250 organizations with people registered to attend InnoVenture 2007 as of March 17th

As of March 25, 2007, here are the 288 organizations represented by the individuals registered to attend InnoVenture 2007.

AceEngine, Inc.
Adena Ventures
ADMi, LLC
Administaff
AFL Telecommunications
Agfa HealthCare
Align HR
A-Metrics LLC
Argolyn Bioscience
Argus Recruitment Solutions
ATD, LLC/ SC Venture Capital Investment Authority
athletefocus.com
Atlantic Capital Partners LLC
Azalea Capital, LLC
BB&T
BB&T Capital Partners
Benefitfocus.com
Biosyntrx
Blue Cross Blue Shield South Carolina
Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council
BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC
BMW MC
BoroScience International, Inc
BroadSource Inc
Brushy Creek Capital, LLC
Business Innovation & Growth (BIG)
Byrum Innovation Group, Inc.
CANNON CREATIONS
Capital Business Funding
Carlton Fields
carolina first bank
Carolinas MicroOptics Triangle
Cedar Ventures
Center For Global Strategies
Champion Communications
Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce
Charleston Regional Development Alliance
Charlotte Research Institute at UNC Charlotte
Chubb & Son
Chubb Insurance Group
City Meter, Inc.
City of Clemson
City of Greenville
City of Johnson City
CIVISonline
Clemson University
Clemson University - Spiro Institute
Clemson University Research Foundation
Clockwork CFO & Controller Services
Computer Software Innovations, Inc.
Cotesworth & Company LLC
CRE Capital
CreatiVasc Medical LLC
CU-ICAR
Curio Solutions
CycleSpace.com Inc.
Data Network Solutions
DecisiveLogic
designstrategies
DigitalDerm, Inc.
Dixon hughes PLLC
Edward Jones - Tony Peters
Edward Jones & Co.
Elliott Davis Capital Partners
Elliott Davis, LLC
EngenuitySC
Entrepreneurial Resources, LLC
ERC Broadband
ETSU Innovation Lab
F360 Photo+Design
FastFetch Corporation
FBI
Ferncreek Creative
First Sun Management Corporation
FirstString Research, Inc.
Fluor Corporation
Frontier Capital Investments
FUJIFILM Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc.
Fulcrum Ventures
Furman University
Gallivan, White & Boyd, P.A.
GE
GE Aviation
GE Energy
GE Infrastructure
GE Large Gas Turbines, LLC
Gen Cap America, Inc.
GetLocalBiz.com
Gnoso Inc.
Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce
Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce
Greenville Area Development Corporation
Greenville Convention & Visitors Bureau
Greenville County Council
greenville county human relations
GSA Technology Council
GSABUSINESS
Hamrick Mills
Heraeus Tenevo LLC
HillSouth
Icesa-Modicon
Immedion
In Any Event
InfoChex, LLC
Information Dynamics
Innovative Odor Solutions
InsituTec Inc
Invista Performance Materials
ISB, LLC
ISO Poly Films, Inc.
Johnson Management, LLC
Juno Investors
Kentucky Innovation & Commercialization Center
Kiawah Capital, LLC
Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
KIYATEC, LLC
Lab Escape, Inc.
LabCorp
Laser Pharmaceuticals
Leatherwood Walker Todd & Mann, PC
Liquid Highway
LiveCargo, Inc.
Lockheed martin
LSIngram, LLC
Mace Marketing Group
mahoneymarketing
Margin Holdings
Marketplace Staffing Services, Inc.
Materials Innovation Technologies, LLC
McNair Law Firm, P.A.
MeadWestvaco
Meakem Becker Venture Capital
Medical University of South Carolina
Meritus Ventures, L.P.
Metromont Corporation
MFC Technologies, LLC
Michelin Americas Research & Development Corp.
Michelin North America
Microsoft
Midlands Technical College
Miller & Company
Milliken & Company
Milliken Chemical
Milliken Research Corporation
Morphogenix, LLC.
Multicast Media
Multicast Media Networks
MUSC Foundation for Research Development
MyJV.COM LLC
Nature Diagnostics
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP
Netriplex, LLC
Nexsen Pruet, LLC
Nexus Medical Partners
Nol-Tec Southeast
Noro-Moseley Partners
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
north gate labs
nuBridges LLC
Nuts & Such
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Office of U.S. Senator Jim DeMint
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart
On the Go
Oracle Corp.
OrangeCoat
Outdoor Interactive, Inc.
Paladin and Associates
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP
Peachtree Equity Partners
Peak 10
Personal Pathways to Success
Piedmont Angel Network
Powell Goldstein LLP
ProActive Technology
PromoPipeline
PropertyBoss Solutions
Q Tires, Inc.
radii llc
Ralston Payne Enterprises LLC
Resource Partners Referral Network
Revolution D, Inc.
River Cities Capital Funds
Roche Carolina, Inc.
Rounsville Business Development, Inc.
Sabal Medical
SATSair, LLC
Savannah River National Laboratory
SC BIO
SC Business Review - ETV Radio
SC Chamber of Commerce
SC Council on Competitiveness
SC Department of Commerce
SC Department of Revenue
SC Governor's School for Science and Mathematics Foundation
SC Launch!
SC Office of Research and Statistics
SC State Ports Authority
SC Technical College System
SC Venture Capital Investment Authority
SC's Council on Competitiveness
SCANA Corporation
SCBIZ Magazine -- freelance writer
SCRA
ScrapbookBlogger
Selah Technologies, LLC
Self
Semaphore, Inc.
Sensory Analytics, LLC
Sequence Investment Partners
Servosity On Demand Backup
Setcom Media
SJF Ventures
Small Business Loan Source, LLC
Smart Work | Network, Inc.
Smith Premier Services
Smith Premier Services/JM Smith Corporation
South Carolina Business One Stop - SC Dept of Revenue
South Carolina Department of Commerce
South Carolina Interactive
Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing & Technology
Specialty & Custom Fibers, LLC
SphingoGene
St. Jude Medical, CRMD
State of North Carolina
Stipkala LLC
SwaimBrown PA
Swamp Fox LLC
Tate Center for Entrepreneurship
Tatum LLC
Team IV Automotive Performance
TETRAD Technologies Group & Cyclone Technologies
The Capital Corporation
The Capital Corporation / SCP
The Creative Coast Initiaitive
The Firm Answer
The Greenville News
The Mariner Group, LLC
The Richards Group, LLC
The Timken Company
TiBA Solutions LLC
TIP Strategies
Tobin Solitario Investment Banking Group LLC
Traction, Inc.
Trevelino/Keller Communications Group
Twining Enterprises
U.S. Senator Jim DeMint
UBS Financial Services
UCI Communications, LLC
UK Trade & Investment
UNC Charlotte
UNC Charlotte/CMOT
University of South Carolina
Upstate SC Alliance
USC-Upstate
UT-Battelle/Oak Ridge National Lab
VantagePoint
Vigilix, LLC
Vivid2&Co. LLC
Washington Savannah River Company
Watermark Advisors
Widget Works, LLC
WSRC / SRNL
Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham P.A.
ZDD, Inc.
Zeus Industrial Products, Inc.
Zipit
ZynRG, LLC

