Chad Hardaway

Compliments of Upstate Business Journal

UofSC’s Office of Innovation, Partnerships and Economic Engagement (OIPEE) is seeking to expand its footprint in the Upstate.

OIPEE Deputy Director Chad Hardaway said his office is focused on connecting innovators and entrepreneurs with university resources to help navigate the process from developing an idea to bringing it to the marketplace. To help accomplish that goal, Hardaway recently added consultant Sam English to the team.

With a background in biochemistry, English said he will be working with Prisma Health innovators to connect with OIPEE resources. In the two months since coming on board, he said he has been reaching out to people within the Prisma system to understand what the needs are and how to connect them with the innovation ecosystem at UofSC.

“It’s fertile ground to be working in,” English said. “While I’ve only been here two months, I feel like I’ve been drinking from the fire hose.”

He added that he’s discussed everything from back-of-the-envelope ideas to fully functional prototypes of medical devices developed by Prisma staff.

Hardaway said that while English is focused on strengthening relationships with the Prisma system, the longer-term goal is to expand OIPEE’s Upstate presence to include a satellite office dedicated to broader innovation initiatives in fields like cybersecurity, aerospace and high-tech manufacturing, often referred to now as Manufacturing 4.0.

English and Hardaway said a core motto of OIPEE is to “connect, collaborate and commercialize.” English added that with the Upstate’s pool of engineering talent, thanks to the influence of companies like BMW and Lockheed-Martin, many of the pieces are already in place to build on and expand an innovation environment.

He said his job is, in part, to pave the way for OIPEE to become more involved in helping build the series of connections that link creativity to a marketable product.

“With that integrated approach, there are a lot of opportunities to develop successes,” English said.

For more information about USC’s Office of Innovation, Partnerships and Economic Engagement, visit sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/economic_engagement.

The University of South Carolina has ranked among the top 100 worldwide universities granted U.S. utility patents since 2012, according to an annual list published by the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

In the recently published 2020 listing (pdf), UofSC ranks in the 63rd position with 45 patents granted in 2020. This places Carolina above Ivy League Dartmouth University and many other prestigious American and international institutions, including Carnegie-Mellon and several Southeastern Conference universities. The NAI has included UofSC in its rankings for the ninth consecutive year, placing it more than 25 slots above our 2019 ranking in the 90th position. The listing was compiled using data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

UofSC Vice President for Research Prakash Nagarkatti praised the achievement saying, “It is a credit to our outstanding faculty that their innovation and hard work have kept our university on the NAI top 100 list since it began nine years ago. I am so proud to serve alongside these excellent scholars and inventors.”

Office of Innovation, Partnership and Economic Engagement Executive Director Bill Kirkland echoed Nagarkatti’s sentiments, saying “It is no secret that the University of South Carolina boasts a faculty with amazing research and innovation skills. These outstanding scholars, along with the top leadership at the University of South Carolina who support them through the the Office of Technology Commercialization and others, make it possible for our university to shine on the NAI top 100 list consistently each year. The fact that they have landed Carolina at position 63—higher than ever before—is a testament to their dedication and commitment.”

The Office of Economic Engagement (OEE) was formed in 2013 at the University of South Carolina to better connect businesses with the resources of a top-tier research institution.

The OEE offers businesses  one point of contact at the university. Four critical functions are now all housed under one roof: 1) technology commercialization, 2) the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator, 3) the Innovista Research campus, and 4) the Corporate Solutions Group.

Under this organizational structure, the Office of Economic Engagement builds academic and industry partnerships, facilitates the commercialization of research, connects new and existing businesses with university talent and resources, and fosters entrepreneurship and small business development.

This year, the University of South Carolina is starting a new graduate program, the MS in Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurial Engineering. It is the only graduate program in the State of South Carolina that places a high premium on students with an engineering and science background, blending their technical and business skills in an entrepreneurial way.

The following is a conversation with Chad Hardaway, the Associate Director of the Office of Economic Engagement at USC and an SCBIO Board Member.

South Carolina inventors are being granted patents faster than the national rate, a fact that could bode well for business in the Palmetto State.

About 1,600 patents were granted in 2018 with at least one South Carolina inventor’s name on the award. Compared to the nearly 170,000 patents granted across the United States, it’s not a huge amount.

While patents issued in 2018 were down somewhat compared to last year, scaling back 10 years to 2009 shows patents awarded with South Carolina ties have grown by about 108 percent. That is a faster rate than those granted to American inventors as a whole, as businesses large and small aimed to capture more intellectual property.

Read on for full article from the Charleston Post & Courier...