The CoEE Program supports research in areas that will help South Carolina companies grow, attract new business to the state, build a technology-rich economy, and create more opportunities for

South Carolinians.

Centers of Economic Excellence

December 2009 Program Update

CoEE Program creates 3,200 jobs, new annual report reveals

Program boosting South Carolina’s economy, quality of life.

According to its fiscal year (FY) 2009 annual report, released this week, the Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) Program is succeeding at jumpstarting South Carolina’s economy and creating high-paying jobs. The program has brought more than one-quarter billion dollars in non-state investment into the state’s economy and has led to the creation of 3,200 new jobs, most of which are high-paying, knowledge-based economy positions. Other program accomplishments to date include:

• Creation of 45 cutting-edge research centers, public-private partnerships known as “Centers of Economic Excellence,” at the state’s research universities (Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of South Carolina). These centers are positioning South Carolina competitively in the global economy.

• Recruitment of 22 of the world’s leading scientists and engineers to South Carolina as CoEE Endowed Chairs.

• Awards of 13 U.S. and international patents as CoEE researchers convert groundbreaking scientific discoveries into marketable products and services.

• Founding of 11 new start-up companies in South Carolina based on CoEE research.

The state’s research universities have also reported some exciting developments in FY2009 because of the CoEE Program:

At MUSC:

• In March 2009, Hollings Cancer Center was designated a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center—one of only 64 centers in the country. The NCI designation is expected to add $31 to $38 million to the Charleston area economy over the next five years.

• 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 CoEE Program has supported the development of a statewide network of health care simulation centers, which have trained 14,000 physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and students since 2008.

• The CoEE Program is helping more stroke patients survive and thrive in South Carolina by dramatically increasing the number of rural citizens being treated with the clot-busting drug Tissue Plasminogen Activator (t-PA).

• During FY2009, MUSC recruited three new CoEE Endowed Chairs, Dr. Melanie Thomas (Gastrointestinal Cancer Diagnostics CoEE), Dr. Paul Morgan (Brain Imaging CoEE), and Dr. Jihad Obeid (Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety CoEE).

At USC:

• CoEE Endowed Chair Dr. Kenneth Reifsnider and his team were awarded USC’s single largest federal grant ever, a $12.5 million U.S. Department of Energy award for advanced energy research. The grant will create one of 31 national Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

• Two fuel cell-related CoEE Endowed Chairs headlined the National Hydrogen Association annual conference in Columbia, which brought the world’s top hydrogen experts to the state.

• 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 Healthcare Quality CoEE has partnered with IBM and Siemens to develop information technology infrastructure across South Carolina, which is designed to improve health care, increase research, enhance access to clinical trials, and ultimately reduce medical costs.

• During FY2009, USC recruited four new CoEE Endowed Chairs, Dr. Martin Morad (Regenerative Medicine CoEE), Dr. Jay Moskowitz (Healthcare Quality CoEE), Dr. Brian Benicewicz (Polymer Nanocomposites CoEE), and Dr. Rita Snyder (Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety CoEE).

At Clemson:

• American Titanium Works (ATW) announced that it will invest $422 million to locate facilities near Clemson’s four CoEE Endowed Chairs in automotive engineering. This relocation will result in the creation of 320 new jobs. ATW also announced it will establish its applications development and engineering technical center at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) campus, which will create 40 additional engineering jobs.

• Scientists at the Optical Materials CoEE developed a practical optical fiber, which could have a profound impact on efficiency in electronic devices worldwide.

• Because of the CoEE Program and CU-ICAR, Clemson is the first institution of higher education in the nation to offer a Ph.D. in Automotive Engineering. In FY2009, that program graduated its first class. Since its creation, the program has doubled in size every year and currently includes students from across the U.S. and countries such as China, India, Italy, Germany, and Malaysia.

• During FY2009, Clemson recruited one new CoEE Endowed Chair Dr. Paul Venhovens (Automotive Systems Integration CoEE).

“As the presidents of all three South Carolina research universities will eagerly tell you, these accomplishments would not have been possible without the CoEE Program,” says CoEE Review Board Chair Paula Harper Bethea.