Darla Moore on Being Competitive - A New Carolina Manifesto #1

Below is an interesting new project from New Carolina to stimulate discussion on important topics.

This is a special delivery to you from New Carolina: Our first Manifesto – one in a series of writings and conversations from South Carolina's thought leaders.

The first one is from Darla Moore on "Being Competitive."

Help us get a conversation started around change that will create new energy, new ideas, new action, and new jobs in South Carolina.

Visit us at http://newcarolina.org/

What happens when everything becomes available to everyone?

“The story of the Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance – what happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture start to disappear and everything becomes available to everyone.”

This is an interesting thought provoking article. THE ELONGATING TAIL OF BRAND COMMUNICATION

One of the 50 most interesting people on the planet - and he's ours

There are not many people in my life that are blow the doors off smart, but Wofford President Bernie Dunlop is one of them. I got to know Bernie when he moderated my Liberty Fellowship class. He's a true Renaissance man.

Now some of the most influential people in the world at the TED Conference have figured out that he is one of the 50 most interesting people on the planet.

Did they ever get that right!

One giant leap for the University of South Carolina...

Contragulations to everyone with the vision and tenacity to make Innovista a reality!

Innovista Announces First Major Private Sector Tenant

The addition of Duck Creek Technologies to Columbia further positions the area to become the new headquarters for insurance technology firms. With other insurance software companies already located in Columbia, including CSC and Fiserv — two companies that are divisions of Fortune 500 companies — the addition of Duck Creek Technologies helps Columbia build on its strong insurance market and existing capabilities.

Last 500 years of wealth creation

Where to from here?

