So This Is the Way to Run an Incubator

When it comes to fostering technology companies along the Florida High Tech Corridor, clearly the University of Central Florida (UCF) Technology Incubator is meeting with success. It has already “graduated” three firms this year, which means these once fledgling companies have outgrown the need for support that an incubator offers.

Opened in January 2000, the incubator (www.incubator.ucf.edu) is operating with 34 companies and plans to expand into larger quarters in downtown Orlando. To add to that, it is partnering with the incubator at Seminole Community College. “We plan to offer our mentorship programs there,” says Tom O’Neal, director of the UCF incubator.

Underscoring the success of UCF’s incubator is its ranking in the top 10 of the nation’s incubators by the National Business Incubator Association. “That’s for the number of new jobs created and the increase in revenues enjoyed by our client companies,” O’Neal says. “We’re number one in the nation for intellectual capital, based on the number of patents.” He adds: “We focus on one thing … getting companies out of our incubator.”

It Takes a Digital Village, They Say
The success of Lakewood Ranch, a 28,000-acre community straddling the border of Sarasota and Manatee counties along Interstate 75, has been a catalyst for development in that area. They first began building homes there in 1995. One reason for its success, says spokeswoman Lisa Rubenstein, is the attention the community pays to its residents.

That’s why Lakewood Ranch, a company of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc. (SMR), launched an electronic counterpart on the Internet. It’s called Digital Village at Lakewood Ranch, a Web site available free to residents, enabling them to communicate with one another, find babysitters, receive Lakewood Ranch correspondence and use other features.

A new survey at Lakewood Ranch shows that 90 percent of residents have access to the Internet at home. “That’s when we thought the timing was perfect,” Rubenstein says. If someone doesn’t have a computer at home, they can use one at the community service building. SMR plans to add shopping features so that residents may visit the online sites of area businesses and even clip electronic coupons, Rubenstein says. The site, www.lakewoodranchresidents.com, is different from the company site, www.lakewoodranch.com.

Life Sciences Consortium Grows
Interest in the National Consortium for Life Sciences Entrepreneurship – initiated by the University of South Florida – continues to grow. The consortium (www.entrepreneurship.usf.edu), with seven new members since last November, is a partnership between the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and universities around the nation seeking to promote life science entrepreneurship.

“Our consortium has grown to 20 entities and has received a third year of support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman center,” says Michael Fountain, director of USF’s Center for Entrepreneurship and national director of the consortium. “We’re looking to add top name schools.”

The consortium’s Who’s Who list includes, San Diego State University, Wake Forest University, Michigan State University, Cornell University, University of California San Francisco and Case Western Reserve University.

TBTF Adds Directors
The Tampa Bay Technology Forum (www.tbtf.org) has added three local executives to its board of directors: Scott Clark, general manager of Microsoft’s Gulf States district; Thomas Hall, chairman of Tucker/Hall, a Tampa public relations firm; and Scott Miller, managing director of Lovett Miller, a Florida venture capital and private equity firm with investments in technology and other industries.

Tech FYI
Last year Verizon (www.verizon.com) invested more than $241 million to modernize its telecommunications and further extend its high-speed Internet service offerings in Florida. It plans to spend $7.5 billion this year on capital projects in its nationwide wireline business, including continued Florida investment … Tampa-based Sypris Electronics (www.grtk.com/electronics) has won a $6.2-million contract to design an encryption device for handheld computers used by the U.S. military for transmitting data in battle environments … Lockheed Martin’s flight training center in Orlando (www.lockheedmartin.com/lmis) has received full certification from the Federal Aviation Administration to train commercial pilots.

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