That’s the central idea behind FIRST Robotics (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). The 2012 annual brain-bending competition kicked off recently, fueled by a record number of area high schoolers (10 teams), tapping problem solving, math and science skills, team work and creativity.

Armed with a FIRST kit filled with motors, batteries, a PC and more, the teams have six weeks to build a robot and four weeks to compete in this year’s “Rebound Rumble.”  Students program robots to shoot foam basketballs through stacked hoops. They earn bonus points if they can balance their robots on bridges at midcourt. More than 40 high school teams from the Southeast will compete later for a spot in the national championship.

Our local organizations are huge supporters of the effort. SPAWAR recently funded five new area teams, became a Team 342 sponsor and dispatched nearly 30 mentors to area teams. Employees from Bosch, BAE Systems and other local businesses also serve as mentors.

The Boeing Company also announced it is supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education research with a $750,000 challenge grant over a three-year period.

According to an article in the Daily Journal, the challenge grant will fund research at 10 middle school sites in SC to identify reading, writing and communication strategies that make science and mathematics more accessible to middle school kids. The grant supports the SC Coalition for Mathematics and Science, which seeks additional partners.

The robotics movement is certainly catching on strong in the region, and we’re big fans of science & technology learning. Those innovative, young minds winning the robotics contests will one day be shaping our region’s future.

Today, more than 10,000 undergrads populate the central-city campus. And they share the stage with thousands of students at the Medical University of South Carolina, The Citadel, Trident Technical College and satellite Clemson and USC programs.

Source: CofC

The growth of the student population has been so rapid, that many locals scarcely think of the Holy City as a classic College Town.

But it is, and by many accounts, that’s a good thing.

Lest you think this preponderance of young scholars merely signals a surfeit of toga parties, consider this: A recent symposium (hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education) of scholars focused on higher education found that cities get a real economic boost from the presence of college campuses. And that’s not solely in the categories of pizza delivery and used book sales. 

Coverage of the symposium in The Atlantic illustrated a profound relationship between higher education and a higher order of living.

Ultimately, here are the Cliff’s Notes on the discussion: the presence of colleges and universities can help make a region more competitive. They can provide jobs and education which, in turn, attracts people and businesses from all over the world.

Starting with the 2007 collapse of key U.S. markets, the writers summarize the seismic activity that rocked the U.S. , and follows the money all over the globe, finally landing in Europe, where fiscal concerns have morphed into a continental crisis.

But don’t stop reading there. Uncertainty – historically a big deal killer – has lost some of its power to dampen economic development. Some experts believe that since 2007, business investors have come to understand that uncertainty is the new normal.

What’s the best time to invest, to grow, to expand? Nobody may know. But they do know reassuring signs exist and that growth will come again.  And smart communities are getting ready to reap the rewards.

Among the global vital signs they’re tracking:

• “Available Capital: Major banks have resources, and companies have cash.
• “China: Chinese firms are ready to invest in U.S. markets. However, delays in such investment seem to result from extensive government involvement in deals.
• “Consumer Demand: Households now have very modest mortgage rates; so when a recovery starts, they should be in a stronger financial position to spend.

And South Carolina is ready for the next boom. In another article, the Area Development editors give high marks to South Carolina  (#2 in the nation for business environment!), owing largely to favorable tax programs, readySC workforce training and existing infrastructure. Those are critically important to site selection consultants we work with to help businesses make location decisions.

And what happens when they decide to relocate? It all starts with a call to someone like Mark Sweeney, a pro featured in this great “Anatomy of a Deal” piece which identifies the high-stakes, high-touch, and information-laden role well-connected consultants play matching communities to companies. The journey from initial contact to ribbon cutting is fraught with intrigue, pleas for data and more.

We appreciate the article’s implicit message that smart, successful communities are well prepared and well-armed when the fierce competition begins.

Turns out this is just one more way in which Charleston is part of a big economic story. As noted in Smart Money, big investors like TIAA-CREF are fattening their portfolios with fertile farmlands. Betting on a strong population growth and this basic human need to eat, investors are pro-grower.

Source: The Urban Core blog

Farms are not only hot – they are hot beds of high tech. Don’t be surprised to find Farmer Brown sporting an I-pad (and driving a Prius). The magazine reported that a TIAA-CREF money manager visiting an 8,000-acre farm was impressed when the farmer used a computer to assess which fields were underproductive.