Wealth in the year 1500


Wealth in the year 2002


© Maps Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

Still more of the 303 extraordinary people in the Swamp Fox Community you want to know

Immediately upon registering to attend InnoVenture 2007, you'll be able to see everyone else that is registered. As of today, there are 183 incredible people you'll want to know in the Swamp Fox Community, which is growing daily.

William Gartner
Clemson University
Clemson, SC

William B. Gartner is the Arthur M. Spiro Professor of Entrepreneurial Leadership at Clemson University. He is one of the co-founders of the Entrepreneurship Research Consortium, which initiated, developed and managed the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED). He was the lead editor of The Handbook of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, which provides an overview of the PSED research project.

Gregory Zaic
Nexus Medical Partners
Boston, MA

Gregory F. Zaic is a general partner with Nexus Medical Partners. Mr. Zaic has over 20 years of venture capital investment experience, focused on companies in the medical technology/life science area. Prior to Nexus, he had a role in the management of six venture capital funds (general partner of four of them).

Jeff Doose
Adena Ventures
Athens, OH

Jeff Doose is a Partner of Adena Ventures and a member of the fund's investment committee. He serves on the Boards of Directors of BestTransport,Visum, and Mersive Technologies.

Mark Boxer
AFL Telecommunications
Duncan, SC

I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and have worked in the fiber optics industry for close to 20 years. I currently work with municipalities, residential home developers, internet service providers, and telephone companies to develop fiber to the home telecommunications systems.

Sean Ryan
Traction, Inc.
Mt. Pleasant, SC

Mr. Ryan is a technology entrepreneur and investor. He spent his early career as a Senior Manager with Accenture Consulting. He was then offered an opportunity to join DigitalRiver (NASDAQ:DRIV) where he was the Senior Director of Software Engineering. Later, he became the Chief Technology Officer for ExactTarget, a highly successful VC funded startup.

Mike Fiddy
UNC Charlotte/CMOT
Charlotte, NC

Michael Fiddy received his Ph.D from the University of London in 1977, and was a post-doc in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London before becoming a faculty member at Kings College, London University in 1979. Dr. Fiddy moved to the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 1987 where he was ECE Department Head from 1994 until 2001.

Russell Cook
SC Launch! Columbia, SC

Russell Cook, SCCED, is the Program Director for SC Launch!, a South Carolina Research Authority collaboration. SCRA leads the Knowledge Economy in South Carolina and the nation by successfully advancing applied research and technology through collaboration.

A few more of the 254 extraordinary people in the Swamp Fox Community you want to know

Immediately upon registering to attend InnoVenture 2007, you'll be able to see everyone else that is registered. As of today, there are 183 incredible people you'll want to know in the Swamp Fox Community, which is growing daily.

Juan Pablo Hinestrosa
Clemson University
Clemson, SC

I am a Ph.D. student in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Clemson University. Since I was doing my B.S. in my home country I have been very interested in the development of new business, in fact, in my undergradute thesis I found a new use for a residue from an aluminum plant. This idea is now in process to become a separate plant.

Dave Lawrence
ETSU Innovation Lab
Johnson City, TN

Director of the ETSU Innovation Lab since 2004. Prior experience as a small business counselor and adjunct instructor of Management and Marketing. Retired from Eastman Chemical Company after 31 yrs service in a variety of areas: chemistry research, chemicals sales, product management, director of fine chemicals business organization, director of corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions.

Hagen Rogers
Watermark Advisors
Greenville, SC

Watermark Advisors, a boutique investment banking firm located in Greenville, focuses its I-banking practice on Southeast-based, mid-market companies that are facing growth and/or liquidity issues. Watermark's advisors are highly knowledeable veterans of the finance world with more than 30 years of combined investment banking experience.

Chuck Cooper
Administaff
Charlotte, NC

After owning privately held businesses for 14 years I have been a consultant specializing in working with small to medium size business owners on a national scope.

Jonathan Moreno
Center For Global Strategies
Columbia, SC

Jonathan Moreno is the Chief Operating Officer of The Center for Global Strategies. The Center for Global strategies exists to connect emerging and isolated societies to the global economy/community primarily through private sector initiatives.

Gregory Holmes
Sequence Investment Partners
Charleston, SC

Greg is a managing director with Sequence Investment Partners, LLC. He has more than 20 years of investment banking experience specializing in institutional sales and trading. Prior to Sequence, Greg was head of trading at Investec, a South African Investment Bank focusing on growth companies. Greg was also a managing director at Robertson Stephens for 12 years working in SF and NY.

