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Innovation Centers - The need for coordination: Clemson part of building knowledge-based economy in S.C.

Innovation Centers - The need for coordination: Clemson part of building knowledge-based economy in S.C.

By Alison Glass
Original at Anderson Independent-Mail
January 14, 2006

Clemson University research and education centers have operated for decades, and their domain largely has been agriculture, forestry and rural economic development.

But as South Carolina strives to build a knowledge-based economy, Clemson now is stepping into other areas, including spaces being called innovation centers. The university, Clemson officials said, must make sure the work at innovation centers complements, where possible, what is happening at research and education centers around the state.

The research can include development of food wrappers that change color when food goes bad to finding new functions for the silk that spiders make.

School officials reached back into history to demonstrate the precedent for the centers: The will of Thomas Green Clemson, the university's founder, includes statements about applying science to the needs of the work force, said Chris Przirembel, vice president for research and economic development at the school.

"That's exactly what we're doing," Mr. Przirembel said.

The goal is to lure venture capitalists and others who in the past have passed on South Carolina.

"What we're trying to do is say OK, the intellectual property is in South Carolina, and we want to grow our own companies, and we want them to stay here," Mr. Przirembel said.

To that end, officials of several South Carolina state agencies agreed in 2005 to allocate state money to Clemson to help move research results into the marketplace. The millions of state dollars will be matched with money from private sources.

"We believe innovation centers (such as the Clemson centers) have the potential to aid the growth of high-technology small businesses, which is key to transitioning South Carolina into the 21st century economy," said Joel Sawyer, spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford. Gov. Sanford and other politicians have picked up job creation as a major issue during this legislative session. The governor has proposed boosting the budget for agencies used to recruit companies to the state.

Clemson is one of the major players in the research and development arm of this push, with plans to develop an innovation center in the Clemson Research Park.

The 40,000-square-foot building in the Anderson County research park will house small, young high-tech companies that focus on photonics (electromagnetic energy), nanotechnology (atom-sized technology) and biomaterials, school officials said. The facility will serve as a home for entrepreneurial start-ups and Clemson University spin-off companies, and as a starting point for larger companies considering relocation to South Carolina, officials said.

The South Carolina Research Centers of Economic Excellence Review Board voted in September to approve a Clemson University's request for $5 million to build the center, which officials said is in the early design stages.

The university also got $10.3 million of state money to support a new research campus in North Charleston that will be home to the Clemson University Restoration Institute. The institute, established in 2004, focuses on the restoration economy, which refers to revitalizing existing areas. A variety of disciplines - health, hydrology, materials engineering and historic preservation among them - play roles.

A separate research alliance between Clemson and the Greenville Hospital System will provide Clemson with space in Greenville for research in three key areas: bioengineering focused on orthopedic and cardiovascular devices, rehabilitation and performance enhancement; trauma data analysis and research on safer automotive design; and expansion of ongoing cancer-related research.

Clemson officials have applied as well for $5 million of state money to meet the estimated construction cost of a graduate education center in human genetics in cooperation with the Greenwood Genetics Center. The effort will strengthen the appeal of the Upstate to genetics-related companies, officials said.

Clemson officials are beginning to see potential areas of research overlap between innovation centers and existing research and education centers, Mr. Przirembel said.

The university has research and education centers around the state in Blackville, Georgetown, Florence, Charleston and Columbia in addition to research farm services in Clemson. Laboratory renovations recently ended at two research and education centers, said John Kelly, vice president for public service and agriculture. Renovations are under way at two other centers, he said.

One area of research, materials development, may sound dull, but it's an area that could pay dividends for Clemson and the state, officials said. Advanced materials in food packaging, for example, could show - by changing colors - if the food is spoiled or tainted, Mr. Przirembel said.

"We (the university) just got a major federal grant to look at packaging food for the military," he said.

Creating sustainable environments for agriculture and other industries is another area of research, Mr. Kelly said.

Restoration Institute researchers will tackle the challenges of restoring historic, ecological and urban infrastructure, said Jan Schach, dean of Clemson's College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.

And, the work that Clemson researchers will do in cooperation with the Greenville Hospital System is connected to Clemson research and education centers, said Martine LaBerge, chairwoman of the Clemson bioengineering department.

"We are hoping the techniques and the research that will be developed will lead to having tangible products and techniques that will benefit patients," Ms. LaBerge said.

Some of the other work at Clemson research and education centers involves examination of how spiders manufacture silk, said Mac Horton, professor and director at the Sandhills Research and Education Center. Silk has a number of commercial uses, and innovation centers could potentially draw from work done at other Clemson facilities to identify new applications for the material, he said.

The growth of the knowledge-based economy not only will bring high-tech jobs to South Carolina but also manufacturing positions, Mr. Kelly said.

Publicly funded research institutions such as Clemson are expected to "help drive economic and community development," Mr. Horton said.