And you may have missed this recent article in The New York Times, which tracked Lowcountry farmer Emile DeFelice around in his Prius as he assessed the health of 200 Berkshire hogs, acres of commercial tomato plantings and his thoughts on an agrarian lifestyle. His only complaint: it’s time to retire the hayseed image many attach to those who work the land.

Noted the Times:  “the South today has just the right combination of climate, culinary skill, regional chic and receptive audience,” to launch a revolution that changes what, and how, Americans eat.

“They want to reclaim the agrarian roots of Southern cooking, restore its lost traditions and dignity, and if all goes according to plan, completely redefine American cuisine for a global audience.”

It’s in this spirit that we encourage readers to participate in the Southern Living poll that seeks the Tastiest Town in the South. Charleston has already made the top 10, but its reader votes that will earn it the ultimate crown.

Other cities competing for the distinction: Baltimore, MD; Birmingham, AL; Charlottesville, VA; Decatur, GA; Houston, TX; Lafayette, LA; Louisville, KY; New Orleans, LA and Raleigh, NC. But they don’t have shrimp and grits nor benne wafers. And they don’t have Emile DeFelice.

Voting ends January 31. We’re betting on another win for Charleston.

Close on the heels of that news came the Milken Institute’s “Best Performing Cities 2011” report, which tagged our metro area as one of the healthiest economies in the U.S.; at 11^th place, Charleston shot up from 19^th in 2010 and 30^th in 2009.

Milken researchers weighed jobs, wages and business output over a five year period. They credited Charleston’s vibrancy to numerous factors, including the strong aerospace sector, “stable military presence” and increases in high-tech, high-skill employers.

The CRDA’s own stats support both the Brookings and Milken perspectives. The 874 new, direct jobs our team helped facilitate for FY 2010-11 paid wages 15% above the regional average. Also noteworthy: active projects worked were heavily skewed to  the technology (approximately 50%) and manufacturing sectors (25%).

U.S. News selected the top American honeymoon destinations, and Charleston was selected for the #8 position.

Says the magazine:  Start your marriage off with a taste of authentic Hollywood romance (Gone with the Wind-style) in Charleston. This low-key South Carolina city pours on the Southern charm like gravy on biscuits: Gas lamp-lined cobblestone streets and antebellum architecture set the scene, while gourmet cuisine followed by a horse-drawn carriage ride will set the mood.

Photo Source: Perfectly Frank's

And if honeymoon plans include visits to local diners or dives, be advised: the lines outside several will soon grow longer.  The Food Network came to Charleston a few months ago to film an episode of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” The lively, spiky-haired host, Guy Fieri, visited several restaurants, including: Perfectly Franks, Tattooed Moose, Early Bird Diner, Glass Onion, Fuel, Dixie Supply Bakery & Café.

They’ll all be featured at some point, but the first Charleston episode featured Summerville’s Perfectly Frank’s.  (aired 12/19). Be on the lookout for future features!

Could the region soon lead the nation in number of PhD-packing residents?

The Charleston region received cheering trendlines this week, during two statewide gatherings.

One occurred when University of South Carolina economists announced the state’s economy is on the upswing, and the Lowcountry is a chief driver of that surge.

Reported by researcher Doug Woodward, over the past decade, our region has outpaced every metro area in the nation for growth in the the share of adults armed with four-year degrees (32% locally compared to 28 % nationally). And diploma-packing talent is pouring their energy into our region’s growing creative class, start-up ventures, and R&D functions.

Wednesday’s USC seminar was an interesting complement to the week’s SmartState seminar, which featured an address by MUSC President Ray Greenberg, among others.

The SmartState program enables MUSC, USC and Clemson to use state funds to create Centers of Economic Excellence. Those centers are linked directly to the priorities set forth by SC Commerce, and regional allies like the CRDA, and actively connect research and scholarly talent to the state’s greatest opportunities.

Since it began in 2002, the SmartState program has created 41 endowed chairs, filed 37 patents, created 17 startup companies, employed 500 people in universities and drove nearly 1,100 job relocations, Greenberg said.

