Innovista

[Spartan]

Oh ok, that was a general jab, not specific to the School of Business. Got it.

I think everything develops at its own pace. In Innovista's case, they shouldn't abandon the project, they should evolve the strategy for developing it. Obviously the ICAR/Innovista comparison will continue to be made due to the nature of the two entities, but that doesn't mean its an apples to apples comparison.

In a somewhat related complaint, if South Carolina's legislature valued education a little more, I think the issue of funding would not be a topic of discussion right now. It would be interesting to see how much money NC threw at RTP before it took off.

[krazeeboi]

I think everything develops at its own pace. In Innovista's case, they shouldn't abandon the project, they should evolve the strategy for developing it. Obviously the ICAR/Innovista comparison will continue to be made due to the nature of the two entities, but that doesn't mean its an apples to apples comparison.

Very true. The focus of both parks are different but appropriate given the expertise of the universities that are building them. ICAR has the distinct advantage of commercializing on research for the well-established automotive industry which already has a substantial presence in the area, whereas Innovista is seeking, in part, to help advance a very fledgling industry with hydrogen fuel cell technology. But still, if it wasn't for that Kale Roscoe/John Parks fiasco, things would have probably been a little farther along now at Innovista.

[krazeeboi]

The Consortium for Enterprise Services, VC3, and TM Floyd, which had been slated to move into the yet-to-be-built Horizon II building, are instead moving into 1301 Gervais (Wilbur Smith building). The firms are going into a space being vacated by the McNair Law Firm, which is moving two blocks away to the new Main & Gervais office tower. As part of the move, the large Bank of America branch on the first floor will shrink, and the consortium will build a 150-seat auditorium and conference center on the first floor. The consortium space upstairs will house an open-source software computer lab, a gaming room, classrooms, meeting rooms and offices. And a consortium sign will be placed atop the 21-story tower. VC3 will install its network operating center in the lobby, open to public view through new windows. Although located on the other side of the State House from USC's campus, Innovista chief Don Herriott said the program and firms are part of a re-visioning for the research district. The "innovation district" now extends beyond the school's confines to wherever cutting-edge jobs are being produced in affiliation with USC, he said.

I think this makes sense, given the office vacancy rates for the CBD. As the vacant spaces start to fill up, then the focus can be turned on building new buildings.

[CorgiMatt]

The consortium director says, "Innovista is more than a couple of buildings. In a sense the USC campus is coming to us." So Innovista is a lot further along than some want to give it credit for. As the director said when he first arrived, the focus has wrongly been on buildings when it should have been on the research that will lead to the need for more space, which will lead to more buildings being built without the buildings themselves being the focus. The bottom line is that, unlike some new research parks, Innovista has a lot of existing space to fill before having to worry about adding new buildings. With the university's Carnegie-Institute designation as a school of "very high research activity," that shouldn't be too hard to do in the long run.

[krazeeboi]

But the researches that were lured to USC due to the endowed chairs program and the promise of state-of-the-art laboratory space are still working in less-than-ideal facilities. Let's not get it twisted: new buildings are indeed an integral part of the research campus, and will continue to be. But being that Innovista is located downtown, that gives it the unique opportunity to utilize vacant office space in the CBD as well as build new facilities. By having the right balance of the two, it can definitely be a win-win situation. Having a proven business leader at the helm now boosts the chances significantly of this strategy paying off in the short-term and the long run.

[CorgiMatt]

Unlike many research campuses, Innovista is more like Silicon Valley in terms of its boundaries; that is, there is "no street where it begins or ends." Building new buildings and hyping hydrogen as the centerpiece of a new economy (Bob Coble included) has been the wrong approach, says Innovista's new director. The emphasis should have been, and from now on will be, on linking research with business and continuing the university's mission of growing high-tech jobs through research, start-ups and spin-offs. As more buildings are needed, they will be built. The Wilbur Smith building has the space available, and the no-boundaries concept fits. Those who say Innovista has been a miserable failure have confused the issues. Everyone wants another building, but the mission of Innovista is research in an existing urban setting that has both office space to be filled (including Class A space) and vacant parcels of land to be developed as needed. Because of the urban master plan and overlay approval the city gave to the area that has so mistakenly become synonymous with Innovista, any new buildings built in that area will be built in an urban (not suburban) manner, and they will all be part of downtown Columbia.

http://www.thestate.com/2010/04/28/1262646/innovista-to-focus-on-pairing.html

[krazeeboi]

While I think the new strategy is beneficial inasmuch as there is vacant office space downtown that needs to be occupied and this is a good way to get them occupied, I do not think that the initial focus on new buildings was misguided. Let's not forget, there were several tenants lined up to occupy the private buildings if only they'd gotten built, so there was no lack of interest from the private sector which seems to be the (inaccurate) overriding theme in the most recent articles about Innovista's shortcomings. The issue was the private developers. USC deserves blame for not properly vetting Kale Roscoe, but bringing Craig Davis on board, the first private developer, was a very sensible choice and given his success with NC State's Centennial Campus, there were very valid reasons for believing he could get the job done. It's still very puzzling how he wasn't able to secure financing for the private buildings; I wonder if other ventures "distracted" him. I do fault the university a little with regards to Davis as his contract carried no penalties for failing to deliver, but I suppose given his track record, there was no reason to think he wouldn't. Perhaps a bit of investigative journalism should have been done concerning Davis as it was done for Roscoe. I still think companies who depend on research benefit from the clustering effect that research campuses provide, and that needs to be kept in mind. The good thing here is that even with such companies taking up space elsewhere in the downtown area, they are still in close proximity to campus. I still say give John Holder a shot at developing the private buildings. He's already got a great local track record and expressed interest when Roscoe was dismissed--not to mention the fact that his neighboring Adesso development would get a big boost with Horizon II being built.

