SCRA awards $600,000 for collaboration centers

The SCRA-Academia Collaboration Team is giving nearly $600,000 in feasibility grants for six innovation projects encouraging collaboration between academic institutions and industry partners.

“The grants will establish collaboration centers to create jobs, engage industry and have a positive impact on the state,” Christine Dixon Thiesing, SCRA's director of academic programs, said in a news release.

The centers will be founded in areas with a critical mass of talent, infrastructure, financial resources and intellectual property and a prevalence of industry in the state.

The team is planning to establish three collaboration centers: a composite industry solutions center, a medical devices collaboration center and a technology-enabled population health collaboration center.

Grant award winners include:

• Composite industry solutions center: collaboration among Clemson University, Greenville Technical College and industry partners Kistler Instrument Corp., Keyence Corporation of America and Renishaw.
• Medical devices collaboration center: collaboration between the Medical University of South Carolina and Clemson University.
• Technology-enabled population health collaboration center: collaboration among the Medical University of South Carolina, Trident Technical College and industry partners Zeriscope Inc. and Amanda Senior Care.
• A collaboration between Francis Marion University and a regional health organization.
• A collaboration between USC Upstate and industry partners ChartSpan Medical Technologies and other state agencies.
• A collaboration between Clemson University, Florence-Darlington Technical College’s Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology and industry partner Greenville Health System.

The SACT comprises representatives from the state’s research universities; comprehensive teaching institutions; technical colleges; industry; and SCRA, a nonprofit, state-chartered organization that encourages entrepreneurship and academic research.