Last week SCRA Technology Ventures presented two Spartanburg leaders with Knowledge Economist awards and held their first-ever off-site board meeting in the city. The two actions indicated the group’s positive stance on Spartanburg’s contributions to the state’s tech economy.
SCRA is mandated by the state legislature to develop technology-based industries in the state. About 30 people from SCRA and the Spartanburg community attended the private award ceremony and dinner at the Piedmont Club. Community leaders George Dean Johnson and William Barnet were recognized for their contributions to advancing South Carolina’s technology-based economy for the public good. The city itself was recognized for successful efforts to grow high-impact companies.
One such company is Integrated Biometrics, whose fingerprint-scanning technology is certified by the FBI and has been used in counterterrorism activities, said SCRA president Bill Mahoney.
Johnson said last year’s launch of the Iron Yard’s health technology accelerator was one of the most exciting developments that illustrated the city’s direction. Barnet, former mayor of Spartanburg, had pushed for SCRA to become as involved in Spartanburg as it was in Greenville and Charleston. SCRA responded with the “Spartanburg Plan,” a template for what the city could do to make that happen. It primarily called for better integration of the city’s business, educational, government and other sectors.
“You have to have a field general,” said Mahoney. “There’s also a kind of translation you have to do, building bridges between the different parts of the ecosystem. People need to know where to go when they need a lawyer or a sales VP.”
Several people credited Steven Hahn of the Spartanburg Economic Futures Group with helping to bring the Spartanburg Plan to fruition in recent years. Hahn said the challenge was to become good at bringing companies to SCRA’s attention, and then guiding those companies through the process of getting the group’s funding and support.
“I think it’s taking the responsibility of maintaining that level of activity throughout the county,” Hahn said. “The other half is assuming the responsibility of getting that message out to the community that there are lots of cool things happening here.” He pointed out that the first three months of the year have brought programs including a local edition of the national Start-up Weekend blitz; a new Grain Ideas business ideas meet-up; an Impact & Launch Competition connecting students with investors at Wofford College; and the second phase of the Main Street Challenge business-launching contest.
It’s also important to identify local companies that are poised to profit from the multibillion-dollar markets that are developing in the wider world, which Spartanburg has done, Mahoney said.
Barnet said Spartanburg is shifting from sole reliance on large companies to boost its economy. “I do think it’s a team sport,” he said. “Starting to nurture entrepreneurs and create an environment where people take risks and are rewarded for that risk is important.”
When asked to what that shift in thinking could be attributed, Barnet could not name specifics, but chalked it up to lessons learned. “We have all changed. Those of us who grew up and prospered in the old business environment are students of what causes success.”