I am registered for Innoventure 2007, and it feels pretty darn good.

Olivier Blanchard at The Brand Builder Blog is a gentleman and a scholar.

I am registered for Innoventure 2007, and it feels pretty darn good.

Why aren't African-Americans achieving all that they could?

Wow! This is a powerful article examining cultural issues both among African-Americans themselves and employers that keep African-Americans from achieving all they can. Overcoming invisible cultural barriers is a very tough nut to crack.

We can generalize the issue even beyond African-Americans. Across the board, the best in South Carolina are not performing at the level of our peers across the country.

An activist friend asked me one evening, "Do you think our culture is broken and we're just wasting out time?" The answer is no. We can be globally competitive if we get our act together. But I spent awhile on the phone today commiserating with another friend that changing our culture is a very tough nut to crack.

If you'd had this professor you'd understand economics!

This fellow is a hoot!

South Carolina Aims To Do Something Cool By Becoming The First "Hot" State

We've made tremendous progress in recent years, but I'm very concerned that the best in the world are accelerating faster than we are and the gap is widening.

We need a game changer, and I agree with Evan at OrangeCoat that this can be it: , South Carolina Aims To Do Something Cool By Becoming The First “Hot” State

By the way, I told my friend Senator Ritchie several years ago that I am the first volunteer for Ritchie For Governor! If you see him, encourage him to run. South Carolina need his vision and his leadership.

7 more of the 183 incredible people in the Swamp Fox Community you want to know

Immediately upon registering to attend InnoVenture 2007, you'll be able to see everyone else that is registered. As of today, there are 183 incredible people you'll want to know in the Swamp Fox Community, which is growing daily.

Wilson McQueen
TETRAD Technologies and Cyclone Technologies
Pompano, FL

TETRAD Technologies Group, Inc. is a product development and commercialization company that is partnered with Cyclone Technologies LLLP. Cyclone is the R&D company for the Cyclone External Combustion Engine and IP holder. TETRAD will participate in the late-phase development of the Cyclone Engine and will bring it to market and manufacture the Cyclone Multi-fuel External Combustion Engine.

Shane Woody
InsituTec Inc
Charlotte, NC

Dr. Shane Woody graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is a co-founder of InsituTec, a high tech start up company that focuses on precision motion and measurement. The company has received four SBIR’s Phase I & II awards. These grants included research for the MDA (fast steering mirrors), NIST (microprobes), NSF (self sensing tweezers) as well as industrial contracts.

Anthony Boccanfuso
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC

As Director, Research and Economic Development for the University of South Carolina, Dr. Anthony Boccanfuso supports the research and economic development activities of the university. With the university’s increased focus on Future FuelsTM and related facilities, Tony has taken a leading role in growing these efforts.

Sudhir Panvelker
Roche Carolina Inc.
Florence, SC

Dr. Sudhir Panvelker is the Director of Manufacturing of Roche Carolina Inc. (RCI), a member of the Roche Pharmaceuticals group. Dr. Panvelker holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and has been with RCI since the company began its operations in Florence, SC in 1995.

Bernard Spielvogel
BoroScience International, Inc
Columbia, SC

I am an internationally recognized expert in boron chemistry with over 135 technical papers and over 50 patents. Founder of 5 high tech companies. Raised over $5million in SBIR awards. Academic positions:, professor of chemistry at Duke Univ; UNC,Chape Hill; NC State (Raleigh); Northern IL Univ.;Dalhousie Univ (Halifax,NS) Basic Research Grants administrator at Army Research Office, RTP,NC (20yrs)

Roy Hogsed
nuBridges LLC
Atlanta, GA

I currently serve as Executive Vice President of Sales for nuBridges overseeing all aspects of Sales. Prior to nuBridges, I was President / CEO at iSoft Corporation. Before iSoft Iworked in Executive Management with two software start up companies in the area of desktop security and data management. Prior to that I spent eleven years as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales.

Tony Prince
Frontier Capital Investments
Charlotte, NC

I was the founder and CEO of LURHQ, a leading provider of managed IT security services. Prior to working for LURHQ, I was a Consultant at Trusted Information Systems (TIS). I left TIS after the company's successful IPO to form LURHQ. I'm a cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds a BS in Computer Science.

If we unleashed this power, imagine the impact it would have on public education

Discussions about choice in public education generally focus the demand side. That is, choice provides parents in failing schools better options for their children.

