Clemson president addresses U.S. Commerce economic development panel

Published: October 1, 2012

WASHINGTON — Clemson University President James F. Barker said Monday that two of Clemson’s off-campus research hubs help foster ideas, provide one-of-a-kind learning opportunities for Clemson students and bolster the state’s next-generation manufacturing workforce.

Barker participated in a U.S. Department of Commerce panel discussion on technology transfer and industry collaboration. The panel discussed best practices and emerging trends in innovation, entrepreneurship and regional economic development. The audience included more than 400 academic and government leaders.

Barker explained how education and research initiatives at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville and the Clemson University Restoration Institute (CURI) in North Charleston helped drive economic development across South Carolina.

Using the many examples and success stories at CU-ICAR and CURI, Barker demonstrated long-lasting benefits to higher education and workforce development through industry collaboration. He told officials that in less than a decade, CU-ICAR has become a national model for economic development.

The 250-acre Upstate campus has garnered more than $250 million in public and private investments, created more than 700 jobs — with hundreds more announced — and formed successful working relationships with 17 campus partners.

“What draws industry to CU-ICAR is not just land and facilities, but the opportunity to work side by side with brilliant faculty and students,” Barker said.

At the opposite end of the state, the Restoration Institute is beginning to do for South Carolina’s Lowcountry what CU-ICAR has done for the Upstate. At the core of CURI’s 27-acre research and innovation campus sits what soon will become the world’s most-advanced wind-turbine drivetrain testing facility.

The unique testing facility will accelerate product testing to support the targeted growth of the global wind energy industry.

The facility, scheduled to be completed in 2013, will offer testing capacity three times greater than any other now operating. Virtually all of the major wind industry companies worldwide are represented on the facility’s advisory board. This was critical to the facility’s design and function to meet the needs of end users, Barker said.

It is no coincidence development of CURI is based on the hugely successful CU-ICAR model, Barker said. The unique facilities at CURI will be complemented by the Zucker Family Graduate Education Center, where students and researchers will collaborate with private partners as they do at CU-ICAR.

From advanced-degree to industry-designed certificate programs, Clemson continues to provide a workforce to lead the state’s existing and emerging industries, Barker said.

“What distinguishes universities, and particularly Clemson, from other economic development agencies is that we work both sides of the street,” Barker said. “Through research and innovation we create jobs and we educate the workforce to fill those jobs.”

The other panelists were the presidents of Northeastern University in Boston, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla. The panel was moderated by Patrick Gallagher, under-secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

During his trip to Washington, Barker also met with officials at the White House and hosted a breakfast for Washington delegates and staff to present findings of Clemson’s recently released South Carolina economic impact study.

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