The Technology Grail

It's an economic-development mantra: Diversify the economy. Attract high-skill, high-wage jobs. And throughout the nation, most regions have come up with the same answer: jobs in technology-biotechnology, medical technology, information and communications technology.

"All the economic development people are trying to do the same thing," Milken Institute senior economist Perry Wong says with a laugh from Los Angeles.

But if, as he says, 99.9 percent of the rest of the country is competing for those types of jobs, what are Southwest Florida's chances of succeeding?

It depends partly on the region's goals. If it is aiming to become a major center for biotechnology, like San Diego, or for life sciences and pharmaceuticals, like Research Triangle Park, N.C., then it's going to be an uphill battle, says Wong: "The chance is not great, but I'm not going to say it's not going to happen."

But technology covers an enormous swath, offering a number of niches for a region like Southwest Florida to establish itself. And its location makes it appealing for foreign-trade opportunities, officials say.

"If we plan properly, we may be able to develop as a hub for a particular type of industry or two particular types of industry," says Tammie Nemecek, director of the Economic Development Council of Collier County. The thriving health-care industry might make the region a natural for medical-device research. Or, she adds, "It may be the hub for corporate headquarters, because this is such a desirable place for CEOs to live." Corporate headquarters bring technology jobs in terms of customer-service centers, finance and other requirements for information technology expertise.

That's pretty much how Allen Systems Group started. After retiring to Naples, Art Allen got bored and founded the software-development company better known as ASG.

Allen started the company in 1986 with two employees and $2,000, says Tom Romnios, vice president of human resources. It now boasts 915 employees worldwide, including more than 200 in its Naples headquarters, and revenues of about $170 million.

Technology-related jobs come in different packages, points out Marc Farron, president of Strategic Technology Solutions in Fort Myers. Large companies and organizations, including governments, tend to have greater and more specialized technical needs that require full-time jobs. Those skills are also in demand at companies that produce technology products, and at consulting companies such as Farron's.

A number of technology job categories already are thriving in the region. But it will take clusters of varied businesses and jobs to effectively diversify the economy.

Tourism, growth-related and agricultural industries will remain critical to the area's economy, but they are cyclical and pay less than the national and state averages. What's more, the effects of the 9/11 attacks proved that they are not necessarily stable. "The point of attracting knowledge-based jobs to your community is that you have industry not so dependent on local economy," says Nemecek.

Randall Alberte, director of biotechnology at Florida Gulf Coast University, says it's important that the community think beyond high-tech and biotech to centers for developing all sorts of knowledge-based jobs across different industries."Maybe a center for bringing insurance companies or developing facilities for education-testing services," he says."There are all kinds of sectors that haven't been explored."

Potential, But.

In addition to identifying niches, establishing a region as a technology hub requires some essential ingredients. Among them are state cooperation and incentives, public and private initiatives, physical and technological infrastructure, and a strong university to not only generate a competent workforce but also enhance companies' research efforts.

State incentives helped entice Scripps Research Institute to choose Palm Beach County as the location for a new facility-a development that has heightened expectations throughout Florida, including the Southwest region.

Scripps' expansion from La Jolla, Calif., has piqued new interest in Florida. Lee County's economic development office already has received preliminary inquiries, says director Regina Smith. "I don't think we'd have gotten [them] had it not been for the level of exposure from Scripps."

Smith has been helping to promote Florida as a good home for technology-related businesses. In addition, Collier, Lee and Char-lotte counties have joined forces to market the region to businesses looking to move or expand, and to capture spin-off companies from the new Scripps arm.

But there is a long row to hoe before the region really starts to reap rewards. For one thing, FGCU and the nascent Ave Maria University hold promise, but neither is mature yet.

"Many of these companies are grown out of research that's affiliated with a university, so the stronger we can build our university research program and compete, the more of these companies we can come through with," says Janet Watermeier, president of the Florida Gulf Coast Group. "When Scripps was looking for where they wanted to locate, one of the major issues was where is a major research university, or where are the links to Ph.D. programs in biotechnology, so, as their people working at the institute need to grow, it could grow as well. When they looked at our region, they saw a lot of potential here, but they also saw that our programs were not quite as developed as some of the other areas in the state."

Case Study

In the early 1990s, the Richmond, Aa., area, a tobacco center, was losing jobs and trying to reinvent its economy, says Gene Winter. He is senior vice president of the Greater Richmond Partnership, a public/private economic-development organization representing the region, which includes the city of Richmond and three suburban counties, with a total population of 1.1 million.

"Between 1994 and the present, two things happened that helped give us a new lease on life," he says. First, Virginia Commonwealth University, the city and the state combined forces to create Virginia Biotechnology Research Park in downtown Richmond. The 37-acre park is next to VCU's medical center, which encourages interaction among faculty, medical staff, researchers and entrepreneurs. About 1,200 people work in the park of roughly 1.2 million square feet. Its eight buildings include incubator facilities, where start-up businesses can share resources, as well as private and state businesses, such as Virginia's forensic labs. Although the focus was originally on biotechnology, Winter says, it has broadened to encompass other life sciences, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

The second boost for the region came a few years later, from a company that produces semiconductor chips. "We were also fortunate to be introduced to and capitalize on some microelectronic semiconductor activity. We now are the home to an Infineon Technologies' semiconductor facility," Winter says. "To date, they've spent about $1.6 billion and employ 1,800 people full-time, and there are probably 50 support suppliers that followed in the wake of that facility. That opened the door to the microelectronics area, which crosses over with some of the biotechnology."

Although the university was pivotal to attracting and growing those kinds of businesses, it was average at the beginning. Then known as the Medical College of Virginia, it had a health-sciences program, but no engineering school. "In '96 or '97, VCU's new engineering school was created, and now it fills a couple of buildings and is getting ready to expand again by 1,000 students," Winter says.

"I can't overstate what VCU has done as it's grown in the last decade and diversified and added new expertise," he adds. "The university has created a workforce, and the state itself made some legislative changes to allow and encourage entrepreneurship so it would be easier for a faculty member who discovers a new procedure or product to commercialize that."

Building Blocks

Here in Southwest Florida, FGCU has a new biotechnology program that has produced its first graduates this year, says Alberte. Its engineering school is still in the planning and capital-raising stages. Students continue to earn degrees in math, chemistry, physics, or similar disciplines, which provide a foundation for graduate work elsewhere in engineering. Once FGCU's engineering school gets the go-ahead, which Alberte believes is imminent, it will offer undergraduate degrees.

In an unusual move, the university also has linked those studies with its business school, so the engineering and biotechnology curricula include business courses such as scientific entrepreneurialism. "One of our other goals here, similar to the biotechnology program, is to incorporate in the training and curriculum an entrepreneurial spirit, to try to translate education and basic research into products," Alberte says. FGCU and business leaders also are still trying to get the technology park adjacent to the university out of the ground. Permitting issues in some parts of the park have hindered construction, and several would-be tenants are waiting to get in, says Alberte.

Southwest Florida has other assets that are already in place. High costs of living and doing business are encouraging employees and companies from places like California to look elsewhere for affordable land and housing, and for good business climates-things that this region offers, says Lee County's Smith. The tax structure here is advantageous, the cost of doing business is relatively low, and business regulations are not so onerous, she says.

An international airport, an interstate and other highways, and technology infrastructure are in place. Thanks to the many industry leaders who retire here, there's also an abundance of experience and knowledge to draw on. "For somebody who maybe has a mid-cap, emerging company to be able to sit down at a table with a retired CEO of a Fortune 500 company is a huge advantage," says Nemecek.