Simulate This

Officials at Daytona Beach Community College (DBCC) are tooting their horn, literally, to recruit students to their new, one-of- a-kind simulation technology A.S. degree program. They’re using a cool NASCAR simulator donated by Daytona International Speedway as part of their marketing efforts. And it seems to be working. The program rolled out in January and already is preparing 46 students for a career in simulator installation and service. Steve Burley, assistant to the president at DBCC (http://go.dbcc.edu/), helped develop the program, which has received a matching $150,000 grant from the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. “Our surveys showed that simulator companies along the corridor desperately need maintenance people,” he says. The only other college offering similar training is the University of North Dakota, but it specializes in flight simulation only. “Our program provides a broad spectrum background in everything,” says Burley.

Better than Botox?
Dr. Randall Harrell, plastic surgeon, believes he’s found a good after-use for healthy human placentas. Founder of the Fountain of Youth Institute (www.fountainofyouth.com) in Palm Harbor, Harrell also serves as chairman of Albiorex Inc., based in Wellesley, MA, with R&D facilities in Palm Harbor. The firm is researching the use of full-term human placentas instead of cattle placentas for wrinkle removal and lip augmentation. If approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), mothers would donate their full-term placentas for use in regenerative medicine as well as in facial aesthetics. Meantime, Harrell looks to launch international sales outside the FDA’s sphere. “(The product’s) basically for all kinds of use – ophthalmology, wound healing and orthopedics.”

Web Presence
St. Petersburg’s DataGlyphics Inc. (www.datag.com) made its presence felt at the 2003 WebAwards, sponsored by the Web Marketing Association. In September it chalked up five awards, including Outstanding Web site for Nokia’s Latin America site (http://latinoamerica.ext.nokia.com). Four other client sites received Standard of Excellence awards. Competition was not for the faint of heart. Best of Show was won by The Walt Disney Co. More than 1,000 Web sites from 19 countries were entered.

Money Pitches
Tampa’s Robin Kovaleski has taken over as executive director of the Florida Venture Forum Inc. Her hands are full with the upcoming Florida Venture Capital Conference (www.flvencap.org), slated for Jan. 22-24 at the Peabody hotel in Orlando. Formerly president of financial communications firm The HPC Group in Tampa, Kovaleski says her aim is to make the Florida Venture Forum more prominent and “truly the go-to place for venture capital and emerging-growth company entrepreneurs.”

Capital Chats
Meantime, medical technology ruled at the Innovation Florida 2003 Showcase in September. Central Florida Innovation Corp. (www.cific.org) hosted the early-stage capital conference. Five Tampa Bay companies presenting were: Clinication (www.clinication.com), Palm Harbor; Cerebit (www.cerebit.com), St. Petersburg; Franwell Software (www.agware.com), Plant City; Secure Biometric, Tampa; and Where-Tech (www.where-tech.com), Sarasota. A CFIC spokesman says all presenters predicted their revenues would top $25 million.

On another venture capital front, Tampa’s Litestream Technologies has received a $10-mil-lion equity offering from American Capital of Jupiter. Litestream (www.lslink.com) is a telecommunications services joint venture of TECO Partners, a subsidiary of the Tampa utility. Hyde Park Capital Partners, Tampa, served as Litestream’s exclusive agent. Also noteworthy is $3-$4 million of private equity financing that Tampa-based Gold Standard Multimedia (www.gsm.com) has received from Housatonic Partners, a private equity investment firm in Boston and San Francisco.

TECH FYI
Tampa’s 9Second Technologies (www.9seconds.net) will provide Web marketing and search engine support for Aquatic Attractors, a Texas manufacturer of underwater lighting for docks and waterways … ITFlorida (www.itflorida.com) will hold the High Tech Summit in Miami on Feb. 26-27 … Oct. 1 marked the 45th anniversary of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center (www.ksc.nasa.gov) … Tampa’s Bayshore Solutions (www.bayshoresolutions.com) will provide email distribution for the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau … Orlando-based MEDai (www.medai.com) was selected by Blue Cross/Blue Shield as a national partner for predictive modeling services.

Send tips, information and news releases related to technology to Melissa Wells at MADDUX BUSINESS REPORT, P.O. Box 202, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Or by email: mwells@maddux.com