Celebrating Two Unique Decades
of Achievement
A ballroom packed with Florida business,
Applauding The Corridor’s role in workforce development,
government and education leaders observed
Jennings – who also served as the first chair of Workforce Florida
a milestone in economic development
(now CareerSource) – said, “it bears repeating: those who win at
history July 15 when the Florida Economic
Development Council (FEDC) paid tribute to
the 20th anniversary of the Florida High Tech
Corridor Council.
The celebration was the capstone of the
FEDC’s annual conference at Walt Disney
World and featured a panel discussion with
all three Council co-chairs – the presidents of
workforce development win at the economic development race.”
Some would call it an unlikely team – universities that compete for everything
from top faculty and students to sports trophies – but their leaders told the
story of why and how it works, and offered insight into what the future might
hold.
Asked about the role of higher education in economic
the University of Central Florida, the University
development, UCF President Dr. John Hitt said, “There’s a lot we
of South Florida and the University of Florida
need to do increase our outreach to young entrepreneurs in
took the stage along with former Lt. Gov. Toni
particular.” He cited as an example the statewide GrowFL program
Jennings who guided legislation that gave
which is headquartered at UCF and has long been championed by
birth to The Corridor. (A video of the discussion
is available here.)
The Corridor. “It takes second-stage companies and gives them the
boost they need to really make the big step up.”
Jennings recalled that while she and now
U.S. Rep. Dan Webster were “the right people
at the right time to help move this along” as
Senate President and House Speaker, it was
the university leaders “who were the people
with the right idea. They had the vision that we
could move forward.”
“Like anything it was an idea that needed
to grow. It needed collaboration. This
was a wonderful way to show what true
collaboration and partnership can mean.
Who knew that 20 years later it would
have the kind of economic impact that
it has had for our communities and the
state of Florida?”
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