South Carolina Research Authority announced July 27 it has provided over $3.3 million in grant funding to select colleges and universities for research projects to address key challenges facing the state’s industrial base.
In addition, SCRA’s funding is being matched by the academic institutions and industry partners, bringing the total amount of the projects to over $6.7 million.
“We are fortunate to have high-quality research and development being conducted at our state’s colleges and universities,” said SCRA executive director Bob Quinn. “Many of the technologies on which they are working today will produce the new companies of tomorrow. It’s an honor for SCRA to support these collaborations.”
The projects are being funded through the SCRA-Academia Collaboration Team program, whose goal is to connect industry with multi-institutional academic teams and build bridges among the institutions to foster engagement and advance technologies.
The grants include:
- $1.8 million to Clemson University to modernize South Carolina’s manufacturing assets to enable Industry 4.0, the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology. Clemson is partnering with the University of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina, South Carolina State University, Greenville Technical College and Trident Technical College.
- $1.2 million to the University of South Carolina to enable factory-to-factory networking for the future of manufacturing operations. UofSC is partnering with Clemson University, Greenville Technical College and Midlands Technical College.
- $305,000 to Francis Marion University to improve workforce readiness and capabilities in South Carolina. The college is partnering with The Citadel.
SCRA’s program directors and industry advisors will review the progress on these SACT research projects on an ongoing basis and funds will be provided in stages as milestones are met.
Since 2018, SACT grants have funded 17 collaborations among South Carolina-based academic institutions and 41 industry partners.