The real power of school choice though is on the supply side. If we unleashed the power of teachers to be creative, imagine the impact it would have on public education. Imagine if like educator Cynde O'Rear all teachers could say:

I became the one who made classroom decisions concerning my students. I didn't have to be on the same page, using the same techniques, same books or same lessons as all the other teachers. I could be creative and spontaneous, depending on the students' interests.

In this way, I was allowed to try new approaches, to branch out and tackle more difficult and challenging teaching skills. I was allowed the freedom to grow, the room to make mistakes, to modify and adjust without hovering administrators evaluating me. In turn, this encouraged my students as well to take risks, to try new things and to accept a challenge.

If I needed help with an errant student, my principal sat down and discussed with me ways to "coach" that child, and that is a term that I have come to embrace with great affection.

My planning period was protected because my administration believed firmly that this is the most important time of my school day. Being prepared is, first and foremost, the prime building block to an effective educator.

But, mostly, my administration said to me: You are competent.

That statement empowers like no other.

Imagine how, if all teachers felt this way, education would be transformed.

Constraints breed creativity: Very Cool Rubikubism

My ADHD makes me anxious thinking of toying with one Rubik's cube, much less this. But this is very cool. I can't imagine having patience to actually do it.



I originally found this at Signal vs. Noise.

Great Place, Great People, Great Promise... blah, blah, blah

I was struck recently by the announcement of the City of Gastonia about the product of a seven-month research and creative development process to brand the city to attract new business, residents, tourists and shoppers. Here's what they came up with:

Gastonia: Great Place, Great People, Great Promise

What, do you reckon, took them seven months?

When they launched their branding initiative back in the summer, they established their objective: "The City of Gastonia wants to develop a strong message that accurately defines today’s Gastonia." The mayor observed, “Branding helps cities re-invent their identities, promote their greatest assets and be more identifiable to economic potentials.”

Rather than rigorously assessing how their targets of new business, residents, tourists and shoppers see Gastonia and tapping into what they find distinctive about the city, community leaders ended up with a statement that says more about how they would like to think about themselves. Few people are going to read their messaging and be rushing to Gastonia any time soon.

I'm reminded of the marketing maxim that, "It's not what you say about yourself, but what your customers say about you, that counts."

The Austin, TX Chamber of Commerce spent big bucks and came up with the tag line which is how they wanted to see themselves, "The Human Capitol." Of course, most people in and out of Austin know that city as "The Live Music Capital of the World." Live music attracts a lot more people to Austin than "Human Capitol" ever will.

After doing a little research, the city "found that Austin had more live music venues per capita than such music hotbeds as Nashville, Memphis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or New York City." So ultimately the city adopted the tagline "The Live Music Capital of the World" because it is a distinctive claim that Austin can make and reflects the creative culture that community leaders want to promote that is much deeper than just music.

Great Place, Great People, Great Promise is chamber of commerce sloganeering. I'm not trying to beat up in Gastonia. We're all guilty of sloganeering.

What's the City of Gastonia's greatest asset that would entice you to visit, or even move and work there? That's the vision Gastonia needs to capture. In all our communities, that's the vision we need to capture.

6 of the 131 incredible people in the Swamp Fox Community you want to know

Immediately upon registering to attend InnoVenture 2007, you'll be able to see everyone else that is registered.

As of today, there are 131 incredible people you'll want to know in the Swamp Fox Community, which is growing daily. You do that by registering to attend InnoVenture.

Kathy Harris
Noro-Moseley Partners
Atlanta, GA

I began my career at KPMG and have spent the last 20 years in investment banking, mezzanine lending and venture capital. My venture career started in 2000 in Atlanta.

Jonathan Kane
Milliken & Company
Spartanburg, SC

Employed by Milliken & Co. since 1988 I have been engaged in cutting edge manufacturing operations, Process improvement, environmental initiatives, and spent the last ten years in leading business development teams. Currently I lead a team of technology and business development professionals whose objective is to significantly grow our presence in nonwovens.

Phil Noble
CIVISonline
Charleston, SC

Phil Noble is one of the top experts in the US and internationally on the use of the Internet in politics, public affairs, government and media. He is the founder of CIVISonine and its affiliate PoliticsOnline. Noble is a veteran of over 350 political campaigns and public affairs projects in 40 states and 30 countries and he has worked to elect the head of state in 15 countries.

