Press Release
U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $2 Million to Expand Clemson University Incubator
Contact: Public Affairs Department, (202) 482-4085
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $2 million grant to build a Research One building at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). The Research One building will provide space for private-public partnerships focused on developing new technologies in the automotive, mobility and IT fields, supporting the intersection of productivity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
“For the first time, through our ‘Open for Business Agenda,’ the Commerce Department is focused on ensuring that America has a strong and skilled workforce, which is critical to our economic competitiveness,” said Secretary Pritzker. “I witnessed first-hand the public-private collaboration to research cutting-edge technologies and provide industry-driven training for students when visiting CU-ICAR’s campus earlier this year. The EDA grant announced today will expand the work conducted at CU-ICAR – a great example of how South Carolina is using innovation to cultivate a workforce with the needed skills to succeed.”
CU-ICAR is a world-class research and education facility focused on workforce development for the area’s thriving automotive ecosystem. The site, which is approximately two acres, is part of an overall master-planned research campus that has been designed to be mixed use for academic, commercial, office, and research facilities. According to the grantee, the Research One building will create 220 jobs and generate $2.6 million in private investment at the outset.
The new building will sit adjacent to the CU-ICAR Center for Emerging Technologies, which EDA supported through a $3 million investment in 2009. The facility helps complete the technology chain from laboratory to the consumer end-user by providing the office and lab space that companies need to develop new technologies in the automotive, mobility and energy fields.
About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.