Economic Impact

Business Development

• The Regenerative Medicine Center has launched a start-up company, FirstString, which markets wound repair technology.

• The Neurosciences Center has supported the creation of SemiAlloGen, Inc., a biotech company that develops therapeutics in the field of neurodegenerative disorders and cancer.

• The Optical Materials Center has had an indirect impact on the launching of two companies: Advanced Photonic Crystals and Tetramer Technologies.

• ImmunoMod, a start-up company that develops drugs for the treatment of diabetes, was founded through the work of the Center in Childhood Neurotherapeutics.

Economic Development

• Nearly 7,000 jobs have been created in South Carolina because of the SmartState Program. The average salary of those jobs is $63,000—more than twice the 2009 per capita income in the state.

• In 2010, a number of new companies announced relocations to South Carolina, including automotive companies Sage, ProTerra, and CT&T in the Upstate. Fuel cell company Trulite announced plans to relocate to Columbia to be near the automotive research of USC's Future Fuels™ Centers.

• Timken and BMW have located corporate research and development offices on the CU-ICAR campus that have together created 500 high-paying jobs. Follow these links to read interviews on the benefits of investment in SmartState with executives from from Timken, BMW, and Michelin.

• The SmartState Program is building South Carolina’s competitive position in emerging high-growth industries. These sectors include automotive engineering, health sciences, life sciences, nanotechnology, advanced materials, supply chain optimization and logistics, fuel cells, and molecular nutrition

• When the health sciences component of the program is fully funded and in place, as many as 40 world-class scientists, plus a cadre of researchers and technicians, will be working in South Carolina. The economic impact could range from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in new products and jobs.

• The Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety Center, approved by the Review Board in September 2005, will have operations in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville. Each location could hire more than 100 people. Research conducted by this Center will develop models of improved patient care and health professional education through the dissemination of information and the use of technology. 

Funding

• More than $1.2 billion in investment from private and federal sources has entered the South Carolina economy because of the SmartState Program.

• In FY2010 alone, SmartState research team grants resulted in more than $50 million entering the state.

• The program has attracted industry-match dollars from Bank of America, Roche Carolina, BMW, Michelin, Timken, SunMicrosystems, and a number of other companies, along with grants from major foundations.

• Global medical giant Smith & Nephew announced a $5 million investment in USC's Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Science Center to develop tissue-engineered materials and implantable devices.
  
  
• The Duke Endowment awarded a three-year $21 million grant to Health Sciences South Carolina, enabling it to provide non-state funding for SmartState Endowed Chairs and establish the Healthcare Quality and Clinical Effectiveness Centers. The grant is the largest ever made by the 82-year-old private foundation's healthcare division and will help propel South Carolina into the forefront of research on patient safety, clinical effectiveness, and quality of healthcare. Read an interview with Health Sciences South Carolina President Jay Moskowitz.
  
  
• Dr. Kenneth Reifsnider of the Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Center and his team of mechanical and chemical engineers were awarded the largest research grant in the history of USC, $12.5 million. The grant will create one of 31 national Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

• SmartState Endowed Chairs were instrumental in helping MUSC win two $20 million grants, one from the National Science Foundation and the other from the National Institutes of Health.
  

• The Proteomics Center is affiliated with the MUSC Proteomics Center, which received the largest competitive extramural research award ever awarded in the state ($18.7 million).

• A $7 million grant from the FCC was awarded to endowed chair Dr. Iain Sanderson of the Healthcare Quality Center. The funding will go toward enhancing rural health care through telecommunications and information services.

Technology Transfer

• By the numbers:
  • 271 invention disclosures have been registered as a result of the SmartState Program to date. These have led to . . .
  • 241 U.S. and international patent applications.
  • 24 U.S. and international patents issued.
  • 22 active licenses from SmartState research.
  Click here for a breakdown of disclosures, patents, and licenses by center.

• The Regenerative Medicine Center has filed for several patents in wound healing technology.

• The Proteomics Center has filed for a patent in proteomics technology.

• The Marine Genomics Center has sold a diagnostic gene chip to the International Oyster Microarray Consortium on a cost-recovery basis. Intellectual property generated by this Center—that RNA injected into shrimp could protect them against viral infections—has major implications on shrimp aquaculture.

• The Optical Materials Center has filed 30 invention disclosures, 8 provisional U.S. patent applications, and 20 U.S. patent applications, with 10 U.S. patents issued. The Center has five active executed licenses.

• Two U.S. patents were granted to the Childhood Neurotherapeutics Center. The Center has also submitted several other provisional, non-provisional, and international patent applications.

• The Molecular Proteomics in Cardiovascular Disease and Prevention Center has a license agreement with Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, based on its identification of a set of blood enzymes used to detect probabilities of heart failure.

• Research at the Cancer Drug Discovery Center has led to the filing of a disclosure for several new compounds that inhibit an enzyme over-expressed in cancer cells, PIM kinase. A new biotech company has been formed to develop these PIM kinase inhibitors for cancer treatment.

For a detailed explanation of the technology transfer process, click here.