Greenberg and his colleagues called for solid state funding to ensure continued SmartState success in five areas:  a long-term vision, flexibility, putting money into places other than endowments, investing in young talent, and linking to the state Department of Commerce’s priorities.

At this rate, we could be in the race to lead the world in residents with Ph.D.s?!

A new study focuses on the magnetic forces that attract the best thinkers to new places. And those forces, it turns out, are evolving. As a result, new “brain hubs” (i.e.: Raleigh, Austin and…dare we say it…Charleston) are beginning to out-perform old “brain hubs” (like Boston,  Washington and San Jose) in attracting talent.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, a new generation of cities are doing an ever-better job of attracting the entrepreneurial and the educated to their business incubators and cafes. In the meantime, they are fueling their own municipal futures. They’re doing it by being exciting, approachable, affordable and supportive.

And here in Charleston, we are attracting more brains than most. Indeed, according to another Census data review reported in the Wall Street Journal and analyzed by Brookings Institution, Charleston is the nation’s #1 Brain Gainer.  Translation: between 2000 and 2010, the region’s  Bachelors degree-wielding populace grew by 7 percentage points to 32%.

So how did we attract these best and brightest? See the “exciting, approachable and supportive” note above. Then consider the many ways leaders throughout the region have committed to making this a mecca of innovation.

Still unsure? Well consider this great story that emerged around the same time the WSJ was reporting their trends:  A team of College of Charleston scientists has programmed laptops to “listen” to music played live, “think” about it momentarily, and play back something similar in style, but audibly distinct.  The Monterey Mirror program was developed here by professor Bill Manaris, and was demonstrated by pianists Amy Tan and Chee-Hang See. It does the extraordinary task of combining two of our regional passions: high-tech business and a love of the arts.

Manaris’ laptop music program is an off-shoot of the college’s new Technology and the Arts major, which launched earlier this year and already has 31 students.

Sounds like a truly magnetic idea.

Aerospace will be an engine for regional growth for years to come.

Boeing recently opened its new Charleston-area  interiors plant, and invited area leaders to tour its solar panel-covered exterior. Both events were milestones in this three-county region’s efforts to grow its aerospace industry cluster. And if a recent industry report is predictive, there are more big events to come.

Area Development  magazine recently reported that 2010 aerospace sales soared to $212.7 billion, a 23.8 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIA).

Much of this growth was supported by federal R&D funding, reflecting heavy demands from military operations around the world.  “Innovation is at the heart of the aerospace industry,” said William A. Chadwick, Jr. of AIA. “The United States continues to lead the world in absolute R&D spending, and within the United States, R&D is expected to grow by 2.4 percent in 2011 to $405.3 billion.”

The report also notes that worldwide demand for civil aircraft is growing, thanks to aging fleets and increased consumer mobility.

Israel has business lessons to share; here, the bustling hub of Tel-Aviv at dusk.

Learning from successful communities is a hallmark of this region’s economic development efforts. And sometimes leading innovators are found in unexpected places.

Case in point: a recent trip to Israel was designed to develop long-term relationships and research partnerships between companies and universities in South Carolina and Israel.  The mission was sponsored by the SC-Israel Collaboration, which has identified six clusters of potential economic strength shared by both SC and Israel.

Surprised?  Despite its reputation as a cultural, tourism and religious center, Israel is quickly developing a strong brand for business as well.

According to a BBC report, the small country of just 8 million citizens boasts almost 4,000 active technology start-ups – more than any other country outside the United States, according to Israel Venture Capital Research Centre.

More than 45% of the country’s exports today are high-tech in nature.  Israel is a world leader in terms of research and development spending as a percentage of the economy.

So what’s the lesson for Charleston’s three-county region? As John Warner, editor of SwampFox and tour participant noted on a recent SC Business Review segment (check out the podcast ), Israel grew its high-tech culture from its core competencies. In their case, using technology to grow a desert-based agricultural economy was inspired.

Warner recommended that we think the same way; what are we uniquely qualified to do here, that will one day translate into technology and products others desire? That’s precisely the objective of the CRDA’s target industry strategy and our efforts to market Charleston as a global destination for business and talent.

We look forward to continuing to build relationships with Israeli companies and perhaps in the near future we can welcome Israel’s top business and academic leaders to Charleston and showcase what our region has to offer.