Growing Innovation

Information Technology

State-of-the-art network switches at multiple hubs keep Florida fully connected to the world.

Florida is the 4th largest and 2nd fastest growing cyberstate by tech industry employment, according to the AeA Cyberstates 2007 report. In 2005, Florida’s high-tech industry added 10,900 jobs for an industry total of 276,400 tech workers.

The strength of Florida’s IT industry is an outgrowth, in part, of the collaborative spirit that exists among universities and research institutes, businesses and industry organizations throughout the state. This collaboration is exemplified by such organizations as the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, whose mission is to attract, retain and grow high-tech industry and the workforce to support it within a 23-county region served by the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of Florida, and iCoast, a consortium of high-tech companies and organizations working to foster Internet and technology growth in south Florida.

Software and computer systems design and integration

• Florida’s 9,000 firms — 814 new companies in the last year alone — develop general purpose and specialized applications for financial services, gaming, law enforcement, defense, commercial aviation and more.
• More than half of the 105,000 professionals who work in the field are employed by software development firms.
• 10,600+ software, computer programming and computer support professionals joined the workforce in 2005.

Photonics and optics

• Central Florida is among the top four photonics/optics regions in the nation.
• The cluster’s nearly 150 companies employ about 10,000 professionals.
• These companies specialize in products and technologies for military, medical, communications and transportation applications, including lasers, fiber optics, refractive assemblages, thin film coatings, optical components and optics integrators.

Modeling, simulation and training (MST)

• The state is home to one of the world’s largest MST clusters with more than 300 companies and 16,000 professionals.
• Florida is the industry leadership epicenter with the National Center of Excellence for Simulation and Training and the National Center for Simulation in Orlando.

Telecommunications

• Florida is 3rd in the nation in telecommunications services employment (64,800 jobs in 2005).
• The cluster includes 5,200 firms in such fields as wireless telephony and communications equipment, mesh networks, switchgear and fiber optic cable.
• Florida hosts AMPATH and LAGrid connections to Latin America and other regions, and Florida LambdaRail, connecting to the national high-speed research network.

Digital Media

• Florida’s 4,500 digital media companies employ nearly 15,000 industry professionals.
• Innovative technologies and products for use in interactive video, amusement devices, education and demonstration tools and video gaming are developed here.
• Key players include Disney’s i.d.e.a.s, Kosmo Studio and EA Tiburon, the Electronic Arts’ fastest-growing studio and maker of such popular interactive games as “Madden NFL Football,” “NCAA Football” and “NASCAR: Total Team Control.”

Computers, microelectronics and precision device manufacturing

• Nearly 600 companies and 34,000 workers concentrated around Florida’s major metropolitan areas make up this industry sub-sector.
• Their specific expertise is in technology-intensive devices for the computer, communications, power generation, medical device and aerospace/defense fields.
• Since 2002, nearly 1,500 utility patents for the production of semiconductor devices and electrical connector applications have been issued to Floridians.

Tags: North Central, Business Florida