The conference will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes lunch. Registration is $75 per person, and seating is limited. Advance registration is required and can be completed online at www.learnmoore.com or by calling 7-4447.

This year's keynote speaker will be William C. Harris, director general of Science Foundation Ireland in Dublin and a former National Science Foundation leader. His address is titled "Ireland and the Secrets of the Celtic Tiger: A South Carolina–Sized Nation, a Global Performance." Harris was USC's vice president for research from 2000 to 2002 and was founding president and executive director of Columbia University's Biosphere 2 Center near Tucson, Ariz.

The Economic Outlook Conference has become the state's premiere economic event for business leaders and is co-sponsored by The Palmetto Institute.

Before Harris' address, USC research economist Donald Schunk and Doug Woodward, director of the Division of Research for the Moore School, will give the economic forecast for the United States and South Carolina.

Events after lunch include a panel discussion on taxes and economic competitiveness moderated by Moore School Dean Joel Smith III and a status report on the S.C. Council on Competitiveness from George W. Fletcher, the council's executive director.

For more information and registration, call Nancy Beym at 800-393-2362.

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