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EngenuitySC 06 - Follow Up

Submitted by: John Warner on Nov 08, 2006 at 11:07 pm Tagged with: Entrepreneurial, Featured Articles, Next Energy Source:

By Neil McLean, Executive Director, EngenuitySC

Just in case you missed Engenuity '06 several weeks back, here's what happened. You can access the presentations on the websites, www.fuelcellchallenge.com and www.engenuitysc.com. More than 250 people from around SC (and beyond) attended the event. The collaborative spirit was apparent throughout the day and should lend energy and momentum to ongoing statewide and regional initiatives. Some highlights:

State and Federal Support -- Congressman Jim Clyburn, Congressman Joe Wilson and Senator Jim DeMint spoke at the conference and voiced unanimous support to SC's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell economy aspirations. House Speaker Bobby Harrell keynoted the session with a similar theme: "collaboration is critical" and "success in the hydrogen economy means development of a strong knowledge economy for S.C."

Fuel Cell Challenge Project Announcements -- We announced the Fuel Cell Challenge project last March and made the first six project awards at the conference. The goal of the Fuel Cell Challenge is to match fuel cell industry interests with local entities in projects ranging from education to product deployment. You can see complete project descriptions on the website.

Research and Commercialization -- Dr. Harris Pastides, VP Research and Health Sciences at USC provided an update on the University's Future Fuel Initiative. SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney discussed how its commercialization services and DoD focus support current market and company start-up needs.

Industry Perspective-- Pierre Rivard, CEO of Hydrogenics provided a private sector perspective and his company's view for how the Hydrogen economy will ramp up. His presentation is available online.

Media Coverage -- Media coverage for the event was strong both regionally and nationally. As a bonus, SCETV recorded the event for future broadcast with TV cameras powered by Jadoo Hydrogen Fuel Cell batteries.

Overall, the conference served as another milestone in our effort build a knowledge economy in Columbia centered on fuel cells. It showed that there is a nascent fuel cell market in existence today and the tremendous potential of this market in the future. The Fuel Cell Challenge announcements were covered nationally in the media, assisting in establishing our region as a leader in fuel cell development. We displayed the remarkable unity we have in the region for growing our fuel cell economy with participation from federal, state and local elected officials, higher education and the business community. Finally, it provided an opportunity for more leaders in our region to learn more about ways to participate in our region-wide efforts.

You can stay in touch with our progress at www.fuelcellchallenge.com or www.engenuitysc.com.