Q&A

The university recently started the Office of Economic Engagement and you’ll be heading that up. What’s the mission of the office?Simply put, the mission is to help grow South Carolina’s economy. The office will act as a single

point of contact for any business or entity that wants to tap into the expertise and creativity here

at USC. There’s tremendous momentum building within the USC system for everything from devel-

oping and commercializing new technologies to encouraging entrepreneurship and risk-taking. The

task of the new office is to harness that momentum and better connect it to the outside world.

What’s your background?Most recently, I’ve served as execu-

tive director and entrepreneur in

residence of the USC-Columbia

Technology Incubator. I’ve also

worked in executive management

for IBM and Pfizer; served as manag-

ing partner of Columbia-based LK Global Consulting, which provides early-stage companies with

strategic and operational assistance; and president and CEO of Collexis Holdings Inc. I’m a USC

graduate and my wife, Carol, and I have two kids, Jackson, 12, and Ella Grace, 5.

Why should economic development matter to the USC community?We’re the state’s flagship research institution and have a special obligation to contribute to the

quality of life in our state. Our fortunes rise and fall together. A stronger, more diverse S.C. econ-

omy makes it easier to recruit top faculty and students and also helps ensure that this is a vibrant

place for talented graduates to live and work.

What’s happening to Innovista?Innovista remains important and will become a part of the new office, but more focused on physi-

cal space for public-private partnerships. Selah Genomics, which recently moved into Horizon I

research facility, is a great example of how those partnerships can work. The Office of Economic

Engagement has a broader role that also includes technology commercialization, business out-

reach and recruitment, working with the USC/Columbia Incubator, and coordinating with various

centers at individual colleges dedicated to fostering student and faculty innovation, like the Faber

Entrepreneurship Center at the Moore School of Business.

Any final thoughts?When you look at all the intellectual capital and creative energy that exist on USC campuses —

from faculty, staff and students — the opportunity to make great things happen is right in front of

us. I consider it a privilege to be a part of that and I’m very excited to get started.

USCTIMESStories, snippets & scenes from the University of South Carolina.

Aiken / BeAufort / ColumBiA / lAnCAster / sAlkehAtChie / sumter / union / upstAte 6/20/2013

“the mission is to help grow

South Carolina’s economy.”

About the office of economic engAgement

In July USC will consolidate all local and state-wide economic outreach efforts under one ban-ner, the Office of Economic Engagement will:• Serve as a liaison to connect businesses with

USC’s intellectual property assets;

• Act as the coordinating point of contact for economic development organizations;

• Coordinate with USC centers and institutes dedicated to entrepreneurship;

• Lead the Council for USC Economic Engage-ment, a group consisting of representatives from USC’s eight-campus system;

• Manage current and future Innovista district facilities dedicated to commercializing USC research, including the IdeaLabs.

getting the ‘ideA’Leasing space to research companies brings academic and commercial researchers together, helping cross-fertilize thinking. The IdeaLabs are the only ready-built, wet lab space commercially available in Columbia. Selah Genomics moved into the labs in the Horizon building this spring. Another tenant is targeted to arrive in July.

Growing SC’s economy

Bill Kirkland, director of USC’s Office of Economic Engagement

Talk is cheap in the buzzword-laden world of economic development. The only way to tell what’s genuine is to

look behind the façade. At USC, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit are not simply slogans — they’re principles being put into practice every day by real people in classrooms, laboratories, offices, cubicles and dorm rooms. Perhaps more than ever before, there’s a belief at USC that taking risks and applying hard-earned knowledge in novel ways should be embraced instead of feared.

University of soUth carolina special edition: GrowinG sc’s economy2

Fostering creativity

‘ShArk tAnk’ SpiritWhen Joel Stevenson arrived at USC in 1999 and was asked

to speak about an incubator, people were confused.

“They thought I was talking about chickens or babies,”

Stevenson says.

Nearly 15 years later that has changed.

“More people at USC and the in the community get it,”

says Stevenson, a lecturer in entrepreneurship and strategic

management at the Darla Moore School of Business. And

the “it” extends beyond the incubator, reflecting an entrepre-

neurial spirit that is growing on campus.

“It seems like there’s been a recent explosion of support

for entrepreneurship at the USC campus,” says Kai Mayeda, a

doctoral student in chemical engineering. Mayeda’s team con-

cept, SAGE Energy Solutions, was a winner in the newly cre-

ated Fuel Cell Challenge, a competition for students to bring

new hydrogen and fuel cell technologies to the marketplace.

