It's been a busy year for the University of Central Florida's business incubators.
UCF's Business Incubation Program in the past 13 months lured at least six new-to-market companies through its soft-landing program, which is aimed at out-of-state and international firms. These firms bring Central Florida the possibility of new high-wage jobs and draw cutting-edge technology closer to potential local customers and partners.
"It was like the floodgates opened," said Carol Ann Dykes Logue, UCF’s Innovation Districts and Incubation Program director of programs and operations. "As things began to open up, they were chomping at the bit to pull the trigger."
Since last fall, the companies from outside of the region that have established a presence via the incubator include:
UCF’s business incubators focus on local, early-stage companies with high-growth potential. However, the incubators are willing to take larger, more established firms that seek to establish a foothold in Central Florida. There are a couple reasons the companies may want to open up shop here, Dykes Logue said.
For example, domestic businesses often are drawn to Orlando to expand or generate a customer base in the region, Dykes Logue said. Defense and training firms like FN America, Ravenswood and VRgluv wanted to locate some of their teams at UCF to be near Central Florida Research Park, Orlando’s $6 billion modeling, simulation and training hub.
That was a primary motivation for firearms maker FN America to open an office at the Research Park Incubator, Vice President of Military Operations Todd Smith said. “Military commands we need to deal with are in the Orlando area. There’s a plethora of businesses there we can work with.”
Likewise, other businesses want to be near UCF, especially if they’re licensing tech developed by university researchers, Dykes Logue added. On the other hand, international firms expand to the U.S. market through the incubator to take advantage of the program’s business services. This helps them learn the different rules and regulations of the U.S., Dykes Logue said.
The soft-landing program features client firms across all seven of UCF’s incubators, except the newest incubator in downtown Orlando. The soft-landing program is not heavily marketed; instead, businesses are referred to UCF by groups like the Orlando Economic Partnership, the National Center for Simulation and the U.S. Department of Defense.
To be eligible for the soft-landing program, companies need to be headquartered outside of Central Florida, and devote at least one full-time employee, who is authorized to work in the U.S., to manage Central Florida operations. The UCF Business Incubation Program also looks for firms with strong reasons for locating in the region, and not businesses simply in need of a small office, Dykes Logue said. "We’re not a coworking space."
The addition of high-tech companies to Orlando’s economy helps generate high-wage jobs in a tourism-dominated region historically known for low wages and still recovering from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the average annual local technology wage of $89,000 is much higher than metro Orlando’s overall average annual wage of $48,530, according to CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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