EngenuitySC and USC will create an incubator for fuel cell companies in the Innovista as part of the area’s effort to transform into a knowledge-based economy.

EngenuitySC, a strategic leadership group, will use a $400,000 federal grant to create the area’s first wet-lab incubator space for fuel cells. Wet-lab space consists of a highly specialized hood and ventilation system required for fuel cell and other types of research.

Larry Wilson, a member of Engenuity’s executive committee, made the announcement Thursday at the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Intra-Regional Visit.Wilson also revealed that Engenuity is talking with a large national corporation about putting a hydrogen refueling station in the Innovista and talking with an automobile manufacturer about supplying fuel cell cars.

Hydrogen for the station could be generated at the city’s hydro-electric plant on the Congaree River. The station and cars would be part of a demonstration project on the viability of fuel cells. Wilson would not reveal the name of either company, but said discussions have been ongoing for four to five months and he hoped to make an announcement soon.

How the cars would be disbursed or used is still being discussed, he said.

The project could be part of creating a fuel cell district in the Innovista, an area where hydrogen fuel cells would be used and promoted in place of other power sources.

“We are building the world’s first, planned end-to-end fuel cell district in the heart of Columbia,” Wilson said.

Mayor Bob Coble said it might be possible to make the entire central business district part of the fuel cell district, with special incentives attached to their use.

Wilson and Coble are leading proponents of efforts to create a fuel cell industry in South Carolina, with Columbia as its center.

USC is already home to the only National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells. That — coupled with the work done at the Savannah River National Laboratory in hydrogen production and storage — put Columbia and the state in a position to capitalize on what will become a trillion-dollar industry over the long term, Wilson said.

“Incubator space within the Innovista will enable us to attract the best and brightest in the fuel cell world to build their businesses in Columbia,” he said.

The approximately 2,000-square-foot incubator will be housed on the first floor of the USC Future Fuels Building at the new Horizon Center, said Tony Boccanfuso, USC director of economic development. The Horizon Center is the block bounded by Blossom, Main, Wheat and Assembly streets.

The Future Fuels building is under construction and targeted for completion by the start of 2008, Boccanfuso said. USC will put money from the University Infrastructure Bond Act into the incubator that will bring the total investment to about $680,000, he said.

The incubator will be a place for the startup companies that USC wants to get out of its labs, Boccanfuso said. The incubator is expected to be supported by the USC Columbia Technology Incubator as well as the S.C. Research Authority Launch program, said Neil McLean, executive director of EngenuitySC.

“We don’t have that kind of space for companies in our region right now and we have had companies look elsewhere because that is what they need,” McLean said.