The world is in hot pursuit of greener, safer, and more efficient ways to get from here to there. But in the midst of this amazing race, an unlikely competitor has emerged. Quietly, steadily—much like one of the hybrid vehicles being pioneered in the Upcountry—this Appalachian foothills community is winning the innovation race, in the automotive industry and beyond.
The Upcountry is fueled by automotive production and research—even the local minor-league baseball team is called the Greenville Drive—and some of the most recognizable names in transportation live here. German automaker BMW employs about 5,000 and produces the brand’s X3, X5, and X6 models in its 4 million-square-foot factory in Spartanburg County, near the Greer city limit. French tire-maker Michelin has its North American headquarters in Greenville, plus research and development facilities, a 3,300-acre test track, and several plants throughout the Upcountry.
More than 150 automotive-related companies have chosen Upcountry locations, and more are on the way. Among the new generation of automotive technology companies to arrive recently is CT&T. This Korean electric-vehicle manufacturer joined forces with Spartanburg’s 2AM Group to create an electric vehicle production facility in Spartanburg County, making it the company’s first North American assembly plant.
Another dynamic new addition: Proterra. This startup designs, develops, and assembles all-electric and battery-dominant hybrid commercial vehicles, including transit, school, and commercial buses. After a search that spanned 30 states, the Colorado-based company announced plans to relocate to Greenville last year. And in less than a decade, Proterra is expected to create more than 1,000 new jobs in the Upcountry.
In January, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stood inside Proterra’s temporary Greenville plant, where the company is building the world’s first fast-charge electric transit bus, and called the assembled workers “an American success story” and the Upcountry students who are working with the company “some of the smartest people in America.”
international Flair
BMW and CT&T are just two of hundreds of businesses from all across the globe that call the Upcountry home. With more than 240 international businesses represented throughout the area, the Upcountry has the highest international investment per capita of any region in the country.
Other international players include: Fujifilm (the company’s North American Manufacturing and Research and Development headquarters are in Greenwood); Greer-based Mitsubishi Polyester Film (lids for yogurt containers, electrical tape, laminate for maps); Bosch (home appliances, power tools, and automotive technology parts); Milliken and Company (the world’s largest textile research center is located in Spartanburg); Hubbell Lighting (one of the largest lighting-fixture manufacturers in North America, with 22 brands); and Greenville’s GE Energy facility (housing the world’s largest gas turbine manufacturing plant).
“The influence of international companies moving here is exciting and evident from the many ethnic restaurants, the diverse architecture, and new services cropping up every day to accommodate a growing population of newcomers,” says Hal Johnson, president and CEO of Upstate SC Alliance, an economic development organization representing the 10-county area. One service tailored to international newcomers is the Michelin French School, the only full-time educational institution in the Southeast with full accreditation for grade-school French students.
“Our businesspeople tell us that the quality of life in the Upstate is incredible. Often, when they comehere, they want to stay—and not just in the United States. They want to stay in the Upstate,” says Wendy Anthony, executive director of the International Center of the Upstate, a nonprofit designed to welcome and assist international newcomers. The center offers everything from language classes and relocation services to a book club, networking groups, and industry seminars.
Although the makeup of the international population changes every year, the sentiment is always the same, whether folks are coming from India or Mexico. “People love it,” Anthony says. “The weather is great. The affordability— both to bring business here and to live here—is so much better. It’s the perfect combination.”
In addition to the Upcountry's strong international presence and thriving automotive industry, other sectors are fueling the region’s economy. The 2,600-acre campus of South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC) serves more than 80 tenants, including Lockheed Martin, 3M, and IBM. Jointly owned by Greenville County and the city of Greenville, the center generates more than 3,300 jobs, $218 million in payroll, and nearly $929 million in economic output.
The Upcountry has also earned a reputation as one of the top five metropolitan areas in the world for engineering talent per capita, attracting leading engineering firms such as CH2M Hill, Fluor, and O’Neal. And that reputation shows no sign of fading. Each year, the region’s colleges and universities usher hundreds of skilled, new professionals into the work force. Clemson University offers two research facilities that foster the kind of public-private partnerships that are crucial to job creation and retention.
Some of the world’s brightest researchers work at Clemson’s Advanced Materials Center, a campus and technology park in Anderson. The center teaches students and corporations across the Upcountry to make the products that consumers use each day faster, smarter, and better. Think brighter computer screens and finer surgical fiber-optic instruments.
On the transportation front, the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) is a 250-acre complex where research and design gurus work hand in hand with academia and government to pioneer new auto technologies, from biofuel to building a car from recycled parts.
All that innovation seems to have triggered a trickle-down effect, and now all kinds of entrepreneurs are discovering the Upcountry. Brazil native Ricardo Pereira attended Bob Jones University and fell in love with the area, prompting him to found his coffee-importing business in Greenville. “Most importers are at a major port or port city,” Pereira explains. “I decided I didn’t want to do huge volumes; I just wanted to do quality… and I didn’t want to move away.”
Entrepreneurs can find a home at the NEXT Innovation Center, located in downtown Greenville. This cutting-edge, 60,000-squarefoot facility leases office space to tech start-ups and encourages idea sharing and collaboration among businesses. (Other perks? Two Wii rooms, a community cafe, and hallways lined with dry-erase boards to scribble down great ideas.)
Melinda Lehman, founder of Happen North America, a market research and innovation insight company, expanded her Toronto based firm to the Upcountry in 2010, just one year after she first visited Greenville. She came to town for the USA Pro Cycling Championships and walked away convinced that the Upstate was the place her employees and their clients—folks like Revlon, TD Bank, and InterContinental Hotels and Resorts—would want to be.
“Doing great work has a lot to do with where you work,” explains Lehman, a cycling enthusiast who flies into Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport about twice a month from Toronto to do business and to bike the trails at Paris Mountain State Park. “We work collaboratively around the world. The fact that Greenville is a nice place to go makes it really attractive for any of our team members to travel here,” she says. “When you combine the work part with the love of the actual place you’re in... that’s the perfect mix.”
adapted from an article in Spirit Magazine, May 2011
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