A new study offers proof positive that university incubators can have a profound economic impact. The study, commissioned by the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, found that graduate companies of the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) Business Incubation Program generated nearly $200 million in total economic impact in 2009. The 10-year-old incubator system maintains seven facilities across a four-county area in central Florida. “Dollar-for-dollar, no other form of public investment has the same economic impact as incubation,” says William H. Owen, president and CEO of Orlando-based Real Estate Research Consultants, Inc., the research firm that conducted the study. Other findings indicate:
- The program helped create more than 1,600 jobs in the region.
- Every $1 invested by local governments participating in the UCF incubator program is returning at least $5.25 in local government revenue in the form of property and sales taxes.
- Since its inception, the program has helped 125 companies, including 70 current clients and more than 30 “graduates.”
- Twenty-seven graduate companies remain in business in central Florida, typically earning $1 million to $3 million in annual revenue.
According to surveys of graduate companies, at least 55 grants totaling more than $33 million in SBIR/STTR funding have been awarded to client and graduate companies of the UCF incubators. Another $50 million has come from other federal and state grants that support ongoing technology development.
Source: Orlando Business Journal