Important new technologies are being invented each week in South Carolina. However, these developments largely take place outside the notice of the news.
There is great fanfare attached to expansion news from corporate giants such as Boeing and BMW. However, little is reported about early stage technologies that are creating valuable and quite possibly, disruptive innovations.
Learning about exciting early stage SC technologies is why the annual InnoVision Technology Awards is a “must attend.” Permit me to highlight a few achievements that inspire and often astonish banquet attendees.
Dr. Joan Combie of Montana Biopolymers in Winnsboro became interested in adhesives derived from the fermentation of sugars. She recognized the interesting properties of the slippery coating on river rocks. Since she knew bacteria produced the coatings in order to anchor their colony to the rock, she decided to try to invent new adhesives that could be manufactured by bacteria. After 500 tries, she found a way to use a certain bacteria to produce glues from sugar instead of petroleum.
Her products include MagiGlue craft glues (sold at Whole Foods) and insecticides that coat the pest with non-toxic glue rather than poisonous substances. Montana Biopolymers, Inc. received the 2011 Sustainability Award.
Another remarkable technology belongs to KIYATEC in Pendleton. Dr. David Orr appreciated an insight about how cells are grown for testing. He recognized that biological testing of tissue cells, for example to determine a response to experimental drugs or nutrients, was still being conducted on flat surfaces, similar to the Petri dishes you know from your biology studies. Yet the actual environments in nature, like tissues in our bodies, reside in intricate three-dimensional shapes. Orr decided to invent a small test module that could provide a more natural environment for tissue growth, while permitting one to view growth activity from additional points of view. This departure from traditional lab practices (Petri dishes or microscope slides) led to founding the biotech company, KIYATEC, with its co-founder Dr. Matt Gevaert. In 2010, KIYATEC was recognized for its insightful work by receiving the InnoVision Technology Development Award.
Gevaert decided to invent a small test capsule that could provide a more natural environment for tissue growth, while permitting one to view growth activity from additional points of view. This departure from traditional lab practices (petri dishes or microscope slides) led to founding the biotech company, Kiyatec. In 2010, Kiyatec was recognized for its insightful work by receiving the InnoVision Technology Development Award.
Jerry Barber of BarberWind in Greenville, became intrigued with the rapidly growing business of wind power. Larger and larger towers were being erected throughout the world, based on enormous three-blade wind machines driving power plants sitting on towers hundreds of feet in the air.
Besides being positioned hundreds of feet in the air, another thing bothered Barber: the drive for the power plant was from the hub of the machine. Barber knew from his knowledge of physics and mechanical engineering that the greatest speed is located near the tips of the blades. He coupled this insight with his former career (inventing ingenious devices for the amusement park industry) and began sketching new wind turbines that have the wind blades mounted onto a large wheel, similar to a Ferris wheel. Barber transformed his new vision into wind power machines, driven not from the hub, but from the bottom of the wheel.
BarberWind has captured the interest of the sustainable energy market throughout the world. With more than 50 career patents, Jerry Barber was honored for his inventive spirit by receiving the 2010 Dr. Charles Townes Lifetime Achievement Award.
A further and slightly different example of South Carolina innovation includes the contributions of Nathan Scolari and his team at Zike LLC in Greenville. Scolari defined a new mode of urban transportation that combines exercise with mobility.
The Zike Bike may be described as part scooter and part cross-trainer, using inventive pedal locomotion similar to the action of a cross trainer in the gym. Of course, it has the distinct advantage of not being stationary. One can combine exercise with propulsion to zoom along urban pathways. Zike’s revolutionary thinking about urban transportation resulted in the firm being recognized as a Finalist in the 2012 Small Enterprise category.
Attending the annual InnoVision Technology Awards banquet offers the unique opportunity to witness the latest in cutting edge South Carolina technologies. The achievements of this year’s finalists and winners will be recognized in the categories of Technology Development, Technology Application, Sustainability, Small Enterprise and Education at the 2013 InnoVision Awards Dinner at the TD Convention Center in Greenville on Nov. 14. The public is invited to attend. To reserve your seat in advance, send an e-mail to info@innovisionawards.org.
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Blaine Childress is a longtime Advisory Board member of InnoVision Awards. He is the global open innovation manager for Sealed Air Corporation’s R & D Technology Scouting. Sealed Air Corporation is the sponsor of the InnoVision Sustainability Award.