Alan Liby
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN

Dr. Alan Liby is an Economic Development Manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and works with management and technical organizations, universities, and regional economic development organizations to develop and implement strategies to use ORNL resources to support new business creation and existing industry growth. He holds Metallurgical Engineer, MS and PhD degrees.

Robert (Bob) McMahan
State of North Carolina
Raleigh, NC

Dr. McMahan is the State Science and Technology Advisor for North Carolina, and the Executive Director of the North Carolina Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Commerce. In this role he acts as a Senior Advisor to the Governor, the Secretary of Commerce, the General Assembly, and the Boards of Science and Technology and Economic Development about science and technology matters.

Matthew Gevaert
CURF - Clemson University Research Foundation
Anderson, SC

Having developed an understanding of and skills in biomedical sciences and biotechnology (BS Chemistry; Ph.D. BioEngineering) I am now applying them for business purposes, commercializing Clemson University’s “bio” intellectual property portfolio via licenses to technology-based businesses, some of which are entrepreneurial start-ups created around the Clemson discovery.

A step in the right direction: SC Virtual Schools

The South Carolina Virtual Schools Program would give students greater flexibility to advance at their own pace by earning required graduation credits online, and would also allow them to take courses that wouldn’t normally be offered in their attendance zones, such as Advanced Placement or foreign languages.

This increased personalization of education is a big step in the right direction.

Very cool and elegant way to make a statistical point

This is a very cool and elegant way to make a statistical point.

This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics tend to feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones discarded every day. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs.

This is why the decision can't be made by local school districts

State backs new science charter school. Greenville school board had denied it.

The state Board of Education overturned the Greenville County school board's decision to deny a charter for a science charter school that hopes to attract 400 of the district's top students.

The Greenville board said its denial was based on its belief that the proposed Greenville Science Charter School didn't have a sound financial plan and didn't demonstrate that it had enough community support.

"I did not see evidence that that was the case," said state board member Kristin Maguire of Clemson. "In fact, I saw the opposite of that."

Imagine that.

Swamp Fox Community up to 73 incredible people you want to know

Immediately upon registering to attend InnoVenture 2007, you'll be able to see everyone else that is registered.

As of today, there are 73 incredible people you'll want to know in the Swamp Fox Community, which is growing daily. You do that by registering to attend InnoVenture.

Is the Google Virtual Machine the future?

This is a very interesting blog post about the future of personal computing.

In my own personal experience, more and more of my time is spent on a Google application, be it the start-up menu I organize by life around, or my email client, or my personal calendar.

There is an interesting bifurcation in my world. The freelancers are increasingly using Google and open source applications. Enterprise users, that is corporations, universities, and governments, still rely on commercially licensed software, things like Microsoft and Oracle applications. It's only a matter of time before non commercially licensed applications penetrate the enterprise world too.

My bet is that the Google Virtual Machine is the future.

A very Swamp Foxy approach to business

I recently stumbled upon an online book, Getting Real, that promotes a very Swamp Foxy approach to business.

Getting real is less. Less mass, less software, less features, less paperwork, less of everything that's not essential (and most of what you think is essential actually isn't).

I love it.

Swamp Fox Community up to 37 incredible people you want to know

Last week, Swamp Fox launched an innovative online tool, so that immediately upon registering for InnoVenture you'll be able to see everyone else that is registered.

Jeremy Stipkala from Charleston said about the new system:

Let me congratulate you on a fantastic website!! It goes far beyond anything I have seen before. I get to meet everyone before I get there! You have added a ton of value to everyone's experience!

Jeremy's profile is:

A patent attorney, I lead Stipkala LLC, a proud sponsor of InnoVenture 2007. [Bless you Jeremy.] I earned my Ph.D. in Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University studying solar energy conversion using semiconductor nanoparticles. Then, I received my J.D. with High Honors from the George Washington University Law School. I worked eight years with a leading IP firm before launching Stipkala LLC.

There are 36 other incredible people you'll want to know in the Swamp Fox Community, which is growing daily. You do that by registering to attend InnoVenture.

I look forward to seeing you in March. Sparks will fly!

SC Business Review Question of the Week

I received a presentation from a friend at Ideation International recently, that had this quote:

With six billion people on the planet, it is safe to conclude that the majority of great ideas exist outside of your company.

There's no question that is true. So this week's question announced on the SC Business Review radio program is:

Where have you been able to successfully leverage a great idea of someone outside your organization so you both excelled?

We'll report a summary of your comments on the SC Business Review on Monday, February 12th.