GSA Technology Council

InnoVenture Southeast 2010 will be held May 11 and 12, 2010, at the Carolina First Center in Greenville, SC. The theme of this year’s conference is “Creating the Future”.

“InnoVenture Southeast is all about making connections with people in our region who are among the world’s best at what they do. The conference is a unique opportunity to connect with people in and around each of the major anchors led by our keynote speakers,” said John Warner, founder and principal of InnoVenture LLC. “Understanding where these major drivers of our economy are heading creates business opportunities for all of us to help them and the organizations around them be successful.”

InnoVenture Southeast announces that seven senior leaders of major organizations will be keynote speakers this year.

– Harris Pastides, President of the University of South Carolina

– Don Herriott, Director of Innovista Partnerships, University of South Carolina

– John Kelly , VP for Public Service and Economic Development of Clemson University

– David Stafford, COO of the Michelin Americas Research Company

– Chris Desoiza, VP of the Milliken Research Corporation

– Ed Sellers, CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

– Bill Mahoney, CEO of SCRA

In addition to the keynote speakers, InnoVenture Southeast will also have 60 champions from across academic, industry and entrepreneurs making eight minute elevator pitch presentations of the future they are creating and the expertise and resources they need to get there. Like the senior leaders presenting, these champions are also among the world’s best at what they do. A sample of champions presenting include:

Academic Leaders:

– John Ballato – Clemson University Advanced Materials Center

– Tom Vogt – NanoCenter at the University of South Carolina

– Hildy Teegen – Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina

– Paul Venhovens – Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research

Industry Leaders:

– Philip Wilson – Milliken & Company

– Bill Roberts – Sealed Air Corporation

– Jeff Archie – South Carolina Electric and Gas Nuclear Division

– Lonnie Emard – Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management

Entrepreneurial Leaders:

– Ralph Heredia – Zipit Wireless

– Jeff Granato – Proterra

– Michael Bolick – Lab21

– Chad Sands – NextGenEn

About InnoVenture Southeast

InnoVenture Southeast 2010 will be held May 11 and 12, 2010, at the Carolina First Center in Greenville, SC. The theme of this year’s conference is “Creating the Future”. In its seventh year, the conference is a show case of innovation, which connects innovation champions with the customers, capital, talent and technology they need to succeed.

Registration details and more information can be found at InnoVentureSoutheast.com

via: Innoventure Southeast

Proterra Inc., which develops and assembles drive and energy storage systems for heavy-duty vehicles, including their ground-breaking BE-35 fast-charge battery-electric transit bus, today announced that it will locate a facility in Greenville County at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) for research and development as well as assembly of its products. Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Bob Inglis, Mayor Knox White, Greenville County Council Chairman H. G. “Butch” Kirven Jr., Clemson University President James Barker, the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the Greenville Area Development Corporation and the South Carolina Research Authority joined Proterra in making the announcement today.

“We are very excited to pursue the next stage of Proterra’s manufacturing and development in Greenville. This new facility will be our first full-scale, state-of-the-art research and development and manufacturing facility for our groundbreaking clean transportation solutions. Several months ago, Proterra retained the help of eRealty Companies Inc. and NPB Capital to assist in the site selection process. After a nation-wide search involving some 30 states, we selected Greenville, South Carolina as a result of the state’s numerous benefits in terms of workforce capabilities and research and development support. Additionally, we were impressed by the efforts of the Governor, the federal delegation, the local officials and economic development entities which far exceeded our expectations. We look forward to continuing a long and fruitful level of collaboration with the state of South Carolina and City of Greenville,” said Jeff Granato, CEO of Proterra Inc.

Proterra and its partners design, develop and assemble all electric and battery dominant hybrid drive solutions and complete vehicles for commercial applications including transit, school and commercial buses, parcel delivery vehicles and other class 4-8 trucks. Its revolutionary BE-35 fast charge battery electric transit bus has been tested at the Federal Transit Administration’s Altoona Center as achieving between 17 and 21 miles per gallon (diesel equivalent), a roughly 500 percent improvement over conventional diesel buses. Proterra’s very first vehicle, a battery dominant fuel cell hybrid transit bus funded by the FTA, is in service in Columbia, South Carolina. Proterra is headquartered in Golden, Colorado at the Coors Technology Center.

“Proterra’s decision to put down roots in South Carolina represents not only a significant investment and new job opportunities, but also another step toward expanding our state’s role in the growing market of next generation clean technologies,” said Gov. Sanford. “I’d offer the state’s appreciation to Sec. Taylor and his team at Commerce along with all our economic development partners at the state and local levels for their combined efforts to make our state that much more competitive in this global economy. With that said, we look forward to welcoming the Proterra team to South Carolina.”

Proterra anticipates that it will invest $68 million and create more than 1,300 new jobs over the next seven years in Greenville County. The company will hire a variety of skilled workers to support functions ranging from mechanical assembly, warehouse, logistics, managerial, engineering and quality assurance.

