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$1 million federal grant to boost fuel cell research in Columbia

$1 million federal grant to boost fuel cell research in Columbia

EngenuitySC plans to spend most of the money on infrastructure

By C. GRANT JACKSON

Business Editor

Columbia’s effort to become a center for the hydrogen/fuel cell industry has received a boost from the federal government.

EngenuitySC will get $1 million in federal money to help create the National Institute of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Commercialization.

The money for Engenuity, the umbrella group working to bring a knowledge-based economy to the Midlands, comes from a federal budget measure passed in November.

The National Institute of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Commercialization, a nonprofit organization, will work to find commercial opportunities for USC and other state research institutions doing fuel cell research.

The money becomes available July 1. Engenuity will spend the next six to 12 months determining how to spend the money, but the funding is actually fairly open, executive director Neil McLean said.

He said Engenuity plans to spend most of the money on facilities. “We want to invest in infrastructure that will serve the area for a long time.” None of the money will pay Engenuity’s operating budget, he said.

Some of the money could be used for specially outfitted space, such as wet labs, in a new building in the Horizon Center. The center is part of the Innovista, the USC research campus.

“One of our key goals is to attract the best scientists and entrepreneurs in fuel cells in the world to come here. And we are going to need resources to do that,” McLean said.

USC president Andrew Sorensen said the city, businesses and USC will use the money “to continue our progress toward building a 21st century economic engine that is powered by research from USC’s Innovista and commercialized right here in the Midlands.”

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