As Florida embraces “economic gardening,” a concept first advanced in Colorado and becoming an accepted principle of economic development, much of the initial activity will take place across the Florida High Tech Corridor ... working to see that second-stage companies have the resources necessary to build the state’s economy. • The Florida High Tech Corridor is fertile ground, according to economic gar- dening expert Steve Quello. “Gardening is about serving growth-oriented companies of all sectors. Technology companies tend to create more high-wage, high-value jobs which means focusing on the High Tech Corridor is a good place to start.”
Companies in the Corridor are already creating new technologies, and Florida can capitalize on technologies ready to be transferred from its established research universities, Quello observes. “Visionaries in the Florida Legislature have said it is time to be there to support growth companies at the second stage of development,” Quello says, “and the potential for return on investment in the High Tech Corridor is very high.”
Quello was an early advocate of the concept in Florida, urging leaders to consider investing in second-stage development. He has served as an advisor to the Edward Lowe Foundation of Michigan, advancing their mission of supporting entrepreneur- ship and second-stage businesses, and worked closely with Chris Gibbons ... consid- ered “the co-founder” of the economic gardening movement. Gibbons, of Littleton, Colo., helped create and refine practices now in place throughout the country in communities ranging from California to New Mexico, Indiana and Georgia.
“Florida has been wise to protect the focus on the stage-specific needs of growth companies. This aspect of the Florida economic gardening pilot is unique when com- pared to other related initiatives that we’ve observed across the nation,” says Mark Lange, executive director of the Edward Lowe Foundation.
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