Aiken County is one of only six regions in the Palmetto State identified as an Innovation Hub, and its proximity to Augusta played a role. The others are Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Rock Hill, and Florence.
The South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) selected the locations. The cities were announced in April. In the news release, Governor Henry McMaster said South Carolina has built a strong foundation for innovation.
“This is the next step in accelerating that momentum. By connecting entrepreneurs with the resources they need, we will expand opportunity and keep our state competitive. These innovation hubs will play a critical role in strengthening our economy, creating jobs, and ensuring South Carolina continues to lead the way in innovation.”
Part of the mission for the hubs is to develop mentorships, technical workshops, and pitch competitions to engage companies across their individual regions. Aiken is particularly well-suited to reach those goals with its growing technology businesses, relationship to the Augusta cyber district, and Fort Gordon.
“They realize the technology, the resources, the industry, and all the assets that are here,” Jim Tunison, president and CEO of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, told ABD. “They figured, to make a stronger innovation economy across the state, we need to bring these other communities into the fold, invest in these communities, and we become stronger as a whole state, as opposed to just in these separate little ecosystems.”
SCRA President and CEO Bill Kirkland spoke at a recent meeting of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, including the importance of partnerships that have formed, joining Aiken and Augusta.
“I think what he was really focusing on was the overall assets that our region has to offer,” explained Eric Parker, co-founder of Make Startups, who attended the meeting. “Not just Savannah River Site and the National Lab on the South Carolina side of the river, but also Army Cyber Command on the Georgia side of the river, and how, because of those things, we just have tremendous potential as an innovation hub,
The Aiken Chamber has taken steps to advance collaborative programs, including Venture Lab Aiken (VLA), a partnership with the Augusta-based Make Startups. It also announced the Innovation Corridor in 2025 as a partnership with Meta.
Tunison believes being selected as one of just six locations for the innovation hubs solidifies this region’s importance in economic and technological growth.
“I think it’s a strong validation that Aiken is really emerging as a serious player in South Carolina’s innovation economy, and it ties right into our innovation corridor concept,” he said. “The hub designation just strengthens it by giving it that statewide recognition, a stronger resource network, and it just helps us bring more partners, funding, programming, and visibility to our efforts here locally.”
Parker sees it as the next step in the CSRA’s expanding reputation as a place to develop innovative technology, new businesses, and meet workforce development needs.
“We began working with the Aiken Chamber and Western SC Economic Development over a year ago, first with the No Boundaries Pitch Competition, and that led to us starting Venture Lab Aiken in partnership with them,” he said. “Everything about the Innovation Hub has been really successful at helping us finally break down the river as a divide between our communities, and that’s also helped stimulate the growth of the Magnate Angel Group, which is investors on both sides of the river all trying to support our region.”
Learn more about the innovation hubs at: https://scra.org/
