By Andy Owens
aowens@scbiznews.com
Published Dec. 7, 2009

More than 700 attendees and 40 exhibitors from across the country descended on the Charleston Area Convention Center last week for a government and technology conference for defense contractors.

For the third year, the C5ISR Government and Industry Conference — C5ISR stands for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance — was hosted by the Charleston Defense Contractors Association, bringing together national experts, speakers, vendors and defense contractors.

“The Charleston Defense Contractors Association is a local business, yet this conference attracts individuals and businesses from all over the country,” said association President Mike Resler, who is also the director of business development for Scientific Research Corp.

(Photo/Joe Bullinger/SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic)

Defense contractors make up the largest industry sector of employment in the Charleston area, recently outpacing health care, Resler said, and the biggest reason is SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic, which pumped $6 billion worth of work into the economy, 82% to private companies.

“SPAWAR really values our relationship with our industry partners,” said Lonnie Cowart, public affairs officer for SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic, based in North Charleston. “The type of work we do is in high demand, and our partners help us do that.”

“That’s an economic impact on the Lowcountry,” Resler said.

That impact could grow as the region gets more exposure. Resler said the defense contractors group is working to bring more conferences to the region, including those involved in space technology.

At least one vendor at the conference said his company, which has a location on Daniel Island, considers the announcement of The Boeing Co.’s 787 final assembly line in North Charleston a huge boost to defense contractors and related industries.

“Anytime you bring money, you bring jobs, you bring technical skills,” said Derrick Nixon, program manager for MTCSC. “It keeps Charleston in the news.”

Nixon said an announcement like Boeing’s raises the Charleston’s profile. He suggested that companies would be interested in the Lowcountry once they were made aware of what the region offers in terms of quality of life, work force and collaboration. For example, a Boeing skills and training program at Trident Technical College has trickled into conversations among defense contractors who are considering capitalizing on the overlap of skills in defense and aerospace.

“You do not see that in other cities,” Nixon said. “Everyone is respectful of each other, and that gives the government the best value.”

Nixon said the C5ISR conference in Charleston, which outgrew its location at the Naval Weapons Station after two years, allows vendors and contractors to have informal discussions and leads to lasting business relationships. He said that’s not true of many conferences across the country and that makes it valuable.

“This by far has blown away all the other conferences,” Nixon said. “It is truly a partnership between government and industry that’s allowing us to have informed conversations.”

The ability to attract influential speakers to Charleston helps facilitate that link between the foxhole and the factory floor, said Wolf Kutter, who lined up the speakers for the C5 conference and serves as the chief knowledge officer at USfalcon Inc.

“It gives the conference participants a national level of speaker,” Kutter said.

Among the speakers this year were Rear Adm. Michael C. Bachmann, commander of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command; Starnes E. Walker, director of research, science and technology for the Department of Homeland Security; and Rear Adm. William R. Burke, director of Naval Warfare Integration Group.

The Charleston Defense Contractors Association also is involved in a variety of scholarship, outreach and educational programs to keep students interested in science, technology and math as they consider careers. For example, all proceeds from the C5 conference will go toward those efforts. Last year, the association gave $10,000 to a school robotics competition that offered a demonstration during the conference.

“We want to create that opportunity here,” said association Vice President Jack Moore, who is the director of SPAWAR Atlantic programs for Odyssey Systems Consulting Group in Mount Pleasant. “We need the younger kids that have the iPhones and the Xboxes. The Department of Defense wants to take advantage of the private sector’s innovations.”