SSTI Digest

Bill Mahoney is the new president of the South Carolina Research Authority.

William "Bill" Mahoney is the new president and CEO of the South Carolina Research Authority.

Jason Williamson is leaving his position as vice president of community development for the South Carolina Technology Alliance to become a founding partner in a new start-up tech firm.

Business community advocacy for public investments in technology-based economic development (TBED) may make the difference between legislators appropriating programs $1 million or $100 million. Most importantly, active private sector engagement in establishing, implementing and overseeing a state or community's TBED agenda speeds realization of the true benefits of public-private TBED partnerships: more competitive and innovative companies, more high-yield investment opportunities, more high paying jobs, and a more skilled workforce.

Unfortunately, often the largest business associations in town -- the chambers of commerce -- are the last to embrace the long-term investments necessary to effect real positive change in their communities or states. In other regions, chamber involvement stems from a one-upmanship philosophy that also grips many politicians, as we're seeing in the escalating battle between the states to simply spend the most in stem cell research.

South Carolina Research Authority president Larry Druffel has announced he will retire next year.

Joe James, director of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, has resigned his position with the S.C. Department of Commerce.

SSTI congratulates Tom Persons, president and CEO of the South Carolina Technology Alliance, for receiving the Individual Achievement Award from the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

A new economic development council formed in South Carolina has been charged with two objectives: help reshape the state’s economy and raise its per-capita income. Members of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, a group of business, academia, government and economic development leaders, were announced earlier this month.

During an events session in Columbia, co-chairs Gov. Sanford and Ed Sellers, the chairman and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield, met with the council members, asking them to advance the goals of a report that grew out of the South Carolina Competitiveness Initiative. The Initiative was a collaborative effort including individuals from the Palmetto Institute, the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the Palmetto Business Forum, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, the South Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation, and the University of South Carolina and managed by the Monitor Group.

The South Carolina Technology Alliance calls it the most significant victory for South Carolina's research universities and tech entrepreneurs in the last 50 years. An idle exaggeration? Probably not.

Senate Bill 0560 creates a $50 million venture capital (VC) fund for the state and offers tax credits and other incentives to attract large life science and pharmaceutical businesses. It also facilitates borrowing up to $250 million for university construction and improvement projects encouraging research and tech-based economic development (TBED). The bill, which passed overwhelmingly in both the state senate and house, includes three sections:

In last week's Tech Talkin' Govs II article, we inadvertently listed Mark Warner as the Governor of South Carolina. Gov. Warner leads the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mark Sanford is Governor of South Carolina. SSTI regrets the error.

With $90 million already secured in state and private support, a 400-acre automotive research campus to be developed by Clemson University promises to make South Carolina a hub of the nation's automotive and motorsports industry.

The Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research will house a new graduate engineering education center, distinctive research and testing facilities, and private industry research and development operations that will help support the region's growing automotive industry cluster. The first non-academic tenant on campus, BMW Manufacturing of South Carolina, plans to occupy an Information Technology Research Center to be built adjacent to Clemson's graduate school. The 84,000-square-foot center will support research focusing on improving automotive software systems and software/hardware compatibility for BMW products.

The new position of vice president of research and health services at the University of South Carolina will be filled by Harris Pastides.