Ground Breaking - IBM Center for Applied Innovation at USC

Join the USC Office of Economic Engagement Thursday, February 26 at 9:45 a.m. as it celebrates the ground breaking of the university's newest venture discussed at our January Breakfast Meeting.

(Courtesy of Columbia Regional Business Report)

The University of South Carolina’s agreement last month with IBM and Fluor Corp. to establish a research facility at the corner of Blossom and Assembly Streets is easily the deal of the year for Columbia.

The addition to USC’s Innovista research campus in the heart of Columbia likely will bring hundreds of highly skilled information technology professional into the city. It also will change the city’s skyline, adding an 110,000-130,000 square foot, five-story academic office building to house the researchers who will populate the new Center for Applied Innovation.

USC and IBM estimated the center will create 100 new jobs. But if the computer giant’s history is any indication, that number could grow to hundreds as the center matures.