State, local knowledge-based economic growth initiatives gain traction
By Bill Settlemyer
President and CEO, Setcom Media Inc.
When it comes to efforts to find new ways to spur economic growth here and around the state, there has often been too much talk and too little effort.
Now that’s beginning to change, thanks to the persistence of long-term supporters of knowledge-based economic growth, as well as the efforts of newcomers who are determined to change the game and get things moving at a much faster pace than in the past.
Earlier this month, I attended the Charleston Metro Chamber’s sixth annual ThinkTEC
Innovation Summit. Five years ago, ThinkTEC, as a division of the chamber, was still struggling to get off the ground. One local leader, attorney Bobby Pearce, took the helm as volunteer chairman.
I attended many of those early meetings, and there was no shortage of frustration as volunteers and staff tried to help the group “find its legs” and get something effective underway.
It took a long time for good things to start happening, but ThinkTEC has come a long way, and through it all, Bobby Pearce stuck with it. Pearce was honored at the recent ThinkTEC meeting for his efforts, which have since extended well beyond ThinkTEC to other work supporting knowledge-based economic growth throughout the state.
When a plan comes together
It would be nice to say that ThinkTEC’s recent progress was all the result of carefully laid plans, but I think it’s been more of an evolutionary process, aided during the past few years by the work of a number of key volunteers and the group’s current executive director, Pennie Bingham.
Perhaps the most impressive program ThinkTEC has going at the moment is the FastTrac initiative, which delivers in-depth advice and guidance to budding entrepreneurs.
The program’s success here in our region has resulted in its expansion to other areas of the state. To find out more about the program, visit www.fasttracsc.org.
Another interesting ThinkTEC initiative is built around the annual Homeland Security Innovation Conference. This seems to be a natural for the Charleston area with all the attention on port security and the many defense-related companies operating here.
The role of government
South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell is another leader in the promotion of knowledge-based economic growth. Harrell was also recognized at the ThinkTEC Innovation Summit for his efforts.
During the past several years, Harrell has played a major role in legislative initiatives that provide targeted support for the kind of economic growth that most agree must be pursued to ensure future prosperity in our state.
As a recent example, he secured the funding for the expansion of ThinkTEC’s FastTrac program to other areas of the state. He has also supported or sponsored legislation providing funding and authorization for endowed chairs at the state’s research universities and other measures designed to kick start funding for entrepreneurs in a state that’s starved for traditional venture capital.
An interesting initiative related to these efforts has evolved from the programs and mission of the South Carolina Research Authority. Created by the state years ago, this organization has generated a great deal of high-tech business activity and has now rolled out a new initiative, SCRA Launch!
Thanks to enabling legislation, SCRA Launch! has $12 million from the organization’s strategic cash reserve in hand to invest in such projects as entrepreneurial ventures around the state. To ensure the investments are made on the timeline prescribed by the Legislature, the SCRA has hired young and successful entrepreneur Jim Stritzinger to propel the SCRA Launch! program forward.
Stritzinger, who had built and sold a software company to Microsoft before moving to Hilton Head from Delaware, says he now has his “dream job,” racing around the state trying to drum up business and enthusiasm for the SCRA Launch! program and trying to tie together all the various elements needed to build momentum behind all the state and local initiatives related to knowledge-based economic development.
These days, when I speak to anyone involved with economic growth efforts around the state, I usually ask if they know Jim Stritzinger, and they usually do. Go Jim!
The snowball effect
Other statewide groups and organizations operating statewide are also coming together under the banner of promoting knowledge-based growth for the state. The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, the Palmetto Institute, South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness, the South Carolina Department of Commerce and a host of other groups are beginning to communicate across the state in ways that I’ve never seen or heard of in years past.
To get an idea of what’s going on, take a look at www.newcarolina.org, the Web site of the Council on Competitiveness.
There’s a lot going on in our own region, too.
The Charleston Digital Corridor recently announced the first deployment of its “Corridor Fund” with a loan guarantee to eSchoolware Inc. eSchoolware is a new information-based company headquartered on Daniel Island that provides Web-based solutions for academic achievement in education.
Ted Dintersmith, a partner in Boston-based Charles River Ventures who moved to Charleston a few years ago, has brought his expertise to bear to assist entrepreneurs in the region. He recently brought together a group of “business heavyweights” to meet with owners of local entrepreneurial companies. His goal was to educate entrepreneurs on the exceptional opportunities here to recruit boards of directors and advisory boards made up of retired corporate executives looking for something interesting to do, rather than just playing golf.
So far, around 100 executives have been added to Dintersmith’s database of prospects for the role of director or adviser to new companies in the region.
I can’t do justice in this column to the hundreds of volunteers, staff people, government officials and others whose persistence and energy are beginning to add some real “juice” to local and state efforts to jump start South Carolina’s economy.
Let me just close by saying that good things are happening. Regardless of the state’s high unemployment rate, there may be good reason to be bullish on South Carolina.
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