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ORLANDO, Fla., May 3, 2007 – The City of Orlando and the University of Central Florida, who operates the successful UCF Technology Incubator, plan to launch a prototype business incubator this month at Colonial Landing (formerly Herndon Plaza).
Tom O’Neal, chief executive officer of the UCF Technology Incubator, said the purpose of the May soft opening of the Orlando Business Development Center is to introduce the concept to the community and spread the word to entrepreneurs who are interested and could benefit from the services provided by the new incubator organized by UCF in partnership with the City of Orlando.
“It is a prototype facility designed to serve the residents of Orlando’s District 2,” said O’Neal. “If we are successful, the City and UCF may open additional business development centers, possibly in each city district.”
O’Neal said the mixed-use incubator will focus on entrepreneurial support. “We want to help people start new, successful companies,” O’Neal said. “We want to focus on more than just technology based companies and hope to have a diverse collection of companies in the new facility.”
“The UCF Technology Incubator, which opened in 1999, has helped create more than 800 area technology jobs that pay about twice the local average pay,” O’Neal said.
Twenty-one technology companies have graduated from the UCF Technology Incubator, which provides a wide range of services from office space and logistical help to business planning, marketing, plans and presentations, investment financing and monitoring from successful entrepreneurs.
Some of those graduating companies –– Cognoscenti Health Institute is a good example –– have turned into major success stories. Last September, Cognoscenti was acquired by Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
The firm, which employs more than 75 technology workers, will maintain its Orlando headquarters.
Many such small successes have added up, O’Neal said, but he hopes Orlando’s growing technology scene will soon produce its own corporate icon –– a technology startup that will see $100 million in annual sales and hundreds of high tech, high paid workers. It will happen eventually, O’Neal said. He’d like it to happen soon.
Until then, O’Neal is happy with the results the UCF Technology Incubator is producing. “We’re still young, but we’re starting to get really good results, and I think when we’ve created tens of thousands of jobs, that’s when we’ll have really reached maturity when it comes to the incubator,” he said.
For more information, contact:
Tom O’Neal, chief executive officer, UCF Technology Incubator, 407-882-0202
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142
About the UCF Technology Incubator
Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Technology Incubator has helped more than 90 emerging technology companies create over $200 million in annual revenue and more than 800 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. The UCF Technology Incubator was named 2004 Incubator of the Year by the National Business Incubation Association. Headquartered in Research Park near the University, the Incubator is a collaboration in economic development between UCF, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission. For more information, please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu. |
