Corridor In The News

High Tech Corridor matching grants create billion-dollar economic engine

By Margie Manning
September 30 , 2011

Florida’s Matching Grants Research Program was established to foster applied research between three universities and their high-tech industry partners in the 23-county Florida High Tech Corridor. It was responsible for $34.3 million in tax receipts, a study by Innovation Insight Inc. found.

“This program has created a ripple effect of job creation, company startups and attracted revenue that comprises a significant portion of our state’s economy,” said Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.

Students turn into employees

The FHTCC was established by the Legislature in 1996 to attract, retain and grow the high tech industry and develop the work force to support the industry in the 21 counties served by University of South Florida and University of Central Florida. University of Florida became a partner in 2005. More than 20 local and regional economic development organizations and 14 community colleges also are part the FHTCC.

            The Matching Grants Research Program is funded through USF, UCF and UF. Its grants typically require an external partner, usually a private-sector company, to contribute at least a two-to-one-match relative to the council’s investment, Innovation Insight’s study said.

            These matches have included a combination of cash and in-kind contributions with increased requirements for cash matches as the program matured. Grants are awarded and spent to support university faculty, students and research activities; no funds are issued to the external partners.

            “It gives a chance for small companies to develop new technologies in cooperation with the universities and the state,” said Aydin Sunol, chief scientist at TempTroll, a Tampa company that conducts research and development on self-heating technologies. TempTroll has received nine grants, ranging from $15,000 to $100,000 each, Sunol said.

            The program also creates jobs for students. TempTroll, with a total staff of about 20 people, has hired at least two former students who were working as graduate assistants on state-funded research projects.

            TempTroll, a division of Donovan Industries Inc., was founded in 2006 and worked with USF to create a self-heating washcloth to serve the hospitality and health care industries on which Donovan focuses, said Elizabeth Simons, project coordinator.

            The company has since expanded into food heaters, developing a non-hydrogen producing food heater that is safe and easy to dispose of. Target buyers are the military and emergency/disaster relief sectors.

 Potential for Synergy

            Funding is a key issue for most research and development firms, particularly in difficult economic times, said Nicole Kuzmin-Nichols, president and chief operating officer of Saneron CCEL Therapeutics Inc., a Tampa biotechnology research and development company focused on cellular therapy for neurological and cardiac disorders.

            “There’s always a need for additional funding to work on the current project and move it forward, or to work on new projects. When you have an economic downturn it just makes it that much harder to do,” Kuzmin-Nichols said.

            Saneron also has received nine grants from the Matching Grants Research Program, most recently a matching grant for a $2.6 million Phase II grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish dosing and safety guidelines for transplanting human umbilical cord blood cells into animal models of Alzheimer’s disease. It’s the second year the Florida High Tech Corridor is providing a matching grant for the project Kuzmin-Nichols said.

            USF wants to graduate students involved in the project,” she said. “Our newest employee was on the project when he was working on getting his PhD, and when he finished his PhD we offered him a position with Saneron.”

            Beyond the financial impact, there are other benefits to companies located in the Florida High Tech Corridor.           

           “The more you have companies that are working on similar things clustered together, the more potential you have for different synergies,” Kuzmin-Nichols said. “You can bounce ideas off other colleagues and come up with a new technology based on close proximity and sharing of ideas.”