South Carolina Gov. David Beasley is worried. One of the three research universities in his state attracted a mere $80 million in grants last year. To improve the situation, he wants to direct more funding to areas within the University of South Carolina so that it can expand programs in science and technology, attract and teach more students and better compete for federal money.

Who cares what’s going on in South Carolina? Maine better. That $80 million that has Gov. Beasley concerned is more than triple what the University of Maine brought in 1997, its best year ever. And if more money — and high-tech businesses and jobs — are going south, that means there is less for this state. Maine is already at the bottom of the heap nationally when it comes to generating research money, yet it is in danger of sinking lower.

Like Maine, South Carolina has watched its traditional economic base dwindle, and, like Maine, South Carolina depends on money from Epscor, a National Science Foundation program to help states with poor track records of attracting grants. Unlike Maine, however, South Carolina funds its research, contributing 25 cents for every dollar generated in external grants to produce required matching money.

The connection between funding university research and development and creating a healthy business climate is direct and profound. A little more than a decade ago, South Carolina was where Maine is now — attracting $20 million or so in grants a year. It made a commitment to compete in the growing field of technology, and now the difference between the states’ two economies is dramatic: Business is booming down there and, except for Maine’s Boston suburbs, limping along here.

Gov. Beasley is not waiting for universities to beg for bucks; he is telling them how important they are to his state’s economy. In a recent newspaper column, the governor laid out his vision for making South Carolina competitive with its neighbors and with the rest of the nation. He described a plan for funding universities that reflects “a world revolutionized by technology and information.”

“Clemson University,” he wrote, “recently said it would increase engineering enrollment 30 percent over the next five years in response to a growing demand for those disciplines. The new brain trust of scientists, doctors, researchers and high-tech leaders will want to be part of communities that are full of life, vibrancy and intelligence.

“And they will become South Carolina’s wealth-builders of the future — investing in our colleges, injecting new life into our communities and helping to pay for the programs universities desire.

“As each generation builds upon the successes of the last, I envision a South Carolina competing for the brainpower of Silicon Valley just as successfully as it competes with the manufacturing forces of Ohio and Tennessee.”

Notice he doesn’t say “compete with Maine.” That’s because Maine is not even in the ballgame. While governors in other traditionally poor states are exhorting their universities to aim higher, Maine’s governor this legislative session kept saying, “Not so fast. Not so fast,” as he opposed budgeting funds for university research and development.

The results of this difference in outlook will be found in the paths of the two state economies. It will be found in enrollment levels at the universities and in the number of college-educated young adults who choose to stay in their home state or leave for more promising places. Ultimately, it will be found in whether this region of the state is reinvigorated or continues to fail.