From Friction to Flow: Mapping South Dakota’s Innovation Assets
South Dakota has the talent, research capacity, institutional assets, and many other resources needed to support growing companies. What it has often lacked is a clear way to connect them. That connection is central to the USD Discovery District’s mission: linking the university core strengths—research, talent, and institutional capacity—with private sector resources and companies. The new resource mapping tool, developed by Dr. Marc Niamba, is a direct expression of that purpose.
From D.C. to San Diego: Shifting from Recruiting to Attracting Innovators
In the span of three weeks, I traveled from Washington, D.C. to San Diego — from supporting South Korean companies in the nation’s capital to participating in the world’s largest biotech conference. Instead of flying over South Dakota between time zones, I came home to reflect on what these experiences mean for the work we are doing at the USD Discovery District.