COLUMBIA -- A Centers of Economic Excellence report presented to the Budget and Control Board finds that an important program funded by lottery money is fueling critical research in areas that will advance South Carolina's economy.

The report emphasizes the collaboration of endowed professorships created by the CoEE Program from 2003-06 and credits the Endowed Chairs Program for unprecedented scientific collaboration among the three research universities, citing one-third of the CoEEs are scientific partnerships between and among S.C. public institutions. The full report is available at www.sccoee.org/news.asp under Budget & Control Board Report.

In 2002, the General Assembly enacted the South Carolina Research Centers of Economic Excellence Act designating $200 million through 2010 from the South Carolina Education Lottery Account to establish the CoEE Program also known as the Endowed Chairs Program. This program authorizes grants to the state’s three research institutions: Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina.

The CoEE Program also establishes endowed professorships held by internationally recognized scientists dedicated to enhance the state’s hi-tech economy. Through fiscal year 2008, more than $180 million has been appropriated by the Legislature to the CoEE Program. The funding must be matched dollar-for-dollar through major private sector funding and federal grants.

Lottery proceeds are already funding research projects with wide-ranging applications. The Medical University of South Carolina is working diligently in the areas of neuroscience, cancer research, vascular disease and health care quality and finance.

Economic impact is occurring through the generation of new patients in technology transfer, through corporate relocations to S.C., and through the development of industrial consortiums as well as increased research funding and CoEE spin-off companies.