Definition of a Center of Economic Excellence

At the heart of each Center of Economic Excellence are one or more world-class scientists who lead the Center’s research endeavors. These endowed professors are in turn supported by a group of senior faculty members, as well as a research team consisting of junior faculty members, research faculty, and graduate students.

Typically, a CoEE includes appropriate research infrastructure, technical staff, and sustainable funding sources. Also, each CoEE must be supported by affiliated graduate programs. Finally, a CoEE should be relevant to ongoing university research programs and existing objectives at the home institution and participating universities.

The non-state partnerships increase each institution's research capabilities far beyond what would have been possible had a constituent group of faculty, graduate students, and technical staff worked independently. Each CoEE is designed to generate a critical mass of additional researchers, businesses, and service providers in an identified research field.

Eligible Disciplines

South Carolina’s research universities must establish Centers of Economic Excellence in specific scientific and knowledge-based industries, such as engineering, biomedicine, technology, and energy science. For details about all program and application requirements, please visit the Program Guidelines and RFP Guidelines.

Oversight

The CoEE program is overseen by the CoEE Review Board.

Approval Process

The process by which a research university is approved for funding for a Center of Economic Excellence is described here.

Importance of the CoEE Program to the Future of South Carolina

The CoEE Program improves South Carolina’s standard of living by creating well-paying jobs. The program funds research in specific areas that show the greatest promise for higher-paying job creation. These areas include advanced materials, health and life sciences, automotive engineering, fuel cells, and nanotechnology.

The CoEE Program enhances quality of life in South Carolina and around the globe. The program funds research to find next-generation therapeutics for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, alternative energy sources, and many other solutions to crucial global problems. Once transferred to the marketplace, these breakthroughs will save and improve lives in South Carolina and throughout the world.

The CoEE Program attracts new federal and private funding for research in South Carolina. The program is a magnet for outside investment. State money for each CoEE is matched dollar-for-dollar by non-state contributors.

The CoEE Program recruits scientists and engineers to lead high-impact, economy-building research programs. These top-flight scientists help South Carolina stimulate patenting, venture capital investment, and the creation of startup companies.

The CoEE Program creates a talent pipeline for South Carolina. The presence of top researchers and facilities via the CoEE Program helps South Carolina’s research universities attract the best and brightest students—our next generation of researchers. New CoEE-inspired graduate programs include automotive engineering, electrochemistry, fuel cell engineering, and mathematical modeling.

The CoEE Program helps South Carolina companies succeed. The research funded by the program directly supports the strategic business goals of South Carolina companies. CoEE researchers are working to generate technology that South Carolina companies can use to create new products, improve processes, increase sales, and ultimately create jobs. The CoEE Program fosters an innovative environment in which technology transfer can lead to new spin-off companies from university research.

The CoEE Program brings together the brightest minds and most cutting-edge technology within specific, knowledge-based fields. This innovative environment promotes the kinds of research breakthroughs that can become marketable applications through the development of spin-off companies to produce and sell these new products.

The CoEE Program builds South Carolina’s competitive advantages. In the new technology-driven economy, states that don’t focus on research, innovation, and commercialization will lose jobs. Legislative action such as the CoEE Program enables South Carolina to attract higher-paying jobs on the merit of the state’s knowledge base and technology transfer capabilities.

The CoEE Program advances South Carolina's efforts to create a vibrant knowledge economy. The CoEE Program actively supports job-creating research in high-growth, high-wage industries that have the power to transform the state’s economy.