By Scott Miller
Staff Writer

College of Charleston President P. George Benson laid out some hefty challenges at the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce’s annual economic forecast luncheon March 20.

At times being critical of past leadership and previous decisions, Benson opened his speech by noting that he offers insight of the region “with a fresh set of eyes.” He’s a former business school dean from the University of Georgia and has been in Charleston about a year.

He challenged state and community leaders to increase support for an expansion at the Port of Charleston.

He challenged the state to be patient in efforts to create a knowledge-based economy.

He challenged Charleston universities to step up research activities.

And he challenged the Lowcountry communities to expand their views on regional economic development planning and consider accommodating the growth of southeastern cities like Atlanta and Charlotte for the betterment of the entire region.

He called it the Southern Cross, an economic region stretching from Birmingham, Ala., to Raleigh, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., to Macon, Ga. While communities might compete for jobs, everyone in the region can benefit from growth in this “mega region,” he said.

The Lowcountry should become an active participant in the development of the mega region, Benson said, and accommodate the growth occurring throughout the Southeast.

“Don’t plan in isolation. Work within the context of the Southern Cross,” Benson said. “Where will these people go to the beach? Where will these people buy second homes? Where will these people retire? The answer is right along the coast. We are the gateway to the Southern Cross, at least one of them.”

That magnifies the need to expand the port, which will serve as one of the main gateways to the Southern Cross, Benson said.

In the last decade, the Port of Savannah grew 20%, while the Port of Charleston lost 10% of its tonnage.

“Georgia had the vision,” Benson said. “While all this was happening, the Port of Charleston had to battle for a place to expand. The port is vitally important. We need to take care of it.

“Never forget what got us here: Our waterways, our port,” he said.

While the waterways were the historic economic engines, the universities can blaze an economic path to the future.

Part of that southeastern mega region Benson mentioned throughout his speech includes the Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area, a concentrated center of knowledge-based companies and universities that employ more than 40,000 people. The impact of the triangle took 50 years to realize, Benson said, suggesting South Carolina should be patient with its efforts to grow a research-driven, knowledge-based economy.

State leaders often mention the Research Triangle when discussing the Palmetto State’s Endowed Chairs program, an effort to create spin-off companies from research at Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina. Gov. Mark Sanford recently suggested cutting funding for the program, citing a lack of results. The Endowed Chairs program was formed in 2002.

Benson also said more research needs to spawn from universities beyond USC, Clemson and MUSC. Universities in Charleston, with the MUSC being the exception, do not have enough research activities, Benson said, challenging even his own institution.

Scott Miller is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at smiller@scbiznews.com.

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