UCF Business Incubation Program Identifies More Than 1,600 Area Jobs it helped to create with Earnings of More than $70 Million

UCF Business Incubation Program Identifies More Than 1,600 Area Jobs it helped to create with Earnings of More than $70 Million

ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program, which currently supports nearly 70 startup companies at five Central Florida incubation sites in downtown Orlando, east Orlando, Winter Springs and the UCF campus, reports its efforts have helped to generate more than 1,600 new jobs in the Central Florida region with combined earnings of more than $70 million.

Dr. Tom O’Neal, founder and executive director of the UCF Business Incubation Program, said that’s just a start. “Currently, client companies of the UCF Business Incubation Program employ 340 professionals,” O’Neal said.

Thirty-one Central Florida companies that have graduated from the program currently employ 490 individuals, O’Neal added.

The net effect of that job growth creates almost the same number of “ripple” jobs to support these new businesses, O’Neal said.

Orlando-based Real Estate Research Consultants, Inc. conducted a study of the economic impact of the UCF Business Incubation Program job growth in the region, O’Neal said, and used an industry standard calculation known as RIMS II multipliers to determine the number of “ripple” jobs created.

The UCF Business Incubation Program’s area economic impact goes beyond job growth, O’Neal explained.

“The job growth we helped to create here will generate as much as $14 million in new ad valorem revenues over the next 20 years in Orange County alone,” O’Neal said. In Seminole County, new ad valorem revenues resulting from the UCF Business Incubation Program are estimated at almost $4 million.

In addition, Orange and Seminole County schools will collect more than $28 million from the new job growth, O’Neal said.

The UCF Business Incubation Program, which initially focused on emerging technology companies, has expanded to include startup businesses of almost every stripe except retail and lifestyle.

“Most startup companies can benefit from a successful incubation program, but not all,” O’Neal said. “We aren’t equipped to adequately serve consumer product retail or lifestyle companies because the dynamics of those businesses don’t fit well in an incubator environment,” he said.

The award-winning UCF Business Incubation Program, which opened its doors 10 years ago, now ranks as one of the most successful incubation programs in the U.S.

For more information, contact:

Tom O’Neal. Ph.D, UCF Associate Vice President for Research and Commercialization and Incubation Program Executive Director, 407-882-1120, oneal@mail.ucf.edu

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 Lvershelco@aol.com

About the UCF Incubation Program:

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Incubation Program has helped more than 100 emerging companies (including nearly 70 current clients) create over $500 million in annual revenue and more than 900 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With five facilities across the metro Orlando community, the Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between UCF, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu/.