense, Enterprise), with a secondary code of EDAGALAF, STEM & Lab Simulation Media (Virtual Labs, AR/VR). Its NAICS code is 512 and its SIC code is 7812.