The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (The Corridor) is a regional economic development initiative of the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

(UCF), the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

(USF) and the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

(UF) whose mission is to grow high tech industry and

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

through partnerships that support

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

workforce In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...

and

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

Overview

The Corridor is recognized as a prominent model for regional,

high-tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...

-oriented economic development. The Corridor's programs serve Florida's Alachua, Brevard,

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

De Soto De Soto commonly refers to * Hernando de Soto (c. 1500 – 1542), Spanish explorer * DeSoto (automobile), an American automobile brand from 1928 to 1961 De Soto, DeSoto, Desoto, or de Soto may also refer to: Places in the United States of Ameri ...

, Flagler, Hardee, Hernando,

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Africa * Highlands, Johannesburg, South Africa * Highlands, Harare, Zimbab ...

, Hillsborough,

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

Levy Levy, Lévy or Levies may refer to: People * Levy (surname), people with the surname Levy or Lévy * Levy Adcock (born 1988), American football player * Levy Barent Cohen (1747–1808), Dutch-born British financier and community worker * Levy ...

Manatee Manatees (, family (biology), family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivory, herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing t ...

Marion Marion or MARION may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Marion (band), a British alternative rock group * ''Marion'' (miniseries), a 1974 miniseries * ''Marion'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film * ''Marion'' (2024 film), a UK short People a ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Vsse Yvholv in Muscogee language, Creek, also spelled Asi-yahola), named Billy Powell at birth, was an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfa ...

, Pasco,

Pinellas Pinellas is the name of a peninsula located roughly halfway down the west coast of Florida. It forms the western boundary of Tampa Bay and comprises the bulk of Pinellas County. There is a city named Pinellas Park in south Pinellas. The peninsul ...

Polk DNA polymerase kappa is a DNA polymerase that in humans is encoded by the ''POLK'' gene. It is involved in translesion synthesis DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell (biology), cell identifies and corrects damage to the ...

, Putnam,

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

Sumter Sumter may refer to: People Given name * Sumter S. Arnim (1904–1990), American dentist * Sumter de Leon Lowry Jr. (1893–1985), United States Army general Surname * Rowendy Sumter (born 1988), Curaçaoan footballer * Shavonda E. Sumt ...

, and Volusia counties. The Corridor's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

initiatives include it
Matching Grants Research Program
(a university-industry research investment award fund)
stemCONNECT
(a classroom resource to connect students with experts in industry and academia around the state) an
Cenfluence
(an industry cluster initiative established with support from Orange County Government). The Corridor publishes a monthly

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of ...

("Connecting With The Corridor") an annual report and periodic research reports.

Structure

The Corridor is structured as a Florida non profit organization, and is co-chaired by the Presidents of the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, and the University of Florida. The activities of The Corridor are administered by the research administration and technology transfer offices of the three universities, and a volunteer "core team" of economic development professionals and community leaders from the region's 23 counties. The Corridor maintains a business office in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

, Florida.

History

The Corridor was initially founded in 1996 by act of the Florida Legislature to support the 21-county service areas of the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the University of South Florida (USF). Its initial objective was to foster research and education partnerships to retain the Cirent Semiconductor (a partnership between Lucent and Cirrus Logic) wafer fabrication facility in Orlando, Florida. Cirent Semiconductor was facing reinvestment levels of nearly $2 billion to refit to the next generation of silicon technology; with such a large reinvestment the company had a very real potential to relocate to another region. Semiconductor fabrication facilities were considered to be highly attractive contributors to regional and national economies, and Cirent Semiconductor was entertaining relocation incentive packages from other communities and countries many times larger than could be offered by State of Florida. Florida's offer of a combination of training and performance-based economic incentives, and the formal establishment of an academic and research partnership in the form of The Corridor was successful in convincing Cirent Semiconductor to not only reinvest in the region but to later establish a separate Bell Labs research facility in Orlando. In 1997 the State of Florida expanded The Corridor mission to encourage development of all technology industries across the central "belt" of Florida. In 2005, the University of Florida joined as a full partner and co-chair, and the number of counties served by The Corridor increased to 23.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* http://floridahightech.com/ Organizations based in Florida 1996 establishments in Florida