Florida Region Goes Virtual With High Tech Business Recruitment

HEATHROW, Fla., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Creativity, ingenuity and resourcefulness have lead the Florida High Tech Corridor to become one of the nation's top emerging high tech hubs. Those same attributes were put to work to provide a unique way for business relocation and expansion targets to "visit" the Corridor without ever leaving their desks.

The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) today launched www.VisitTheCorridor.com, an interactive, online tour designed to showcase the region's tech capabilities to a national audience, including high tech executives, entrepreneurs, corporate real estate executives, and site selection consultants.

Through informative videos and graphics, www.VisitTheCorridor.com allows visitors to explore the Corridor's key technology sectors and institutes of higher education, discover the region's quality of life, examine the business climate, and explore the diverse counties that make up the region. The Visit is hosted by a "virtual" tour guide, Orlando's WESH-TV Channel 2 Anchorwoman Wendy Chioji.

"Visitors to the tour will see exactly why the 23-county Florida High Tech Corridor is considered one of the best places for high tech businesses," said Randy Berridge, president of FHTCC. "We feel that if decision makers see everything the Corridor has to offer tech industry, we become strong candidates for their relocation or expansion projects."

Examples of the Corridor's growing prominence include the recent Florida expansions of SRI International, a Silicon Valley-based research and commercialization firm, and The Burnham Institute for Medical Research, a highly regarded nonprofit medical research institution. Both organizations chose to locate their expansions in the Corridor after reaching research partnerships with the Corridor universities, the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of Florida.

The region and state have also fared well in national rankings. Business 2.0 ranked Orlando No. 1 and Tampa No. 7 in offering America's best jobs in the hottest markets; AeA ranked Florida No. 1 in high tech job growth and No. 2 in the total number of high tech jobs added; The Metropolitan New Economy Index ranked Orlando and Tampa Nos. 1 and 7, respectively, in the number of rapidly growing "gazelle" companies; and Sperling's "Cities Ranked and Rated" listed Gainesville as the nation's No. 1 place to live for small business.

For more information, visit www.floridahightech.com.