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Along
the Corridor
Tech
Jobs Take Hit
Venture
capital investments in Florida plunged 69 percent in 2001
and contributed greatly to a slowdown in growth of high technology
jobs in the state the fifth fastest-growing high-tech state
in the nation, according to a survey from the American Electronics
Association (AEA).
Florida's
high tech industry added just 3,600 jobs in 2001, bringing
the total number of tech jobs to nearly 239,000. "Florida
has weathered this economic slowdown better than most other
states," said Maryann Fiala, the state's AEA executive
director. "We did add jobs and tech exports fell by only
one percent, compared with the national decline of 15 percent."
The report,
Cyberstates 2002, indicates that venture capital investment
in Florida plummeted to $727 million in 2001 from $2.3 billion
the previous year.
The bright
news is that Florida still ranks high in some high tech sectors,
such as in communications services and communications equipment
manufacturing, which collectively employ more than 104,900
people. Many of those companies are based along Central Florida's
high tech corridor that extends along Interstate 4 from the
Tampa Bay area east to the Space Coast, encompassing 21 counties
north and south of that line.
state's
economy, according to the AEA's survey. The study includes
nine chapters detailing trends in employment, wages, exports,
venture capital investments, research and development expenditures,
and computer and Internet home use.
Visit
www.aeanet.org
for more information.
Corridor
Capital
Central
Florida Innovation Corp. says it plans to help high tech companies
along the Interstate 4 corridor raise needed capital by hosting
the Early Stage Technology Capital Raising Conference, Innovation
Florida 2002 on Sept. 18.
Akerman
Senterfitt, Business Wire, and PricewaterhouseCoopers sponsor
the event. It will allow 16 to 20 high-growth technology companies
to present business plans to an audience of venture capitalists,
investment bankers and private investors.
For more
information contact CFIC at (407) 277-5411 or visit www.cfic.org/news.htm.
Kelley
to Head Enterprise
Darrell
Kelley, president of Orlando's Tech Incubator, MILCOM Technologies,
has been named president and chief executive of Enterprise
Florida Inc., the state's chief economic development organization.
Tech
Notes
Orlando-based Radixx Solutions International says it has won
a contract to install its reservation center and Internet
bookings software for Paradise Island Vacations, part of Sun
International and among The Bahamas Islands' successful tour
operators Š Applied Media Technologies Corp. (AMTC) of Clearwater
has won a contract to provide on-hold messaging systems throughout
the student living multifamily properties of JPI - the nation's
top developer of multifamily housing. The student properties
are spread among several states and include Jefferson Commons
in Tampa Š Liquidmetal Technologies, Tampa, made an initial
public offering of 5 million shares of its common stock at
$15 per share in May. The stock (LQMT) trades over-the-counter.
Liquidmetal makes products from amorphous alloys. It will
use the public funds to repay debt and build new facilities
Š Jere Drummond, the former vice chairman of telephone giant
BellSouth Corp., has been elected to AirTran Holdings, the
parent of Airtran Airways Š BarrierMed Inc., a Lake Mary maker
of surgical and medical examination gloves, has purchased
the assets of Johnson & Johnson Inc. spinoff Medical Packaging
Systems Inc. in Tampa for an undisclosed amount. The Tampa
firm will be renamed BarrierMed Packaging Co. and moved to
an undisclosed site in central Florida.
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Copyright
© Maddux Report L.C. 2002
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