GSA Daily Staff Report
Published May 14, 2010

Another InnoVenture conference has come and gone. The two-day conference held in Greenville tackled the areas of smart communities, transformed mobility, advanced materials and clean energy. According to this week’s GSA Daily survey, 61.1% of people say the conference is good for Greenville.

The majority of respondents (50%) to the GSA Daily Watercooler Question of the Week said InnoVenture Southeast is the “perfect fit.” Another 11.1% said the conference is underrated.

There were, however, 39.9% of the 18 people who took the survey who said the conference is overrated.

Of those who took the survey, 42.1% had never attended an InnoVenture conference. Another 36.8% were not attending this year’s InnoVenture, but had attended the conference before. Only three people said they were attending both days, while one person attended Wednesday only.

More than 500 people registered for this year’s conference. There were 60 “champions” that gave eight-minute presentations on their needs to succeed. Another seven “senior leaders” also presented: Ed Sellers, CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of SC; David Stafford, chief operating officer of Michelin Americas Research Co.; Chris Desoiza, vice president of the Milliken Research Corp.; Harris Pastides, president of the University of South Carolina; Don Herriott, director of Innovista Partnerships at the University of South Carolina; John Kelly, vice president of agriculture, public service and economic development at Clemson University; and Bill Mahoney, CEO of SCRA.

Here is a sample of the comments from GSA Daily’s survey:

“It was a relationship-beginning conference! I had conversations with people from Milliken, USC, Clemson, Blue Cross Blue Shield that I would never have been able to "connect" with as an independent entrepreneur looking for new business partners.”

“What a wonderful opportunity to have such a collection of great minds! I would suggest next year, schedule time for the exhibits while there are no presentations.”

“Fantastic economic development opportunity for our region and state to foster a knowledge-based culture.”

GSA Daily Watercooler Question of the Week is published each Tuesday. Results appear on Friday.