For Papenfus, the area of greatest need is not conditioning the soil but finding plantable seeds.

“The soil conditions are fine; we just don’t have enough of the seeds,” he said. “There are several places in the state that are great places to start a company. But we’re in need of more seeds. We need more companies starting up, more talent.
“The SCRA and the Commerce Department and other folks need to continue to cultivate the soil; that’s a huge part of it. But the seed has to be able to land and grow and put down roots.”

The SCRA is doing its part toward that end through its SC Launch! program, which links entrepreneurs with intellectual property and money, investing up to $200,000 per company in the hopes of generating jobs and stimulating the economy. SC Launch! has been successful in bringing several companies to South Carolina.

“By enticing high-impact technologies to relocate to the state, SCRA is fostering the growth of the knowledge economy,” Mahoney said.

Such relocations also promote a competitive environment, said Warner, who recommends going global with the notion.
“Greenville’s competition is not Charleston; it’s the rest of the world,” he said. “To someone in Germany, there’s hardly any difference between Charleston, Greenville and Columbia. On a globe, we’re basically the same pinprick.

“We have to remember that we’re playing on the global stage, and we have to be the best in the world with whatever it is that we do.”

Mahoney pointed to the state’s relatively small size as reason enough to collaborate.

“We have about 4.2 million people in the state, about the size of one of New York’s boroughs,” he said. “So there’s a real need to work together.

“The historical perception was, if a plant was going to Greenville that meant it wasn’t going to Charleston and Charleston would lose. But remember, the raw materials and finished products go through the Port of Charleston. It’s the all-boats-will-rise effect. A win in Florence will generate positive economic outcomes in other parts of state.”

Tending the farm
The secret to keep a knowledge economy growing, Andrade said, is to find a different way to measure the results.

“Traditional economic development models have measured themselves with how many companies it won today,” he said. “We need a different yardstick. We need to look into things like quality of jobs, the number of graduates in South Carolina who are working in the knowledge economy, the growth in wage rates. We can look at some of this data and start targeting areas for growth.”

Andrade pointed out that many aspects of the knowledge economy are intangible, including how much is spent on innovation, product design, branding, brand-building, employee training and anything else required to compete in today’s global economy.

“The knowledge economy is driven by ideas and innovation,” he said. “It may be hard to measure, but it’s impossible to ignore.”