“In 2002, the South Carolina General Assembly took an ‘if you build it, they will come’ approach to reinventing the state economy,” Bethea continues. “After a few years, we now see that industry and investment aren’t just coming, they’re coming in droves. But building a train engine and laying miles of track is not all that is required to get from Point A to Point B. It takes dynamic effort to get a train moving and equal energy to sustain an engine’s propulsion. The knowledge-based economy is no different.”

Read the entire FY 2009 CoEE Annual Report.

CoEE Endowed Chairs form Council to boost science and technology in South Carolina

Through a newly created Council of Chairs, the 22 world-renowned scientists and engineers who hold CoEE Endowed Chair positions will serve as a “brain trust”—providing advice and leadership for the state on matters related to science and technology. They will also help identify ways to increase the presence of high-tech research and create high-paying jobs.

The creation of the Council is an effort to harness the collective knowledge of the CoEE Endowed Chairs to collaboratively achieve more direct economic benefits for the state, in addition to the impact each chair is already making in his or her own field. 

“We have created the Council of Chairs to take advantage of the intelligence, experience, creativity, and vision that the CoEE Endowed Chairs have brought to South Carolina,” says Paula Harper Bethea, chair of the CoEE Review Board.

The CoEE Endowed Chairs are lending their talents to the Council in addition to their “day jobs” leading research teams and instructing graduate students at the individual Centers of Economic Excellence.

At the Council’s first meeting on October 30, the CoEE Endowed Chairs spent several hours discussing how the Council could build on the success of the CoEE Program and support South Carolina’s economy. Also at that meeting, Dr. Richard Swaja, CoEE Endowed Chair in Regenerative Medicine at MUSC, was elected to serve as chair of the Council. Dr. Thomas Kurfess, BMW Endowed Chair in Manufacturing at Clemson, was elected to serve as vice-chair.

The 22 CoEE Endowed Chairs “represent expertise in a broad range of scientific disciplines and applications and will provide valuable perspectives for developing and strengthening the state’s science base, economy, quality of life, and national visibility,” says Swaja.

“It’s very gratifying to realize how much we can be an asset to the state—how we can have an effect on South Carolina’s future economic success,” says Kurfess. “It’s exciting.”

CoEE Endowed Chair wins prestigious National Cancer Institute award

Dr. Melanie Thomas, who leads the CoEE in Gastrointestinal Cancer Diagnostics at MUSC, has been recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for her success in clinical trials research. Thomas is one of 11 U.S. researchers to receive the Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award, which recognizes leaders of cancer research programs who advance effective therapies through a team approach. Other recipients of the award are faculty members at such prestigious institutions as the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York), and the Mayo Clinic.

Thomas is a leading expert on gastrointestinal (GI) cancers; her research seeks new targets (proteins that play a role in the disease process and are the intended sites of drug activity) for GI cancer treatment and screening. As a CoEE Endowed Chair, Thomas leads a team that’s working to increase the number of clinical drug trials in South Carolina and citizens’ access to them. Clinical trials are a crucial part of the drug development process. Conducting these trials in South Carolina could potentially attract pharmaceutical jobs to the state as well as save and improve the lives of South Carolinians. 

CoEE Endowed Chairs to take part in South Carolina's first health-related economic development summit

In March 2010, health-related CoEE Endowed Chairs will take part in HEAL SC 2010, short for Health Economy Advancement Legacy for South Carolina. The event, scheduled for March 2-3 in Columbia, is being hosted by Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC). HEAL SC is designed as an interactive forum to heighten awareness of the exciting, health care-related and biomedical research taking place in South Carolina. The conference will help entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and investors connect with CoEE researchers and university technology transfer offices, as well as promote commercial opportunities within the health sciences research community. The event will feature presentations and demonstrations by multiple CoEE Endowed Chairs, principal investigators, and researchers that show the connection between research, economic development, and better health. For up-to-date information on the conference, visit HSSC.

Media coverage: MUSC Endowed Chair Dr. Richard Swaja

Dr. Richard Swaja, CoEE Endowed Chair at the Regenerative Medicine CoEE at MUSC, as well as chair of the CoEE Council of Chairs, was recently featured in several media articles.

