South Dakota Mines has a long
history of innovators who turned their ideas into successful businesses. Some past successes include Daktronics,
RESPEC, RPM & Associates, C-Lock, and a long list of others. The latest
crop of newer companies that were spurred by innovation on campus or by enterprising
alumni include VRC Metal Systems, Nanopareil, Darceo, Property Meld, and many
more.
In 2021, the tech sector in the
Black Hills is entering a new chapter with the Ascent Innovation building. The
facility, run by Elevate Rapid City, is situated between the university and
downtown. It connects the business center of Rapid City with the Mines campus,
and it is the heart of the new tech-based economic boom now starting in the
Hills.
The grand opening of the Ascent
Innovation building is set for Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. It’s a huge milestone
in the effort to spur tech-based economic growth in the Black Hills. Like all
milestones, this one wasn’t achieved overnight; it includes decades of past
work involving many players who helped forge current successes. One of those
players is Butch Skillman (ME 73 / MS ME 74). He served as assistant professor
of mechanical engineering and director of the university’s Office of Tech
Transfer. In 2005, Skillman worked with Terry Rock (ME 70) and others to help
create the Engineers Make Great Entrepreneurs (EMGE) speaker series and scholarship
competition. EMGE continues to this day on campus and has inspired hundreds of
students over the past 16 years.
These past successes didn’t come
without challenges. Skillman found some frustration during his tenure in the
effort to build what President Rankin calls a “culture of innovation and entrepreneurship”
on campus. “About 10 percent of what makes a great entrepreneur actually is
taught in an engineering education,” says Skillman. “We worked with those on
campus like Dr. Dan Dolan in the CAMP program and others to get students to
grow as team players and leaders. We encouraged them to recognize and observe traits
in themselves and others that lead to success."
Today, the university has developed
the popular Shark Tank-style CEO Business Plan competition on campus. Top
student teams are eligible for thousands of dollars in awards and a chance to
attend the Governor’s Giant Vision Competition, which Mines students have won
six years in a row. “It’s amazing how fast our students learn once you show
them the basics of how to build a business model and how to pitch an idea. They
really shine and make us all proud,” says Joseph Wright, associate vice
president for economic development at Mines.
Great ideas abound, but a
collaborative support system on campus and in the community is needed to nourish
those ideas into actual businesses. Some found success despite the hurdles.
Mike Boucher (MS CS 91) developed Dakota Scientific Software in the mid-1990’s
at Mines. The company employed innovative algorithms that enabled
supercomputers to undertake complex problem solving and analysis. He sold the
business to Sun Microsystems, the first of
two of his start-ups acquired by Fortune 500 companies. Boucher gives credit to
then-President Richard Gowen for being a mentor and advocate. “It is easy to
say we would not be here without him,” he says.
Gowen and Boucher worked with
others to attract a grant from a local economic development authority to boost
entrepreneurship at Mines. “But for the most part there was not a focus on
entrepreneurship in Rapid City at the time,” says Boucher. “For example, it was
hard to find an accounting firm that knew how to take advantage of the research
and development tax credit, just to pick one concrete thing.” Boucher says an
infrastructure to support people at each stage of business development is
critical for creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem where innovation can
flourish.
This type of support system is
exactly what is being built in the Black Hills today. Boucher is a member of
Mines’ Entrepreneur- In-Residence (EIR) Program that provides experienced
mentors to university business startups. Mines is also working to support
faculty innovation and research alongside a range of programs to encourage
student innovation and entrepreneurship. “We’re fortunate that our faculty file
three times more invention disclosures than the national average,” says Wright.
He helped start a number of programs to boost tech transfer on campus including
the EIR program and an annual conference that connects angel investors with
university innovators. Mines is also working together with business and
government leaders on many fronts. The new Office of Industry Engagement, led
by Wright, is creating and maintaining partnerships with the local economic
development authority, Elevate Rapid City and the Ascent Innovation Campus,
along with Ellsworth Air Force Base, the Sanford Underground Research Facility,
and a myriad of high-tech businesses and organizations in the region and around
the world.
Ecosystems are fragile things; they
don’t evolve overnight and must be nurtured to thrive. They must be defended
from internal and external threats. The ecosystem supporting the technology-based
economic development in the Black Hills has some challenges to overcome and
gaps to fill, but success stories are unfolding every day and there are many
bright spots on the horizon.
“One of our biggest challenges now
is to continue to grow our network. We have so many talented Mines alumni who
can assist young entrepreneurs and start-up companies and we hope to see them
come forward,” says Wright. Like all endeavors, a system supporting positive
economic growth in the Black Hills will take ongoing cooperation and hard work.
Fortunately, Hardrockers have great capacity for both.