leads applied research collaborations grows knowledge-based businesses builds and manages R&D facilities
SCRA Applied R&D competitively wins and delivers R&D programs to federal and corporate clients, solving problems in a wide range of industries.
SCRA Technology Ventures helps early-stage companies to commercialize innovations and create jobs.
SCRA R&D Facilities builds and manages research facilities that include wet labs, secure rooms for sensitive work and advanced high-tech manufacturing.
With a one-time founding grant of $500,000 and 1,400 unused acres, the SC Legislature created SCRA in 1983 to help develop technology-based industries in the state. Throughout the past 30 years, SCRA has grown into a self-sustaining company with a mission to support technology and job creation, generating its own revenues and receiving no tax appropriations from the state.
Through our Technology Ventures sector and its flagship SC Launch program, early stage, start-up businesses grow through investment and support; technologies are commercialized and inventions make it to the marketplace more quickly.
The Applied R&D sector competitively wins and delivers R&D programs to federal and corporate clients, solving problems in a wide range of industries including: shipbuilding, aerospace, advanced materials, ordnance, manufacturing, defense and security. Working closely with the Department of Defense, similar government agencies and over 300 corporations from around the world, our programs deliver high returns on investment, saving money and improving efficiency.
Ideas become reality at our three Innovation Centers. Located in Charleston, Columbia and Anderson and managed by our R&D Facilities sector, these facilities provide incubator space to 14 companies, many of which are university spin-offs. Several later stage companies also reside in the Innovation Centers offering opportunities for mentorship and resource sharing.
SCRA has expended over $65 million in funding and infrastructure to support over 280 high-tech, early-stage enterprises, directly investing over $13 million in South Carolina start-ups, who have subsequently attracted over $200 million in private investment. We currently manage over 100 national and international programs, worth over $2 billion in contract value. Multiple economic impact studies show SCRA's cumulative output on South Carolina's economy to be over $15.3 billion, and that the company has helped create approximately 15,000 technology-related jobs in the state, with annual wages averaging between $55,000 and $77,000. We have South Carolina operations in Anderson, Columbia, Charleston and Clemson University ICAR and an office in Washington, DC.