FLORIDA’S SECOND IN PRO-BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
– Florida has been ranked
second in the 2008 Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States study, a
study that examines 29 factors that measure the efforts of each state's
leadership in encouraging pro-business and pro-job environments. Pollina
Corporate, a real estate economics and location analysis firm, has been
conducting pro-business studies since 2004. Florida did not rank within
the top 10 states when the firm began these surveys in 2004. In 2005,
Florida ranked ninth, moved to seventh in 2006, and posted third in
2007.
MARKETPLACE MAPPING
– Interactive,
online community mapping information can be an excellent business tool.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides free
mapping at
http://egis.hud.gov/egis/.
Themes include census tracts, housing data, median income, hazardous
waste, water bodies and public facilities.
MANUFACTURING SITE WITH RAIL SIDING SOUGHT
– A Wyoming-based manufacturer
is seeking manufacturing sites with or without buildings that currently
have a rail siding for deliveries. If you have or know of a location,
please contact John Kizer, Volusia County Department of Economic
Development business specialist, at (386) 248-8048.
NEWS MEDIA TRAINING –
Intimidated when a reporter calls or when you
see a TV camera crew outside your door? The Florida Public Relations
Association is offering a one-day training session for dealing with the
news media. Professionals will offer sessions to enhance skills. The
training will be from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 2, at the
Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach. For registration, contact
Melissa Sheets at (386) 313-4040, or visit
www.fpravf.org.
SPACE ECONOMY: THE
NEXT FRONTIER –
Outer space is the future of business, according to a
report released April 8 by the Space Foundation. The report stated the
space economy exceeds $250 billion in projected value to the U.S.
economy. Commercial activities, such as satellite and GPS-related
services, brought in $173.4 billion in 2007 – more than 70 percent of
total global space revenues. In contrast,
NASA's budget is $17.3 billion for 2008.
The same study estimated the total impact of all KSC/NASA activities in
Florida at $4 billion, 97 percent of them occurring in Central Florida.
ANGELS INVEST $26 BILLION
– Angel investors backed 12
percent more entrepreneurial ventures in 2007 than in 2006. Angels
invested $26 billion in 57,120 business ventures last year. Software was
the leading category for investments, followed by health care
services/medical devices and equipment, biotechnology,
industrial/energy, retail and media. Angel investors receive a return on
their investments primarily through mergers and acquisitions.
EXPORT
OPPORTUNITIES – Few things in life are free…but this is one
of them! Promote your products at the Trade and Investment Convention in
Trinidad, free of charge, through a catalog show hosted by the U.S.
Embassy. Send 15 - 20 sets of your marketing collateral to the U.S.
Embassy and staff will display them and forward leads to you at the end
of the show. The convention is April 30 through May 3; materials must be
at the Embassy by Wednesday, April 23. Information on the convention is
at
http://www.tic-tt.com/. For registration, contact Wendy Soulette at
(868) 822-5933, or e-mail Soulette at
soulettew@state.gov.
INNOVATIVE NEW PRODUCT IDEA?
–
More than $2 billion in Small Business Innovation Research Grants will
be awarded to innovative small and startup technology companies this
year. The DaVinci Program, a partnership between Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University (ERAU) and the Volusia County Department of
Economic Development (DOED), can assist in developing grant proposals
for Volusia County companies. ERAU provides technical assistance in
writing the proposal, and the cost of the assistance is supported by a
matching grant from the DOED. To find out more about this unique
program, contact Paul Mitchell, business specialist, at (386) 248-8048.
Learn more at
www.sbirflorida.org.
NEWS ITEMS WANTED! – Please send your business news items to Dave
Byron, Volusia County Community Information Director, 123 W. Indiana
Ave., DeLand, 32720-4612, by fax at (386) 822-5072 or by e-mail at
dbyron@co.volusia.fl.us.