The South Carolina Department of Commerce has approved Proterra for the Job Development Credits program, which is a performance-based incentive directly related to new job creation and new capital investment. Additionally, Commerce will make two grants to Greenville County totaling $3 million to assist with site preparation and infrastructure improvements for the project.
Upstate South Carolina will be home to one of the nation’s most innovative transportation companies with today’s announcement that Proterra has chosen CU-ICAR as home for its assembly and research and development facilities.

“This is a red letter day, not just for Greenville, but for the Upstate and for South Carolina. Proterra opens the door to a whole new range of innovative enterprises to come. We are very proud of our team who worked very hard to make this happen, and we are very proud of our newest corporate citizen – Proterra,” said H. G. “Butch” Kirven Jr., GADC director and chairman of Greenville County Council.
“This is exciting news for Clemson University, for Greenville and for South Carolina,” Clemson University President James F. Barker said. “Proterra is an innovative, dynamic company that brings a new dimension to the CU-ICAR campus. Its product and processes fit the CU-ICAR curriculum and our program-driven campus perfectly. We look forward to a great partnership.”

“In addition to Clemson University, many others have worked tirelessly over the past several months to convince Proterra that CU-ICAR is the right place to realize their goals for the future,” Barker added.

“Not unlike the recent Boeing 787 announcement, this is another example of South Carolina leading in the green economy. The bus that Proterra is going to build in Greenville will not only be good for the environment, but it will help this nation break our dependency on foreign oil,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I applaud local and state leaders for helping make the case that South Carolina is a great place to do business.”

“This exciting news reaffirms South Carolina as one of the best places in the world to do business,” said Sen. Jim DeMint. “We can all be proud of the strategic partnership between economic development professionals, education and research leaders and elected officials at every level that helped attract these much-needed jobs. Proterra’s decision to locate in Greenville is one more step towards the fulfillment of the long-term vision of the Upstate as a world-class automotive cluster. I’m confident this investment will pay dividends for both Proterra and our community for years to come.”

Proterra’s decision to invest in Greenville was the result of a coordinated team effort from the federal delegation to the local level.

“We’re excited to welcome Proterra to the Upstate and CU-ICAR. This commitment on the part of Proterra continues to show the way CU-ICAR is fulfilling its promise to create jobs and help South Carolina lead nationally in reinventing the car,” Inglis said. “Proterra exemplifies the can-do spirit of Americans by creating new jobs through innovation and in the process helping break our dependence on the Middle East for oil. This goes to show that the road to energy security and economic recovery runs through the Upstate of South Carolina.”
“Proterra’s landing in South Carolina is the result of both team effort and growing alignment among business, academic, governmental and economic development partners,” said Bill Mahoney, SCRA Chief Executive Officer. “While SCRA’s SC Launch program has been primarily focused on support of start-up companies, in concert with our partners across the state, we’ll see more and more landing parties like Proterra arrive in South Carolina to further strengthen the knowledge economy here. These important high-tech businesses are closely aligning with the vertical markets that our research universities and their economic development partners have targeted.”
The City of Greenville will not only add an innovative transportation company to its business community, but Greenville will also purchase buses from Proterra for the City’s public transit use.

“Proterra’s location in Greenville is another piece in the CU-ICAR puzzle that establishes it as one of the premier locations for leading edge transportation and technology companies,” said Greenville Mayor Knox White.

In addition to state and local officials, Proterra thanked the following parties for their efforts: Greenville Area Development Corporation, the South Carolina Energy Office, readySC™, the Clemson University Real Estate Foundation and many others.

Proterra will lease 25 acres in Technology Neighborhood Three on the CU-ICAR campus to construct a 240,000-square-foot building, with the potential to expand into the entire 50-acre site. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2010. A ground-breaking ceremony will be held at a future date.

Proterra will work with readySC™ on workforce training and job placement. Please note that hiring will begin at a future date that has yet to be determined. Information regarding Proterra may be obtained by visiting www.proterra.com, and for interest in the new facility, please contact: Greenville@Proterra.com.

via: Proterra

Hilex Poly, the leading manufacturer of plastic bag and film products and the operator of the world’s largest plastic bag recycling facility, announced today its annual environmental benchmarks achieved by Earth Day 2009 that helped to increase recycling and reduce the use of natural resources.

“The annual occasion of Earth Day should cause all of us to pause and examine what we can do to continuously improve our world with environmental initiatives. As Hilex focuses on developing products that utilize more recycle content, we ask the public to continue to reuse their free plastic bags; recycle those that are not reused and support retailers that use recycled content bags – a proven enhanced alternative to recycled paper and virgin plastic bags,” said Stan Bikulege, CEO of Hilex Poly. “Hilex is committed to work with our customers and the consumer to develop new products and processes that reduce the use of our natural resources.”

