YEAR IN REVIEW
Workforce Development
The Council focuses efforts on workforce
development that span the breadth of the
talent pipeline, from techPATH’s focus on
STEM education in middle and high school to
other workforce programs that focus on postsecondary education and beyond. techPATH
continued this year to bring educators and
students into technology industry environments,
giving students up-close and personal insights
into the careers they might find across the
Corridor and providing teachers new ways
to share exciting subjects that will lead their
students down the right path.
A new Corridor program called stemCONNECT
helps engage students by bringing expert
speakers into the classrooms virtually through
Web conferencing. This year, stemCONNECT
partnered with experts at Florida Hospital
Nicholson Center to demonstrate for more than
350 students at Timber Creek High School in
Orlando how robotic surgeries are performed.
Additional workforce development programs
supported by the Corridor during 2013/2014
include: supporting the establishment of
the Sumter County Partnership for Workforce
Innovation and Education at Lake-Sumter
State College; funding the initial phase of a
research study to determine the skills gaps that
exist in Central Florida’s high tech industries;
supporting the STEM Alliance of Central Florida,
a campaign spanning 10 Central Florida K-12
school districts to strengthen achievement in
STEM fields (science, technology, engineering
and math); and, sponsoring the region’s FIRST
robotics competitions.
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2013-2014 Annual Report
Entrepreneurial Support
The Council recognizes the importance of supporting the region’s entrepreneurs
and growth companies, which is why it has invested in two important programs
over the last several years: the Corridor’s Florida Virtual Entrepreneur Center
(FLVEC) and GrowFL, the Florida Economic Gardening Institute at UCF.
FLVEC (www.flvec.com) is a one-stop shop for entrepreneurial and business
growth resources available regionally, statewide and nationally. Over the past
year, monthly traffic to FLVEC has climbed to an all-time high of more than
36,000 visitors that were recorded in March 2014. Out-of-state visitors totaled
more than 5,000 in March and a little more than 14 percent of the total traffic
during that time.
FLVEC has become not only a resource for those seeking to start, grow or
relocate a business, but also for our statewide economic development
organization partners that refer entrepreneurs and business owners to the site
through entrepreneurial classes, prep courses and more, expanding its reach
and accelerating growth. In order to share success from our partners and
further developments, FLVEC has started a periodic eNewsletter, the VEC Brief,
distributed to more than 1,700 readers.
GrowFL continues to grow second-stage companies in Florida through its
Economic Gardening® approach. It provides resources, mentoring, support
and more to help business owners overcome obstacles to growth and achieve
further success. Since inception in 2009, GrowFL has assisted more than 700
companies that have created nearly 13,500 direct jobs across the state and
contributed more than $2 billion to the Florida economy.
During 2013/2014, The Corridor also continued its ongoing support of the
region’s university-based incubators, which have seen enormous growth and
client success, as well as international recognition. After being named the 2013
Incubator of the Year and Incubator Network of the Year respectively by the
National Business Incubation Association Conference, both the University of
Florida (UF) and the University of Central Florida (UCF) had reason to celebrate
again in 2014 when their client companies were recognized. OptiGrate of
UCF’s Business Incubation Program was named the Outstanding Incubator
Technology Graduate and AxoGen of UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator
was named the Outstanding Incubator Technology Client. The University of
South Florida’s Tampa Bay Technology Incubator (TBTI) was also honored to
receive four new private wet labs and a renovated common space with new
state-of-the-art equipment. The Corridor was a proud partner of the initiative
which added 2,400-square-feet to the incubator and better equips companies
in scientific research with more than $1 million of shared equipment. In late
2013, TBTI established the USF Research Foundation’s Seed Capital Accelerator
Program, which provides its startups with access to The Corridor’s Matching
Grants Research Program. In its first year, the Seed Accelerator Program
together with The Corridor awarded four companies a total of $175,000 that
they matched with nearly $250,000 of in-kind support to be used toward
applied research through the MGRP.