UF President Kent Fuchs said The Corridor aspires to be seen as a tech leader:
“We’re number three in population as a state (having just surpassed 200 million
residents) and we deserve to be number three in the tech sector. When other
states think of us, I want them to think that Florida and our universities need to
be the model for the nation.”
These three Florida High Tech Corridor universities have been on the cutting
edge of a new era in higher education-economic development partnerships.
For instance:
• They have invested more than $65 million dollars in a Matching Grants
Research Program that has produced a downstream impact of more than
$1 billion over those 20 years helping companies tackle applied research
problems in partnership with student and faculty researchers.
• They have become central to what Corridor President Randy Berridge calls
“Florida is on a path to greatness
in innovation,” said the Research
Consortium’s Sullivan. “Twenty years
ago the concept of three universities
partnering to better a regional economy
was a fairy tale. Today they are being
copied both in Florida – where other
universities are partnering to capitalize
on shared academic and research
strengths – and across the nation where
educational leaders are recognizing the
essential role of modern universities is
not just in preparing the workforce, but
in working alongside business through
the innovation process that results in
opportunity and prosperity.”
“early workforce development” by taking a leading role in STEM education
projects that have reached hundreds of teachers and thousands of students,
over the years bringing experts into the classroom physically, and now virtually
via stemCONNECT, a Web-enabled, two-way experience exploring why STEM
studies matter.
• They are the driving force behind the Florida Advanced Manufacturing
Center and the International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing
Research, an Osceola County facility under construction to open in 2017 and
predicted to position the region for ive to seven thousand direct jobs and up
to 20,000 indirect jobs in the burgeoning sensor ield by 2025.
florida.HIGH.TECH 2016
45