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INNOVISTA FAILURE CONTINUES AS TRULITE INC. DITCHES USC
If you go to the official website for the University of South Carolina’s “Innovista” — sold to taxpayers as “the culmination of several decades of established research and innovation in hydrogen fuel cells, international business, and public health” — you’ll see a whole lot of sketches of what the $250 million boondoggle is supposed to look like, but no pictures of what progress looks like as of right now.
That’s because Gov. Mark Sanford’s little public/private partnership is reportedly over budget and off schedule, and despite its March 2006 groundbreaking, has little to show. And now the state’s first hydrogen fuel-cell manufacturer is jumping ship for, of all places, Midlands Technical College in Northeast Columbia.
Addressing a group of business, civic and education leaders on the morning of Dec. 2, Trulite Inc. chief operating officer Ken Pearson said his company was ready to locate in USC’s research campus but Innovista wasn’t ready for Trulite.
“I came down here in March or April to look at sites,” Pearson said. “At that point Chad Hardaway of USC was showing me some of the facilities that were available around Columbia. The Innovista site was attractive but it was behind schedule, so we kept looking.
“We wanted to be close to the university because of the fuel-cell and hydrogen programs there, but the facility just wasn’t ready and so we came out here to Midlands Tech to meet with the leadership here. They started talking about their vision here for their business accelerator and it just made a lot of sense and got us excited. It takes vision and commitment to make things like this happen, and we’re happy to be out here.” [Free Times]
When most people think of hydrogen fuel-cell research, they probably think MIT or Stanford or an Ivy League school. In South Carolina they would think USC or Clemson University.
So the fact that the utter failure of the Innovista project has caused South Carolina’s only hydrogen fuel-cell manufacturer to relocate to friggin’ Midlands Tech is a complete embarrassment to Gamecocks everywhere. And moreover, it’s a kick in the teeth to taxpayers who were fed heaping piles of this whole “economic catalyst that will raise the state’s per-capita income and quality of life by attracting knowledge-based businesses and high-paying jobs” nonsense.
I walk by that building a few times a week and that picture there looks like it’s about three months old.
The building is done; it just needs tennants.
But heck, i’d love to have seen all that money that got wasted on “development” and “landscaping projects” in the general fund instead, such that productive departments don’t get 20% budget cuts.
Adam – You may want to rethink your insulting comments towards Midlands Tech.
McFogle – I once thought you were an idiot and now see clearly that you are just a liar.
Every time you cheap shot Sanford, I go searching.
Apparently, the Governor criticized the program, which received it’s funding from an entity created by the RQA crew – Leatherman, Harrell, Cooper, and McConnell.
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/feb/29/we-must-tighten-rules-endowed-chairs-program/?printer=1/
One day you’ll get it right Tiger.
The pubic of SC has no idea of the waste, fraud and abuse that IS our higher ed…one day, a politicans will stand up to them.
One day.
Sand Hill,
There’s nothing wrong with Midlands Tech. And there’s certainly a need for good technical schools.
But I’m pretty sure most folks would agree it’s not at all in the same league as USC (the same way USC isn’t in the same league as Oxford).
So, yeah, this is an embarassment for USC.
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