Innovista looking for local companies

By JEFF WILKINSON, jwilkinson@thestate.com

The job of Innovista -- USC's budding downtown research campus -- is to attract world-class researchers and innovative companies to Columbia.

But as years pass and new laboratories, offices, restaurants and condos stretch from Assembly Street to the Congaree River, local business will make up a hefty part of the mix.

"The key is local participation," said John Parks, Innovista's new executive director. "That will give the district the flavor that you need. Everything that has been done (in the Vista) in the last 10 or 15 years has moved us in the right direction."

Home-grown companies, transplanted local firms and new restaurants, bars and housing developments will help expand the Vista into the 30-block, 500-acre Innovista.

But even before the buildings are occupied, dozens of local firms have been heavily involved in their planning and construction. That is a pattern sure to be repeated as more buildings go up.

Sooner is better for local people to build relationships with the university and its private partners that will pay off in the future.

"I would suggest that those businesses that are interested get in the pipeline now," said Diane Sumpter, president of DESA, a Columbia firm that helps female-, small- and minority- owned businesses secure contracts for Innovista construction projects.

"Make connections early and get your business known," she said.

Local businesses can participate in five basic ways:

-- * Get a contract to help build the many buildings that will make up the new campus. Two university buildings, two private partner buildings and two parking garages are already under construction or planned.

-- * Move an existing business into office space in the district.

-- * Compete for research and development grants.

-- * Build a store, restaurant or housing development within the district.

-- * Hatch a new business in the university's incubator.

Contractors and subcontractors are among the first to benefit from Innovista. The most important factor in securing a construction contract, Sumpter said, is to have your business on a very solid footing.

DESA has conducted seminars to help small, female and minority businesses prepare themselves in such areas as bonding capacity and insurance.

"Only those people who are extremely well-qualified will get to work on these projects," she said.

For those interested in moving an existing business or starting one, there are a couple of options for locating in Innovista. Space is available for lease or sale in a building under construction by Craig Davis Properties, a private partner with the university. The Horizon II building at Assembly and Blossom streets is scheduled to be ready for occupancy next spring.

Davis, a Raleigh developer, will start on a second building, Discovery II, at Lincoln and College streets once Horizon II is finished.

But other developers are also expected to put up buildings in Innovista and companies can also look for land to build their own space.

Holder Properties of Atlanta is developing Adesso, a residential condominium with some ground floor retail space, just diagonally across Blossom from Horizon II.

Space in the university's taxpayer- funded office and laboratory buildings, Horizon I and Discovery I, is reserved for USC researchers principally in the four disciplines of nanotechnology, biomed, alternative fuels and environmental science. But any company with a technology base can lease space in one of Davis' buildings. He will begin work on a second building once the first building at Assembly and Blossom streets is complete.

"The four disciplines are the core, but everyone is welcome," Davis said. "We want everyone on the bandwagon."

Davis' building will even have a small amount of retail space on the ground floor.

One of the advantages of locating in the campus is use of the university's recreation center, library and other facilities through the Innovista Partners Program.

Those perks are are among the things that drew the first announced firm to the district, Duck Creek Technologies .

Duck Creek, which develops software for the insurance industry among other services, is chaired by Columbia businessman Larry Wilson, who is also on the USC Research Campus Foundation board.

"Our employees are excited about moving downtown," said Stephen Hall, the company's senior vice president. "We can be part of something big."

Companies involved in the four targeted disciplines can contact the university office of Harris Pastides, vice president of research and health sciences. The department's Web site is www.sc.edu/research. But opportunities are not limited to technology-related business. Innovista will also consist of a lifestyle component -- stores, restaurants, housing and recreation.

To get involved, a potential business owner simply has to find the land or the space to do it.

Sixty percent of the property in Innovista is privately owned. And while a master plan developed by Sasaki Associates presents a vision for the area, local developers, restaurateurs and retailers will make it happen.

"The more we can expand the Vista, the more we can enhance the Vista, the more attractive the district will become" to prospective companies and researchers, Parks said.

One of the most promising way for local companies to be involved in Innovista is incubation.

"I really believe that up to 50 percent of the occupants will come though our incubator," Parks said.

The current USC Columbia Technology Incubator is downtown on Laurel Street, but Parks would like to see it expanded to include laboratory and other research space within Innovista.

The incubator provides technical support, cheap office space, mentors and access to venture capital. A person or group must present a business plan to the incubators board and be selected.

"We accept any type of business that is technology-related," said Agata Chydzinski, the USC incubator's program logistician. "If a local person has a business plan or a product or technology that can be put on the market, they can submit it."