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ORLANDO,
Fla. (June 19, 2009) --- The
University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program,
which currently supports nearly 70 startup companies at five
Central Florida incubation sites in downtown Orlando, east
Orlando, Winter Springs and the UCF campus, reports its efforts
have helped to generate more than 1,600 new jobs in the Central
Florida region with combined earnings of more than $70 million.
Dr.
Tom O'Neal, founder and executive director of the UCF Business
Incubation Program, said that's just a start. "Currently,
client companies of the UCF Business Incubation Program employ
340 professionals," O'Neal said.
Thirty-One
Central Florida companies that have graduated from the program
currently employ 490 individuals, O'Neal added.
The
net effect of that job growth creates almost the same number of
'ripple' jobs to support these new businesses, O'Neal said.
Orlando-based
Real Estate Research Consultants, Inc. conducted a study of the
economic impact of the UCF Business Incubation Program job growth
in the region, O'Neal said, and used an industry standard calculation
known as RIMS II multipliers to determine the number of "ripple" jobs
created.
The
UCF Business Incubation Program's area economic impact goes beyond
job growth, O'Neal explained.
"The
job growth we helped to create here will generate as much as $14
million in new ad valorem revenues over the next 20 years in Orange
County alone," O'Neal said. In Seminole County, new ad valorem
revenues resulting from the UCF Business Incubation Program are
estimated at almost $4 million.
In
addition, Orange and Seminole County schools will collect more
than $28 million from the new job growth, O'Neal said.
The
UCF Business Incubation Program, which initially focused on emerging
technology companies, has expanded to include startup businesses
of almost every stripe except retail and lifestyle.
"Most
startup companies can benefit from a successful incubation program,
but not all," O'Neal said. "We aren't equipped to adequately serve
consumer product retail or lifestyle companies because the dynamics
of those businesses don't fit well in an incubator environment," he
said.
The
award-winning UCF Business Incubation Program, which opened its
doors 10 years ago, now ranks as one of the most successful incubation
programs in the U.S.
For
more information, contact:
Tom
O'Neal. Ph.D, UCF Associate Vice President for Research and Commercialization
and Incubation Program Executive Director, 407-882-1120, oneal@mail.ucf.edu
Larry
Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 Lvershelco@aol.com
About
the UCF Incubation Program:
Since
its founding in 1999, the UCF Incubation Program has helped more than
100 emerging companies (including nearly 70 current clients) create
over $500 million in annual revenue and more than 900 new jobs with
an average salary of $59,000. With five facilities across the metro
Orlando community, the Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic
development between UCF, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole
County, the City of Winter Springs, and the Florida High Tech Corridor
Council. For more information,
please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu |
