Orange County’s programs for innovation & entrepreneurship An Outside Review

Starting Place Metro Orlando Economic Development Strategy August 2000 “Dedicate as many economic development resources to entrepreneurship as to business recruitment and retention.” Angelos Angelou Angelou Economic Advisors Austin, Texas

The Result UCF Institute for Economic Competitiveness Disney Entrepreneur Center UCF Technology Incubator UCF Orange County Venture Lab UCF Small Business Development Center UCF SBDC Advisory Board Council Orange County-supported UCF economic Development programs

Living Cities.org

David Hochman Independent technology-based economic development consultant Consultant to Living Cities, Inc. Serves clients through Battelle Memorial Institute’s Technology Partnership practice Founding Executive Director, Business Incubator Association of the state of New York Former Deputy Director, New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology Advisor to Princeton, Columbia, NYU, CUNY

Orange County’s programs for innovation & entrepreneurship: An outside review A summary overview presented to the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 By David Hochman Consultant engaged by Living Cities (all opinions are my own and not those of Living Cities)

Outline Introduction to the project For each of the 6 county programs visited: Principal findings Issues of long-term concern Recommendations General, cross-cutting recommendations Strategic issues Government/community/business issues Branding/awareness issues Funding issues Summary/questions

The project TA project funded by Living Cities Goal: to help you make smart, well informed policy Scope: 2 days on the ground My background: national consultant Not an audit – an outside fresh look

UCF Institute for Economic Competitiveness Taking control of the data was critical Hosting this at UCF was a smart move Next step is capacity for sectoral analysis Progress stalled by lack of endowments Recommendations Work together on raising philanthropic donations to complete these endowments IEC should collaborate with policy analysts and economic geographers

The Disney Entrepreneur Center A facility and a program A big win for inclusion and accessibility Hugely cost-effective publicity But recent progress comes at a budgetary cost Recommendations Continue to focus on 2 nd -stage growth companies, especially owned by women or minorities Think about integration (and cost-sharing) with an even more comprehensive downtown facility Strive for a one-stop experience to extent possible

UCF Technology Incubator Incubators are all about staffing and services Support from the county made a big difference Excellence has been recognized nationally Other regional governments have sought to leverage UCF’s new expertise Recommendations: Deciding a course of action at Lake Nona is critical The county will need state help The university will need to say ‘no’ to distractions

UCF Venture Lab Not a facility – an interim management service A leading edge program that significantly raises prospects of local economic development Remaining issues: Limited access to capital, uncertain pool of early- stage CEOs, especially in the life sciences Recommendations: Devise an explicit strategy for biomedical startups Explore expansion to entire High Tech Corridor

SBDC Orange County programs The SBDC is part of an existing network Support from the county enables delivery of targeted, sophisticated services This is straightforward, sensible, and seems to be working well Recommendations: The SBDC might play an even stronger role in technology program outreach and intake

SBDC Advisory Board Council Takes volunteer mentoring to next level by creation of tailored advisory boards Unusual and now well recognized, the program seems to be working well Most advisors are professional-service providers – entrepreneurs are also needed Recommendations: More sharing of mentor databases variously employed by the UCF Incubator, Venture Lab and SBDC Advisory Board Council

Strategic issues A decade has passed since the Angelou report It is time to revisit the targeted clusters and industries Other tasks that can be done at the same time: Benchmarking the photonics/laser-optics cluster Defining a strategy for digital media versus regions with stronger bases of entertainment publishers Assessing rigorously what are the cleantech research strengths at UCF Reviewing the set of 6 community benchmarks used by Angelou

Government/community/business issues The challenge of political transition If there is inadequate preparation, the new administration may not feel committed If the succeeding team feels too constrained by precedent, one could see the same effect! Focus on broad-brush priorities that unite outgoing and incoming personalities: Developing systemic support from the state Cooperating with the Space Coast counties Modeling other cluster groups on BioOrlando

Branding/awareness issues In the optics and simulation clusters, Orlando and Orange County are well known, but what about outside those sectors? More focus may be needed on telling the story of the last decades, including the ‘genealogy’ Additional issues: Branding ‘medical city’ in Lake Nona At the same time, not overselling it Significantly raising the profile of ‘entrepreneurship network’ programs at UCF Using the term ‘economic gardening’ as part of a broad-based strategy

Funding issues If county funding disappeared… Most at risk are the IEC, Disney EC, and SBDC add-ons More likely to survive are the Incubator and Venture Lab, though they would be less effective and responsive To assure continuity, and to explore new initiatives, possibly create a ‘Central Florida Future Fund’ But there is relatively little philanthropic wealth in the region, and almost none of it interested in innovation The wealthy need encouragement to endow private foundations, funds in community foundations, etc. Availability of targeted philanthropic capital would leverage external funds and help launch new areas

Summary Coordination and communication among the six county-supported programs is good Addressing new opportunities in biomedicine and cleantech remains a challenge The community needs to sustain political and financial support over the longer run A number of assumptions need to be revisited and tested in coming months: Intergovernmental, regional and cluster issues Branding strategies, and Getting private wealth reinvested in the strategy