South Carolina’s drive to become a national leader in energy innovation gained a new tool Feb. 25 with the launch in Greenville of a new entrepreneurship and innovation initiative.
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange is a collaboration between the state Department of Commerce’s Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy and the South Carolina Research Authority and is aimed at boosting energy innovation.
Specifically, eiX aims to accelerate the commercialization of grid-resilient and advanced energy technologies through connecting innovators with capital, expertise and market access.
The first component of the program, which is being run by SCRA, is the eiX Venture Accelerator. This initial effort will be spearheaded by Greenville’s NextGEN, the Upstate’s leading entrepreneurship and innovation support organization.
The accelerator will be powered by national venture studio FedTech and run in collaboration with the city of Greenville.
The program will create a pilot venture launch and commercialization program designed to attract top entrepreneurs. It will also seek to identify and source highly promising technologies from universities and federal labs with the goal of creating scalable, investable startups.
The program will also help existing companies deploy their technologies within SC Nexus’ existing grid innovation testbeds.
For more information, visit sccommerce.com/scnexus.
