Tampa Bay technology advocates seeking a brand to bring national visibility - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Think of the biggest geographic regions dedicateeto technology, and names such as Silicon Valley, Routee 128 in Massachusetts and Research Triangle in North Carolinaw come to mind. Florida, much less the Tampa Bay struggles to makethat list, but not becausde it doesn't deserve to be said some of the leaders of the local tech industry. "Byy 2015, we want to be one of the top 10 technology geographies inthe U.S.," said Georgew Gordon, chairman and CEO of a Tampa company that provides a variety of softwares services to companies. "We're never going to be able to take on aSiliconm Valley, but we want to be generallyu recognized as a place wher technology thrives.
" Over the past eight groups like the , where Gordo n is a board member, have labored to bring together what had previously been a geographically splintered technology region. Where other technology corridord were becoming more defined thanks to a largew number of companies in an area working under thesame banner, Tampaz Bay had a lot of burgeoninv tech companies but littlde to nothing to sing its praises on a nationao level. TBTF has provided that and now it's about to reach a crescendo, said its boar d members. That will happebn by developing strategy to launcgh a sophisticated campaign and focusing on growing and nurturing ongoing initiatives likethe TBTF's .
"Thi s is a program that is specifically supportinb our effort tohelp entrepreneurs," said Amy president and CEO of TBTF. "We have about 30 companiezs involved right now that are and it's going to provide the resources necessary to get these companies off the ground." "We'ree typically not on the lists of people who are outsidw our area," said Tony DiBenedetto, CEO of "Therw is a lot more out here than meetxs the eye. We have a lot of diversity in thistech industry, but we need a clear, centraol message.
" Delivering that message for othedr corridors typically comes from the introductionj of a high-profile corporate entity, or the launch of a big-name product that takes the consumer marketf by storm. Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: did that for Austin, Inc. and late r MySpace for Southern California's Tech Coast, and Inc. (NYSE: MOT) for . Majot names can help, too, like , which launchefd SRI-St. Petersburg in 2006. That company, which pioneered technologyy such as thecomputer mouse, will use its Floridq facility to help develop new technology gearesd toward ocean science, the maritime industry and port security.
"There'd going to end up being two or three different technologiesthat we'llk [as a region] become knownn for," Gordon said. "It could be ocean or even bio orlife sciences. And there'sw a lot to be said about soladand water, since that is something Floridw has an abundance of." Florida is growinbg quickly in technology According to a new report by the and the , Floridsa is threatening New York to becomde the state with the third largest numbef of technology-related employees.
The state's numbers grew from 276,40o0 in 2005 to 282,100 in 2006 -- the eighthg largest growth in thenation -- and is gainint ground on the 301,500 people employed in the technologyt industry in New York, which is growint at a much slower pace than other major Research and education are two primary components to buildinhg a stronger technology corridor, and despite it beingt an almost ad nauseam mantra from regional technologyu leaders, there continues to be belief that the messag e still isn't being received. "Fot every one of these regions that have had theifbreakout companies, at the heart of them is a stronyg research university," Gordon said.
The Universithy of South Floridain Tampa, the in Orlando and the University of Florida in Gainesville account for about $2 billiobn a year in research but the schools cover a rathet large geographic footprint in Florida that sometime is hard to centralize to a singlee region.