Plentiful sunshine and the area's unique, natural beauty have been perennial lures for visitors to Southwest Florida. These days, the three counties that formally make up this region — Lee, Collier and Charlotte — are combining forces with the neighboring counties of Glades and Sarasota under the Southwest Florida Economic Development Partnership umbrella to spread the word about their collective assets and attractive business climate. As a result, this dynamic corner of the Florida peninsula is drawing interest across a wide spectrum of market sectors.

Planned biomedical village

A biomedical village anchored by Jackson Laboratory is planned for Collier County. [Photo: The Jackson Laboratory]

A proposed research institute and biomedical village to be built near Naples in Collier County could become a global model of innovation in the rapidly expanding field of personalized medicine, which PricewaterhouseCoopers projects to become a $450-billion industry nationwide by 2015. The Jackson Laboratory, headquartered in Bar Harbor, Maine, is making plans to create The Jackson Laboratory-Florida as an epicenter of research, teaching, practice and commercialization of a highly personalized approach to medical care based on a detailed understanding of each patient's unique genetic makeup.

Charles Hewett, Ph.D., vice president and chief operating officer of Jackson Lab, believes that his organization stands at the door to a new era in healthcare, and calls the proposed Florida institute "a vast opportunity for Jackson Lab, our neighbors, our collaborators and, indeed, all of mankind."

The Jackson Laboratory-Florida is intended to be the catalyst for a 700-acre commercial, academic and research biomedical village that will serve as a live-learn-work-create community, incorporating pharmaceutical and medical supply companies; a teaching hospital and specialized clinics; a university extension campus; a charter high school; and support businesses.

Demographics for the Southwest Region can be found at Business Florida's interactive map of Florida.

Regional Assets Universities/Colleges • Edison State College • Florida Gulf Coast University • Hodges University Airports • Charlotte County Airport • Naples Municipal Airport • Southwest Florida International Airport

Three medical/educational entities — the University of South Florida and USF Health; Edison State College (which will build a charter high school focusing on a science, technology and engineering curriculum at the Collier site); and Florida Gulf Coast University — have signed on as collaborating partners. Several for-profit companies and a venture capital firm are also talking with Jackson Lab about coming on board.

Says Stephen Klasko, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the University of South Florida College of Medicine and CEO of USF Health, "Jackson Laboratory's longstanding expertise in mammalian genetics and its cutting-edge genomics research are known around the world. The possibilities for collaboration are limited only by our imagination."

A Biomedical Leadership Council has been formed to identify and recruit parallel non-profit and for-profit entities to cluster and grow together at the proposed Florida Biomedical Village. Made up of business and healthcare professionals, the council will initially focus on attracting new institutes and companies to collaborate with Jackson Laboratory. As technologies develop and discoveries emerge, the council will work to facilitate a seamless integration of research, academia and business by expanding its scope to include patent counsel, venture capital assistance, small business advice, academic outreach and other appropriate initiatives.

Council member Edmundo Muniz, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Bonita Springs-based Tigris Pharmaceuticals, sees the collaboration between Jackson Laboratory, USF and other Florida-based partners as "the realization of a dream."

"This important development solidifies the viability of Collier County's vision of creating a biomedical cluster," he says. "Yet, as enormously significant as this is, it's only the beginning."

Funding for the project is expected to come from a variety of sources, including $130 million from the state of Florida, a portion of which is contingent on receipt of Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A local match of $130 million, under review by the Collier County Commission, is expected to be approved in September 2010. Construction on the biomedical village will proceed as funds become available, with a goal of occupancy in late 2012.

Financing for future growth is easier for foreign-owned companies like DieselMist in Port Charlotte now that the Charlotte County Economic Development Office has been named an “EB-5 Regional Center.” [Photo: DieselMist]

TEAs make foreign investment attractive

The Charlotte County Economic Development Office received confirmation in mid-July 2010 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of its status as an "EB-5 Regional Center." The designation allows qualified non-U.S. citizens to more easily obtain green cards in exchange for a minimum investment of $500,000 in targeted employment areas (TEAs), such as the Enterprise Charlotte Airport Park, or $1 million elsewhere in Charlotte County.

To further qualify for the program in Charlotte County, the investments must pertain to certain "sought-after" activities/facilities, such as transportation and infrastructure, warehouse and cargo terminals, biotechnology and related high-technology manufacturing, solar panel manufacturing, water treatment plants, office buildings, hotels, film and television production, renewable energy technologies, healthcare, financial services or agriculture.

One company looking to take advantage of the new program is DieselMist Corporation, the subsidiary of a UK-based company that brought its North American headquarters to Charlotte County in 2009. DieselMist's dual-fuel system utilizes patented microprocessing technology, which makes possible the mixture of diesel fuel with cleaner, cheaper propane in retrofit diesel engines, thus reducing both fuel costs and harmful carbon emissions.

"The FIRST Initiative program made expansion of operations in Bonita Springs a logical choice." — James Gillis, president and COO of Source Interlink

"We have been very keen on Charlotte County's application for this program," says Diesel-Mist President and CEO Darryl Keys, noting that several overseas investors will find the designation intriguing. "It will assist us with financing our future growth in a community that has welcomed us." Keys predicts that the designation will open doors to other Charlotte County companies seeking expansion funding from outside the immediate area.

FIRST in line for Lee County incentive dollars

In July 2010, the Lee County Board of County Commissioners approved $1 million in funding from its FIRST Initiative program, a $25-million performance-based incentive program created to encourage business growth, for the local expansion of Source Interlink Companies Inc., an integrated media, publishing, merchandising and distribution company.

As a result, Source Interlink will create or transfer 350 positions from other locations to its Bonita Springs headquarters, where the firm's finance, human resources, IT, tax and senior executive functions are already located. The consolidation is expected to increase the number of full-time company employees in Lee County from 260 to 610 within two years and provide an estimated $334.6-million impact on the community over five years. The average employee wage will be 179% of the Lee County average.

"Our partnership with Lee County has been a principal factor in our decision to consolidate operations to the Bonita Springs world headquarters," says James Gillis, president and chief operating officer of Source Interlink. "We evaluated several consolidation alternatives, but the FIRST Initiative program made expansion of operations in Bonita Springs the logical choice."

Small businesses get a boost

According to a U.S. Census Bureau 2007 report (the most recent data available), nearly 60% of Lee County businesses with paid employees had four or fewer workers on staff. Now, thanks to a grass-roots effort under way in Fort Myers, many of these "microenterprises" may soon be getting the help they need to prosper and grow.

The new Southwest Florida MicroEnterprise Project is a partnership of five organizations formed to provide training and loans to local startup business owners of low to moderate incomes. The program is designed to serve entrepreneurs in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties who might not qualify for a Small Business Administration-backed loan or who need loan amounts that are too small to attract an SBA lender.

Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida coordinates the program. Training is provided by the Southwest Florida Enterprise Center, the city-owned business incubator. Local volunteers from SCORE serve as coaches and mentors to small business owners. Training funds are made available through Southwest Florida Community Foundation, while ACCION USA handles loan activity.

Applicants accepted into the program must undergo a 12-module business and management training course, which uses curriculum developed by the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, a specialist in supporting entrepreneurship. Graduates of the project ?may be eligible for financing of up to $30,000 and continue to receive mentoring as they build their businesses.