The Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce is hosting a State of the Region Breakfast and Business Cluster Symposium in the Ramada Inn Limited in Beaufort, featuring speeches from leaders in Beaufort and Jasper counties and a panel of state business experts discussing business clusters in the Lowcountry.
Business clusters, or related and similar businesses in geographic proximity that capitalize on shared assets like skilled labor and suppliers, have been a focus of state efforts to improve and modernize the South Carolina economy that was once so dependent upon the textile industry.
Beaufort attorney Tom Davis, the former chief of staff for Gov. Mark Sanford, will moderate the panel. Davis, appointed last year by the governor to the S.C. State Ports Authority, attended presentations in 2003 by Michael Porter, Harvard University professor and founder of consultant firm Monitor Group, that outlined cluster existence and growth potential in the state, which included the agricultural, automotive, textile and tourism industries.
"Tourism is one of the clusters that's been identified by Dr. Porter as particularly mature," Davis said, hoping medical businesses in the Lowcountry will be a burgeoning cluster. "You've got a lot retirees coming into the area that have disproportionate medical needs."
Davis said the large retired population, local hospitals, university and technical schools and programs like the coming high school medical curriculum of Project Lead the Way all give Beaufort a chance for the development of a medical cluster.
Project Lead the Way, scheduled to begin a national pilot program in Beaufort High School during the 2006-07 school year, will offer a medical curriculum for students wanting a head start in that field.
Libby Barnes, president and chief executive officer of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce, said improvements at the post-secondary level could contribute to cluster development as well.
"You know there's the research and development side which could coincide with the future of University of South Carolina Beaufort," Barnes said, mentioning the long-term possibility of geriatric studies.
Barnes said medical manufacturing also could have a stepped-up presence as suppliers and distribution companies have a variety of building sites to choose from in the Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper four-county region that are close to Interstate 95 and away from environmentally sensitive areas.
The event begins with a breakfast at 8 a.m. at the Ramada Inn Limited on Boundary Street with speeches by elected officials that include the mayors of Beaufort, Bluffton, Hardeeville, Port Royal, Ridgeland, Yemassee, the mayor pro-tempore of Hilton Head Island and the chairmen and women of the Beaufort and Jasper county councils.
The business cluster symposium will follow with presenters from the S.C. Department of Commerce, S.C. Department of Education, the S.C. Technical College System, the S.C. Chamber of Commerce and from the Lexington County School District.