[CorgiMatt]

In this morning's newspaper Mr Herriott even talks about going outside the city into the metro if a company wants to locate there or is already there and wants to link up with USC in his rationale that Innovista is a concept, not a location. When I think of Horizon II getting built, I think in terms of how good it would be to fill in that corner with a building, not that Innovista is a failure because that building hasn't been built yet.

[Spartan]

I don't agree with that entirely. Innovista is still a district. The whole concept is rooted in the clustering of similar businesses and research in downtown Columbia. I can buy into retrofitting existing office space in downtown for the project, but IMO there need to be limits. Otherwise, we may as well claim ICAR as part of Innovista,

[krazeeboi]

I shot an email to John Holder who stated that he's "still very interested in playing a role in the development of Innovista." They need to go ahead and retain Holder for the development of the private buildings. He's got the track record both locally and nationally to do so.

[growingup15]

I shot an email to John Holder who stated that he's "still very interested in playing a role in the development of Innovista." They need to go ahead and retain Holder for the development of the private buildings. He's got the track record both locally and nationally to do so.

That would be really good.

[krazeeboi]

Important excerpt from article in the Free Times about Innovista moving forward:

According to Herriott, moving forward means “re-strategizing the execution of Innovista.”

That means attracting small companies that can blossom, instead of focusing exclusively on large, established businesses.

“[building] knowledge-based economies isn’t like recruiting manufacturing companies,” Herriott says. “When you recruit a manufacturing company, they’re not taking their core intellectual capital and moving it. They’re looking for a place where they have lots of land, where the local workforce is right there and trainable … You’re not going to get all the bright minds at Google on a bus to move here.”

“What you’re seeing more and more at research parks is a lot of small startup companies,” Herriott adds, “and then, hopefully, some of those startup companies become very large companies.”

[CorgiMatt]

I hope this will be considered on-topic. Last week Walter Edgar on his Friday noon program on NPR hosted a professor (or president) of the University of the South at Sawanee (sp) to talk about a liberal arts education in the 21st Century. The professor drew a distinction between the concept of workforce training and workforce education. He talked about creating a workforce of critical thinkers as opposed to one in which you have almost robot-like workers doing something they've been trained to do. With Columbia's relatively high level of educational achievement, I think Mr. Herriott's model is spot on. The small knowledge-based businesses he refers to will be the home-grown superstars of tomorrow's South Carolina.

[Spartan]

While I'm not opposed to this philosophy, I hope that doesn't mean they won't try to recruit the larger companies too.

[growingup15]

Important excerpt from article in the Free Times about Innovista moving forward:

oh ok i really hope the plans move forward.

[gamecoxfan1]

MidlandsBiz did an interview with Don Herriott, the new director of Innovista. Heres the link.

[growingup15]

Does the Corner of assembly and Gervais Counts as innovista! or just the vista area! Becuase i was having some ideas for those 2 empty parking lots on that corner! Can someone please tell me or link me to the vista forum is we have one becuase i cant find it. thanks ^^

[krazeeboi]

That area is just the Vista. the link for that thread.

[krazeeboi]

Two alums, William and Lou Kennedy, will give $30 million to the S.C. College of Pharmacy to add entrepreneurial expertise to the program. The William P. and Lou W. Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center is intended launch programs to add business acumen to pharmacy education. There will not be a new building to house its efforts; it will use space in Innovista’s Discovery I and Coker Life Sciences buildings.

The Kennedy Center will combine principles of pharmacy, business and management to provide resources for students, faculty and researchers throughout the university. It will emphasize innovation in pharmacy practice and education, creating an interdisciplinary environment that prepares pharmacy students to become leaders in the profession. It will also emphasize entrepreneurship through a direct link to the top-ranked Darla Moore School of Business that will enable pharmacy students to develop entrepreneurial and business skills essential for the changing healthcare environment.

[krazeeboi]

USC trustees approved construction, renovation, and maintenance projects totaling $239 million on Friday, including a new home for the Darla Moore School of Business and upfits for most of the Horizon and Discovery buildings.

$91.5 million: A new home for the Darla Moore School of Business, to be located at Lincoln and Greene streets. The new building will include a 500-seat auditorium outfitted for musical performances by students from the School of Music a block away. Dean Tayloe Harding said the $1.5 million additional cost to make the auditorium a suitable music venue would be a fraction of the cost of building such a facility solely for the School of Music. And the 500-seat venue is needed to preserve the School of Music’s accreditation, he said. Completion is slated for August 2013.

$17.5 million: Upfits for the two research buildings in Innovista. $4 million has been earmarked for improvements to the Assembly Street tunnel, which allows students to avoid the street-level crossing at Green Street.

[Spartan]

$4 million for the tunnel!? Is it about to collapse or something? That's a freaking lot of money to fix something that isn't broken.

[CorgiMatt]

Innovista has just been awarded as an outstanding masterplan by the S.C. Chapter of the American Planning Association. They acknowledge the time line involved, and they project into the future as to what it will mean for Columbia and the region. The idea is for university and city leaders to not take their eyes off the prize, no matter the criticism they get.

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news/36864-innovista-master-plan-receives-recognition?rss=0

[Infinite1]

I guess this is the best place for this since the majority of it deals with the "Innovista" area, but USC has a draft update of their Master Plan. The area between Assembly and the river is definately the focal point for expanding the campus.

[Spartan]

While it doesn't appear to be a dramatic change, it's pretty standard for a plan like this to be updated every 5 years or so. The new USC housing location is interesting.

[CorgiMatt]

A Fortune 500 company has bought a Columbia firm that was born out of USC research and will use its technology.

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news/38315-halliburton-buys-local-company-usc-technology?rss=0

Edited February 17, 2011 by CorgiMatt