Economic Impact

Business Development

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

• Cephos Corporation, a start-up company of the Brain Imaging CoEE, uses brain imaging technology for lie detection.

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

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

• The CoEE in Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Economy and the CoEE in Renewable Fuels for the Fuel Cell Economy are associated with the creation of six start-up companies.

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

Economic Development

• 895 high-paying, knowledge-based jobs were created at new corporate facilities, most of which are the result of corporate partnerships with the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville. 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 CoEE with executives from from Timken, BMW, and Michelin.

• The CoEE 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 CoEE, 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 CoEE will develop models of improved patient care and health professional education through the dissemination of information and the use of technology. 

Funding

• 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 CoEE 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 CoEE Endowed Chairs and establish the CoEE in Healthcare Quality and Clinical Effectiveness. 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 CoEE 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.

• CoEE 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 CoEE 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 Health Care Quality CoEE. The funding will go toward enhancing rural health care through telecommunications and information services.

Technology Transfer

• By the numbers:
  • 136 invention disclosures have been registered as a result of the CoEE program to date. These have led to . . .
  • 58 provisional U.S. patent applications.
  • 63 U.S. patent applications.
  • 12 U.S. patents issued.
  • 22 international patent applications and the issuance of one international patent.
  • 18 active licenses from CoEE research.
  Click here for a breakdown of disclosures, patents, and licenses by center.

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

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

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

• The Optical Materials CoEE has filed 26 invention disclosures, six provisional U.S. patent applications, and 16 U.S. patent applications, with three U.S. patents issued. The CoEE has four active executed licenses.

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

• The CoEE in Molecular Proteomics in Cardiovascular Disease and Prevention 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 CoEE in Cancer Drug Discovery 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.