From MidlandsBiz:

A Conversation with Dr. Richard Swaja, Endowed Chair in Regenerative Medicine at MUSC.

MidlandsBiz: Please tell us a little about your background and why the opportunity in South Carolina appealed to you.

Dr. Richard Swaja: Scientists want an opportunity to show what they can do and to make a difference. For me, this opportunity was afforded by the South Carolina CoEE Program . . . read more of the conversation with Dr. Swaja.

From SCBiz Daily:

Researchers focus on economic development

COLUMBIA -- Five years ago, Dr. Richard Swaja didn’t expect to be a leader in South Carolina’s effort to strengthen its economic focus on science-based industry. He didn’t even expect to be living here . . . read more of of this article about researchers and economic development.

Investor spotlight: Smith and Nephew

In 2009, global medical technology company Smith & Nephew announced that it would invest $5 million in a new partnership with the University of South Carolina (USC). The investment funds the Center of Economic Excellence in Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Sciences. The center brings together USC researchers, the Orthopedic Research Foundation of the Carolinas (ORFC), and the Biologics & Spine division of Smith & Nephew to research and develop cutting-edge orthopedic therapies and technologies.

Why would one of the leading global orthopedics companies invest in South Carolina research? According to company leaders, investing in the CoEE Program gives Smith & Nephew a unique opportunity to investigate new technologies and therapies that can improve people’s lives.

Below, Ken Reali, senior vice president and general manager of Smith & Nephew Biologics & Spine, shares more about his company’s interest in the CoEE Program.

Why did Smith & Nephew invest in the CoEE Program?

Reali: No other state had a program that could match the benefits available through the CoEE Program.

What we found in South Carolina provided a unique opportunity for collaboration between our company, a renowned university dedicated to research, and the ORFC, with a network of associated orthopedic clinics. This collaboration draws on the expertise of world-class academic, clinical, and commercial partners to research and develop new technologies that will help future generations of patients.

Advanced, biologic therapies are a new field for Smith & Nephew and one that requires strong partnerships to maximize the opportunities for success. We believe the CoEE collaboration will help us meet our goals. The fact that South Carolina matched our investment dollar-for-dollar was also a powerful incentive.

How do you believe your company will benefit from this investment?

Reali: We are confident that our company will benefit in multiple ways. We believe that innovative new therapies can be initiated by public health and biomedical engineering research partners at USC, developed and advanced with the support of Smith & Nephew, and then studied carefully by the ORFC and its associated clinics. With the help of our partners, we will be able to evaluate the performance of new products and treatment approaches and to assess the potential they hold for helping patients to regain their lives. The CoEE Program also provides a cost-effective way to expand the breadth and depth of our research. We want to develop the right technologies in a way that adds value and is beneficial to patients and clinicians.

What do you see as the potential long-term advantages of investing in the CoEE Program?

Reali: We anticipate benefits in working with world-class academic and clinical leaders through this program. Long term, we hope to see innovative and cost-effective technologies developed for commercialization.

Our aim is to accomplish translational research, taking products from bench to bedside. In the Center of Economic Excellence in Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Sciences, we will be able to

consult a broad range of clinicians as well as patients to better understand their needs and problems and to determine the right technology to help them meet those needs.

The overarching theme of our involvement is helping people to improve their lives. We believe the work done in the new center will add value for our business, our customers, and their patients.

Who we are

The S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence Program was established by the South Carolina General Assembly in 2002, funded through South Carolina Education Lottery proceeds. The legislation authorizes the state's three public research institutions, Medical University of South Carolina, Clemson University, and the University of South Carolina, to use state funds to create Centers of Economic Excellence in research areas that will advance South Carolina's economy. Each Center of Economic Excellence is awarded from $2 million to $5 million in state funds, which must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis with non-state funds. The program also supports CoEE endowed chairs, world-renowned scientists who lead the Centers of Economic Excellence. By investing in talent and technology, the CoEE Program is designed to fuel the state's knowledge-based economy, resulting in high-paying jobs and an improved standard of living in South Carolina.

For more information on the CoEE Program, visit www.sccoee.org.