International MBA student Howard Glenn credits

current and former Faber Entrepreneurship Center direc-

tors Dirk Brown and Richard Robinson as “spurring on-

campus entrepreneurship,”

and cites an innovative

IMBA curriculum that

features new venture

analysis and intellec-

tual property.

Glenn, along with

three fellow IMBA stu-

dents, won a top prize

in The Proving Ground,

the university’s premiere

entrepreneurial competition,

for Watsi, a non-profit that crowd-

sources health care funding for people in need around the

world.

“The Proving Ground helped us to really understand and

refine our organization’s value proposition in both text —

business plans and executive summaries — and verbal for-

mats, such as elevator pitches and ‘shark tank’ environments

with tough questioning,” says Glenn who says Watsi, in its

first seven months, processed more than 3,700 donations,

totaling more than $200,000 in medical treatments for more

than 250 patients in 13 countries.

The startup spirit also has taken hold with undergradu-

ates. Jocelyn Paonita who graduated in May with a trifecta of

business degrees — finance, global supply chain management

and international business — wants more resources, competi-

tions and networking with entrepreneurs for students.

“I never would have found my entrepreneurial interest

without The Proving Ground, and I wouldn’t have known the

first steps in starting my business, PTtrax, without professors

such as Dean Kress, she says.”

Kress, associate director of the Faber Center and Proving

Ground organizer, helped Stevenson launch the USC Instiga-

tor this spring to help students shape startup ideas for the

next step.

“We’re encouraging students to consider entrepreneur-

ship as a viable alternative to more traditional career options.

We expose them to successful entrepreneurs, particularly

our own graduates, so the students can see that they can do

it, too,” Kress says. “Our students are not only intellectually

gifted, they are greatly determined to be successful.”

Innovation

renAiSSAnce reSeArcher

Business outreach

ideAS tAking off

With about 200 research universities in the United

States alone, private sector companies looking to

tap into university-based talent can afford to be

choosy. So how does a school distinguish itself from

the also-rans? For starters, by having a roster of the

best and brightest in high-demand fields.

That’s what lured one company, Huntsville, Ala.-

based Victory Solutions Inc., to the Palmetto State.

The engineering consultancy firm specializes in finding technical solutions for clients

like the U.S. Army and NASA, and it had Abdel-Moez Bayoumi on their radar. Bayoumi

is a mechanical engineering professor at USC who conducts ground-breaking research

in conditions-based maintenance of military hardware, including Apache and Black-

hawk helicopters.

USC’s business development team worked with Victory, Bayoumi and the Office of

Research to quickly secure a business agreement that protects intellectual property

while allowing for new, real-world applications of the research.

“This was by far the best experience we’ve had with a university,” says company

President Shane Doty, who also heads Victory’s new Charleston office.

Bayoumi says his reward comes from knowing his work is being used to help keep

American troops safer.

“When someone comes up to us at a conference and says ‘hey guys, we’re using

your technology’—to me, that’s better than publishing a paper,” Bayoumi says.

—Jeff Stensland

Mike Matthews isn’t satisfied with progress in just one area – he’s driving technological innova-

tion on multiple fronts. From combating asthma’s misery to developing more efficient fuel cells, he’s

helping move academic research toward the marketplace.A professor in the department of chemical engineering, Matthews serves as chief

technology officer for Carbonix, a company he co-founded in 2006. The company targets asthma, which carries a $15 billion price tag in the United States every year, according to Matthews.

In 2002, the Matthews group uncovered a powerful application for compressed carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide can deactivate and remove allergens as well as kill dust mites in fabrics. Both the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are interested in using the now-refined technol-ogy to reduce asthma’s toll in urban dwellings.

Matthews is also advising a team of students that earned a $25,000 research grant in the 2012 Fuel Cell Challenge. His experience working with chemical hydrogen stor-age is instrumental in helping Trulite, a company based at Midlands Technical Col-lege’s Enterprise campus, bring its quiet, efficient, emission-free electric generators to commercial fruition.

Through it all, it’s student success that drives Matthews. “We’ve had three doctoral dissertations related to our asthma work, and three

more on hydrogen storage so far,” he says. “Every step of the way, we have to prove practical benefits.”

—Steven Powell

By Peggy Binette

“The $25,000 was

enough to move our idea

from dream to reality

and talk to walk.”

Usc times special edition: GrowinG sc’s economy 6/20/2013 3

In all ways, David Cutler’s career personifies entrepreneurship.

