In only its second year of full-time operations, NEXT – the Greenville’s Chamber’s economic development initiative to support the startup and growth of high-impact companies in the Upstate – received a 2011 Excellence in Economic Development Award-Honorable Mention in the category of Technology-Based Economic Development, making it one of only four programs recognized worldwide by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), and the first-ever award of its kind for Upstate South Carolina.
The IEDC is the largest network of economic development professionals in the world and its Excellence in Economic Development Awards Program annually recognizes the world’s best economic development programs and partnerships. The honor was presented to NEXT at an award ceremony during at the IEDC’s Annual Conference in Charlotte, NC on Tuesday, September 20, 2011.
NEXT is uniquely positioned to grow the economy of the Upstate of South Carolina by attracting and supporting globally-impactful, technology-based companies – a strategically important aspect of economic development that was largely underdeveloped before now.
Today, 75 NEXT companies call the Upstate home and pay their employees, on average, more than double Greenville County’s median wage. These companies represent a variety of industries including IT/software, energy, biotechnology, life sciences, advanced materials, manufacturing, electronic devices and more, and are located in communities across Upstate South Carolina.
NEXT provides direct, tangible support to high-impact entrepreneurs and their ventures through infrastructure development, concierge service, public advocacy and relocation support. NEXT advisory board chair and CEO of Vigilix Andrew Kurtz notes, “We’re very excited about the recognition NEXT has received regionally, nationally and internationally. The NEXT initiative has proven to be immensely valuable for innovative high-impact companies. There are many examples, but none more telling than the fact that the NEXT Innovation Center has been in very high demand since opening two years ago, even in a difficult economy.”
Since its founding as a part-time effort of the Greenville Chamber in 2006, NEXT has grown dramatically into a full-time economic development program and has produced a string of major infrastructure successes, including the launch of the Upstate Carolina Angel Network, creation of the award-winning NEXT Innovation Center, inception of TEDxGreenville, and launch of a NEXT intern program earlier this year that drew over 300 student applicants for summer positions with NEXT companies.
A recent NEXT Strategic Planning Summit, facilitated by NEXT Strategic Planning Committee chair Dr. Chris Przirembel, brought key area business and community leaders together to help define needs and goals, including an expanded NEXT Innovation Campus and initiatives to improve access to capital and talent critical to a successful innovation ecosystem.
NEXT is poised for even greater impact in 2012 as it works to achieve these goals and support the launch of The Next Big Thing – a unique venture led by local tech CEO, Peter Barth that will attract entrepreneurs and technology leaders from around the country to Greenville next Summer.
NEXT is funded through the Chamber’s ACCELERATE! initiative, a five year effort dedicated to reversing the community’s declining income competitiveness through an expanded and results-driven approach to economic development. Over 100 companies, organizations, and individuals pledged five-year investments in ACCELERATE! to support NEXT and other focused efforts designed to improve the decline of local per capital income relative to the rest of the U.S.
Learn more about both NEXT and ACCELERATE! at www.greenvillechamber.org.