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ORLANDO,
Fla. (June 23, 2009) --- The
University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program recently
took over management of the Leesburg Business Incubation facility
at 600 Market St. in Leesburg.
Dr.
Tom O'Neal, founder and executive director of the UCF Business
Incubation Program, said Gordon Hogan, site manager for the UCF
Business Incubation Program in downtown Orlando and the Photonics
center at Research Park, has been named interim site manager in
Leesburg.
The
Leesburg Business Incubation facility currently has three member
companies, O'Neal said, and UCF Incubator administrators expect
to accommodate at least 10 new companies when it's full.
This
activity will prove to be a boost for the Leesburg-area economy.
A
recent nationwide study conducted for the U.S. Department of Commerce
Economic Development Administration (EDA) ranks business incubators
as the most cost-effective infrastructure investments governments
can make, O'Neal said.
The
EDA study reports that business incubation programs create more
than 20 times more jobs than public works projects, at a per-job
cost of less than one percent of typical public works projects.
"Florida
currently ranks 47th in the U.S. in its development
of business incubation programs, and that is a major shortcoming," he
said. "We are the fourth most populous state, and of the more than
1,000 business incubators in the U.S., only 21 of them are located
here in Florida," he said.
The
UCF Business Incubation Program plans to open new facilities in
St. Cloud and Winter Park later this year. The program currently
operates two facilities at the Research Park in east Orlando, one
in downtown Orlando, one on E. SR 50, and one on SR 434 in Winter
Springs.
For
more information about this release contact:
Tom
O'Neal, Executive Director, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407
882-1120, oneal@mail.ucf.edu;
Larry
Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142
or LvershelCo@aol.com
About
the UCF Incubation Program
Since
its founding in 1999, the UCF Business 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 Greater Orlando community, the Incubation
Program is a collaboration in economic development between the
University of Central Florida, the City of Orlando, Orange County,
Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, and the Florida
High Tech Corridor Council. For
more information, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu. |