Juggling no fewer than 24 income streams, this music man enjoys a varied career — as an educator, jazz and classi-cal composer, pianist, arranger, conductor, collaborator, con-cert producer, author, blogger, consultant, speaker, advocate and entrepreneur.

In short, Cutler lives the gospel that he preaches to his students in his music entrepreneurship class.

“Many students would like a career in music but don’t know how to make that happen,” Cutler says. “Part of my job is to help students find a way to be relevant, viable and sustainable as musicians.”

In Cutler’s arts entrepreneurship class, each student pitches an idea for an arts-based venture with the potential to generate revenue. Stu-dents vote on the best concepts, form teams, create a business model and design sample events. The semester ends with an exercise remi-niscent of one of today’s reality talent shows such as “American Idol” or “The Voice” by presenting their concepts to external judges who provide feedback and award cash prizes.

“One of the biggest changes in music higher education in the last 10 years is a realization that churning out outstanding artists is not enough,” Cutler says. “Programs are now exploring ways that better prepare students for professional, financial and artistic success.”

Cutler says he is proud to be a part of the USC School of Music, which is one program leading that charge.

—Frenche Brewer

Entrepreneurship

the muSic mAn

Six years ago in an engineering lab on campus, Asif Khan had

a bright idea to develop ultraviolet light emitting diode lamps.

Today that idea has expanded from a small startup to a viable

company selling its research to different companies and em-

ploying graduates.

Nitek Inc., which moved off campus in 2011 to lease its

own space with South Carolina Research Authority, has in-

creased its intellectual property portfolio by about 20 patents

in the United States and internationally, according to Asif

Khan, a Carolina Distinguished Professor in electrical engi-

neering and the brains behind the company.

Now Nitek, which conducts research on LED lights, is in the

market for a strategic partner to get financing to expand.

“Everything is waiting to get the financing and then the

plan is to expand significantly,” said Khan, who sits on the

board of the company and acts as a technical consultant.

“For small companies there is always a push to either become

a large-scale manufacturer or partner with some large com-

pany. At the stage that this company is, they have to make some serious decisions.”

So far the company has become a place in the Palmetto State for USC engineering students to find

summer internships and employment after graduation. Nitek has about 16 full-time employees, many of

them Carolina graduates. It also funds much of Khan’s research at the university and supports his doc-

toral students.

“It’s a good source and a big benefit for my research,” said Khan, who is currently working on more

research on campus for Nitek.

Khan said the administration, the Office of Research and the Office of Technology Commercializa-

tion have helped change the on-campus philosophy about entrepreneurship and research.

“We’ve had tremendous support from the university system,” he said. “They are really encouraging

to capitalize and commercialize on intellectual property that we have at the university. The university is

really forward looking.”

That’s been a big difference for Nitek’s success, he said.

“I feel very good about it that we started a new technology from the university, established a com-

pany and the company became a viable player in the industry. It’s a very successful way to go,” he said.

FROM THE LAB TO THE MARKET By Liz

McCarthy

Simon Hudson is a true globetrotter with a cluster of passport stamps of far-flung places from Europe and Australia to Fiji.

Hudson, director of the SmartState Center of Excellence in Tourism and Economic Development, wanted to bring the world to South Carolina, but he says international travelers need a reason to come.

Hudson launched a tourism incubator to help budding entrepreneurs in the Palmetto State start their own tourism businesses.

The SmartState Center partnered with the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator and accepted its first business this year — a father-son enterprise called Jah Roots, an agri-tourism business utilizing hydroponics.

The center provides free office space, a telephone and a computer for two years.—Frenche Brewer

USC technologies with active intellectual property protection363

62283545#2

USC researchers who disclosed new inven-tions last year alone

Startup companies actively utilizing USC technology

Companies gradu-ated from the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator

Startups currently working with the Incubator

Columbia’s rank for growth in high-tech jobs among metro areas

Sources: Office of Research, USC/Columbia

Technology Incubator, Bay Area Council

Economic Institute Report

University of soUth carolina4

Vol. 24, No.11 JUNE 20, 2013USC Times is published

20 times a year for the

faculty and staff of the

University of South

Carolina by the Division

of Communications.

The University of

South Carolina does

not discriminate

in educational

or employment

opportunities or

decisions for qualified

persons on the basis

of race, color, religion,

sex, national origin,

age, disability, genetics,

sexual orientation or

veteran status.

USCTIMESManaging editor: liz McCarthy

Designer: linda Dodge

Contributors: Peggy Binette,

Craig Brandhorst, Frenché

Brewer, Glenn Hare,

Thom Harman, Chris

Horn, Page Ivey, Steven

Powell, Megan Sexton, Jeff

Stensland and Marshall

Swanson

Photographers: Kim Truett

To reach us: 803-777-2848

or lizmccarthy@sc.edu

Campus correspondents: Patti McGrath, Aiken

Candace Brasseur,

Beaufort

Shana Dry, lancaster

Jane Brewer, Salkehatchie

Misty Hatfield, Sumter

Tammy Whaley, Upstate

Annie Smith, Union

Bitten By the rAdio BugSince he was a kid, Steve Varholy was tuned into a career in radio. It’s why he started working at WUSC as soon as he arrived at Carolina.

Following graduation in broadcast journalism in 1994, Varholy worked in radio in Columbia, then moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue a law degree and career in communications regulation.

“It was great money and a great experience, but it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Itching to get back into radio, Varholy jumped at the opportunity to launch a low-power station in Columbia. He rallied several WUSC pals and together they went in on the project. In 2007, he was on the air at WXRY, a 100-watt independent alternative station that broadcasts from Main Street. His former WUSC colleagues serve on the station’s board.

“We’re doing old-fashioned radio in a new way,” he said. “We’re one of the few low-power stations in the right place at the right time.”—Chris Horn

Economic impact

two ‘hAlfS’ mAke A whole lot more

For USC alumni Nick Wilson and Sara Thomas, Columbia-based graphic design and printmak-ing studio The Half and Half is a labor of love — but one that’s also paid off.

Launched in 2006 with a budget of $200, the studio now grosses over $700,000 a year. It’s also gone from a two-person operation to a business with eight full-time employees plus three to five part timers.

“Our first client was El Burrito on Harden Street, and we got paid in tacos,” says Wil-son. “Our client list now includes Obama’s

2012 campaign, Dave Matthews Band, Live Nation and AMC’s the Walking Dead, and they pay in money.”

Wilson credits some of the stu-dio’s success to USC’s design and art programs, which he describes as a “passive incubator,” providing studio space, guidance and contacts. And while their major clients are now mostly out-of-state, he and Thomas still believe in reinvesting locally.

“We understand that local clients like the Jam Room Music Festival and theIndie Grits Festival are not going to have the budgets of Bonnaroo and Obama, so we have that flexibility of working with everyone,” says Wilson. “Since we live here, we want our city to be as beautiful as we know it can be, even though we have to drag it kicking and screaming to that point.” —Craig Brandhorst

“Our first client was

El Burrito on and we

got paid in tacos.”

upStAte innovAtionEngagement and impact. It’s one of the mantras at the George Dean

Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics at USC Upstate.

“Our students see the need to be entrepreneurial. And they under-

stand that entrepreneurism doesn’t necessarily mean you have to start

a business. It also means improving one,” says Dean Frank Rudisill.

Krish Patel took “New Business Enterprise,” a curriculum corner-

stone for Upstate’s 700 students. The 2008 graduate bought his first

Verizon store using his home as collateral. Today he owns 40 stores,

with a goal to own 100.

Upstate is on the move. In August it will open its new incubator in

the business school, which is located in downtown Spartanburg. The

incubator, in combination with curriculum and outreach through the

Spartanburg Entrepreneurial Network, is making USC Upstate a hub for

economic development and entrepreneurism. —Peggy Binette

SyStemwide

KRISH PATEL

hybridized: moore School AlumnuS findS gold in green trAnSportAtionThree million people own a Toyota Prius — the ultra-fuel efficient hybrid — but only one person had the foresight to launch a web-based forum for Prius owners.

Danny Cooper got the idea for starting PriusChat.com “after reading a news article about the second generation Prius with all of its bells and whistles.” He launched the site in 2003, and devoted his spare time to cultivating a forum now visited by 100,000 Prius enthusiasts.

“In 2007, I took a big leap of faith, quit my regular job and started running PriusChat full time,” said Cooper, a 2002 Moore School of Business graduate. “The Prius brand has be-come synonymous with all hybrid and alternative fuel cars, so the forum attracts not just Prius enthusiasts but also people interested in Tesla, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.”

PriusChat’s revenue from advertising and an online acces-sories shop has enabled Cooper to support his growing fam-ily and enjoy the flexibility of a home-based business.

— Chris Horn

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