As the operator of the worlds largest plastic bag recycling plant in North Vernon, IN, Hilex collected and recycled more than 30 million pounds of used plastic bags and films from grocery stores since opening this new $20 million facility where plastic bags are turned back into resin pellets and then back in to bags.

The company’s other significant environmental initiatives include:

Surpassing a benchmark of placing 30,000 recycling bins in grocery stores across the country that help ensure more and more people have access to recycling everyday Expanding Hilex’s innovative Bag-2-Bag program that has paved the way for consumers not only to return used plastic bags to the grocery store, but also such home items as towel, tissue and bottle overwrap, newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags and other clean home polyethylene films Used more than 100 million pounds of recycled plastic in its bags last year Introduced “Grey is The New Green” bag to the open market…the first recycled content bag offered to stores that reduces customers’ plastic footprint by offsetting their use of virgin plastics. Visit us at www.thetruthaboutplasticbags.com The company’s new approach of recycled content in plastic bags enables customers to significantly reduce the impact on the environment when compared to paper bags or a tax on traditional bags.

via: HilexPoly

Panasonic Corporation of North America, a market and technology leader in High Definition consumer and digital electronics products, announced today a major expansion of its Nationwide Recycling Program. The expansion will initially add more than 30 drop-off sites to Panasonic’s Nationwide Recycling Program in the Southeastern United States including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia with plans to add additional locations in the Southeast throughout the Spring.

“We appreciate Panasonic’s commitment to Product Stewardship and welcome their recycling expansion into the state of Florida,” said Mary Jean Yon, Director of the Division of Waste Management in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Panasonic’s Nationwide Recycling Program, which began in November 2008, was created to provide consumers convenient and easy recycling of their Panasonic branded TVs and other consumer electronics(1). By January 2009, the program had 280 drop-off locations covering all 50 states. Included as drop-off sites in the program are Panasonic’s North American headquarters in Secaucus, NJ, as well as their corporate facilities in Chesapeake, VA and Rolling Meadows, IL. Today’s announced expansion brings the current number of drop-off locations to 310 nationwide.

“At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in January, Panasonic announced plans for an aggressive expansion of our nationwide recycling program through 2011,” said Yoshi Yamada, Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America. “We are ahead of our projected timing to reach 400 drop-off locations by December 2009, and plan to continue expanding this program with a goal of having more than 800 drop-off sites participating in the program by 2011.”

“Panasonic’s program has a dual focus; consumer convenience and environmentally sound recycling,” said Richard Vernam, who heads Panasonic’s Recycling Office. “Consumers can drop off their Panasonic products free of charge and the program will help to divert these end-of-life consumer electronics out of the common waste stream and help ensure they enter a separate and environmentally responsible recycling stream.”

Panasonic is also working collaboratively with other consumer electronics manufacturers. A significant part of Panasonic’s recent recycling expansion stems from a new relationship between Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company, LLC (MRM) – a joint venture established in 2007 by Panasonic Corporation of North America, Sharp Electronics Corporation and Toshiba America Consumer Products, LLC. — and Creative Recycling Systems, Inc. (CRS) which operates collection facilities in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States. Day-to-day management of the Panasonic’s Recycling Program is contracted to MRM. The MRM venture was created to address America’s e-waste recycling needs most efficiently by bringing the electronic product manufacturing community together into a unified, voluntary effort.

via: Panasonic Recycling

Carolina Pad is taking its first steps into the eco-friendly marketplace with the release of the Sasquatch(R) Brand, a line of school and office products composed mostly of recycled materials.

Through a partnership with brand developer Don Baddour, president of High Peak Co., Inc., Carolina Pad has launched an interactive, environmentally-friendly brand and Web site that encourages users to find the Sasquatch in their own lives. Starting this spring, Sasquatch notebooks, binders, folders, and writing tools will be available at Kmart, Staples, Target, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart.

Baddour believes that the Sasquatch story is the ideal vehicle for encouraging environmental stewardship among young consumers. “Sasquatch is the ultimate environmentalist, as well as one of the most recognizable ecological characters,” says Baddour, who trademarked the brand in 1988. “Kids love fun brands that also stand for something. By taking a lead in developing these products, Carolina Pad is doing more than triggering conservational awareness with them. They’re inspiring kids to develop the lifelong habits they need to take better care of our world and ‘leave nothing but tracks’.”

The Sasquatch Brand is part of a broader effort of Carolina Pad’s Commerce with a Conscience program, an initiative that promotes environmentally responsible behavior on both organizational and individual levels. “Research has shown that most kids want to contribute to environmental efforts, but aren’t sure how to do so,” said Clay Presley, CEO of Carolina Pad. “Through the Sasquatch Brand and Web site, we can provide them with a simple, fun, and meaningful way to express their commitment to the environment. We’re excited to take this first step into environmental production that not only educates young consumers, but supports Carolina Pad values.”

via: Carolina Pad