Charleston’s technology future is extremely bright

Where technology meets shrimp, grits, the beach

Charleston’s technology future is extremely bright, but local tech gurus say the region must continue to invest in people and infrastructure to secure the future it has been building toward.

“Charleston’s tech ecosystem is likely to continue its growth, attracting more startups and established tech companies,” said Ted Tanner Jr., a longtime Holy City tech proponent who currently is chief technology officer for BigBear.ai.

Charleston entrepreneur Trey Rust, who soon is expected to launch an app for social media integration, said tech is hot now in Charleston thanks to 20 years of diverse companies planting seeds for the future.

“There are so many talented people in town right now in the right places in their careers, and companies that brought Charleston to the world-class level that so many people here have been working to achieve in tech since the late 1990s,” he said.

Look from Blackbaud and Boeing to Automated Trading Desk (ATD) and Boomtown. There are technology niches in which the Lowcountry excels — from aviation, financial services and logistics to the development of technologies that benefit the military and defense sectors, such as cybersecurity, communications and advanced electronics.