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Strategy: A national and
international center for technology
Batelle Institute was retained in 1984 to
help set the Action Steps for this strategy. After three months, they said
it was impossible because Jacksonville stunk, was a blue-collar town and did
not have an engineering school. A three-person committee developed four
Action Steps to implement over ten years as a transition for technology.
Action
Steps (developed in 1984)
1. Create a
technology Council for marketing. This was in place for 8 to 10 years.
2.
Build a Research and Development Park. The First Coast R & D Park is east
of the University of North Florida at Kernan and Butler Boulevards.
http://www.coj.net/Departments/Jacksonville+Economic+Development+Commission/Research+and+Development+Authority/default.htm
3. Develop a UNF Engineering School. This was accomplished
and a $20 million UNF Science and Engineering Building is under construction
in 2002.
4.
While implementing the above steps, concentrating for ten-years on
Information Technology. On February 25, 2002, the Florida Time-Union
reported that there were companies with 38,000 jobs in Jacksonville MSA Call
Centers. This does not include the CSX Information Technology Center,
other companies with large information technology departments and software
companies.
In
addition, Enterprise North Florida was created in 1995 as an incubator and
accelerator for technology companies
http://www.enfc.org/
In 2000,
the New Economy Index ranked Jacksonville 48th in the
Metropolitan New Economy Index for Metro Areas.
http://neweconomyindex.org/metro/jacksonville.html |
