(Photo/Fred Rollison) John Warner

By Dan McCue

A mere seven years ago, a conversation about innovation in South Carolina would likely have begun and ended with a few words about military contractors, with perhaps a nod given to the automotive and textile industries.

Today, however, the Palmetto State bristles with talk of its burgeoning knowledge-based economy, an economy independent of any one industry sector and based on a host of disciplines ranging from biomedicine to hydrogen fuel research to homeland security to advanced work in composite materials.

Even Internet search engine giant Google has taken an interest in the state, confirming that it is seriously considering at least one site here, near Goose Creek, and possibly another outside of Blythewood as possible locations for an expansion of its technical infrastructure.

In a state once known for its pre-eminence in textiles, individuals of widely disparate interests and expertise have been knitting together the work of the state’s research universities, federal laboratories and private industry to create opportunities for knowledge-based, high-paying companies.

What makes these ongoing efforts extraordinary is that in a state where economic and academic entities once moved in widely divergent orbits, a new spirit of collaboration and cooperation has taken hold.

“It used to be that Greenville was in competition with Charleston and Charleston with Columbia and the cities with the rural areas, and universities with other universities, but I think that’s changed in a very profound way,” said attorney Bobby Pearce of the Charleston office of the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough law firm.

Pearce is in a unique position to know. He was appointed to the state’s Research Centers of Excellence Review Board by Gov. Mark Sanford, and was also recently asked to serve on the S.C. Council of Competitiveness.

In addition to his business law practice, he is also currently serving his third term as general counsel for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. Pearce recently completed two terms as chairman of ThinkTec, a regional board of business executives he co-founded in 1999, which is involved in technology and knowledge-based business and economic development.

Pearce said he believes the spirit of collaboration now manifest in the state was born of the recognition that in order to compete for knowledge-based businesses in a global economy, South Carolina’s decision-makers need to think beyond Main Street or a single university board room.

“I think today everyone agrees that if we are going to prosper and develop a national identity as a high-tech, high-wage center, we have to work at economic development together,” Pearce said. “The economic benefits of this new mind-set are only now beginning to be visualized.”