Conway Innovation Center, a Knight Foundation Donor-Advised Fund Grantee, was recently featured in Coastal Community Foundation’s grantee spotlight, Giving Matters. Read on for an update on how CIC is fostering our local startup community.
Sound like a blast from the ‘40s? Timber, Turpentine and Tobacco are the main economic drivers of Conway, SC. Add “Tourism” with Myrtle Beach only 15 miles away, and now you can add “Technology” as the fifth T on the list.
The 5thT Innovation Group is parlaying the value of the Conway’s Coastal Carolina University – its people and resources – as valuable ingredients for the success of a local technology sector for the 21st century. Add to the recipe a partnership with Clemson University’s “Technology Villages”, which establish downtown incubators all across South Carolina, and the return on this investment looks excellent.
Through its Fund at Waccamaw Community Foundation, the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation provided $150,000 as a seed grant for the Conway Innovation Center, a program of the 5thT Innovation Group, which launched its first tech company – AppEd Review – this past January.
With ten startup companies in the pipeline, and one company already launched, 5thT isn’t taking any breaks. They’re already looking planning to start a new technology incubator in the City of Georgetown later this year.