Florida: News

The Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute's Cancer Center has been rated "outstanding" by the National Cancer Institute and earned a five-year core grant renewal which provides more than $21 million to support advanced cancer research. (Read more)

Progressive, the fourth largest auto insurance group in the country, has announced plans to fill approximately 240 new positions in sales, service, and claims in Tampa by January 31, 2011. (Read more)

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) and JEA join forces to launch PSEG Jacksonville Solar, northern Florida's largest solar facility. PSEG Jacksonville Solar is a 15-megawatt facility consisting of 200,000 ground mounted solar panels situated on 100 acres. (Read more)

Four Florida schools were leaders in non-S&E research and development spending in FY 2009. University of South Florida (4th), University of Florida (7th), Florida State University (9th), and the University of Central Florida (11th) all earned top rankings. (Read more)

Boca Raton's Watermark Medical Inc., a medical products and services company that has developed a web-based sleep diagnostics product, secures a $6 million equity investment. (Read more)

Sanborn Studios LLC announces the creation of a new film and television production facility in Sarasota County. The company has committed to adding 177 jobs and making an initial capital investment of $30 million over the next 18 months. (Read more)

A Palm Beach Gardens publisher and a new Boca Raton healthcare innovation company are strengthening their corporate presence in Palm Beach County by adding jobs and expanding their headquarters locations. (Read more)

The University of South Florida ranks among the nation's Top 25 Graduate Schools for Entrepreneurs, according to The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. The schools were selected because they have high numbers of experienced faculty, students launching businesses after graduation, and experiences outside of the class room. (Read more)

Florida is home to 15 of the 2010 InformationWeek 500 companies. These rankings recognize business technology teams that have made a demonstrable impact on the way their organizations do business. (Read more)

U.S. Department of Energy selects UCF as one of five projects to build and strengthen "innovation ecosystems" that will accelerate the movement of cutting-edge energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies from university laboratories into the market. (Read more)

The University of South Florida ranks among the nation's Top 25 Graduate Schools for Entrepreneurs, according to The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. The schools were selected because they have high numbers of experienced faculty, students launching businesses after graduation, and experiences outside of the class room. (Read more)

Orlando-based Engineering & Computer Simulations has launched TraumaCon, a mobile medic application, available through U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM). The application was developed as a platform-independent web application and targets mobile platforms such as the iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone, and Android smart phones. (Read more)

Humana Cares, Humana Inc.'s care management division headquartered in St. Petersburg, is now hiring 270 people in preparation for the January 2011 launch of its new program, Humana Cares Chronic Condition Management. (Read more)

Two Florida firms, Tampa's Ultrasonic Technologies and Seminole's FieldMetrics, Inc, were among 33 in the nation to score Dept. of Energy funds to support clean energy technology commercialization projects. (Read more)

Osceola Regional Medical Center has signed an agreement with Sarah Cannon Research Institute, a national clinical research program, to become a cardiovascular clinical research strategic site. (Read more)

Abamis IT Solutions, a small military subcontractor which is part of the University of Central Florida's high-tech business incubator, just landed its first prime contract: a $2 million deal to help develop digital technology for the high-tech-training industry. (Read more)

The Innovation Monthly is your source for the latest news and insights on Florida's Innovation Economy.       

September 2010 Highlights:

• Florida Launches a $36M Clean Energy Investment Fund
• 261 of the Nation's Fastest-Growing Private Companies are in FL 
• Tyndall AFB Lands New F-22 Squadron & 600 Jobs
• Free Market Brief:  Cleantech

Read Full Newsletter

A research center at Daytona Beach International Airport offered the first demonstration of a $50 million project that's being called the future of air-traffic-control technology. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach is running one of the nation's only three locations to test "NextGen," the Federal Aviation Administration program to upgrade air-traffic control from radar to satellite-based technology. (Read more)

PNC Bank has picked Jacksonville for a new mortgage office that will employ around 200 people by early 2011, with the possibility of additional hiring in the future. (Read more)

Gainesville (5th), Miami (13th), Naples (16th), and Orlando (18th) are among America's top college destinations in new report rating the best places to attend college released by the American Institute for Economic Research. The organization's 2010-2011 College Destinations Index ranks cities based on 12 criteria in the categories of academic environment, quality of life and professional opportunity such as earning potential. (Read more)

NetBoss Technologies Inc., a new company that recently acquired an established product line of network management software, will locate its new operations in Indian River County. The company plans to hire 55 to 60 computer technicians, customer support personnel and office staffat an average annual wage of $85,000. (Read more)

The Tampa Bay area scored No. 1 among 27 U.S. markets for wireless call quality, J.D. Power said in a survey released Thursday. The semiannual study measures wireless call quality based on seven areas. (Read more)

CallMiner, a Fort Myers-based company selling speech analytics software, has closed on a $4 million round and plans to use the funds for expansion. CallMiner's clients include Continental Airline, Daimler Financial Services, and Comcast, among others. (Read more)

Stem Cell Assurance Inc.,which sells stem cell colleciton and storage services for personal applications, has closed a $1 million funding agreement. (Read more)

Pinellas County's National Forensic Science Technology Center provides quality services including training, assessment, research and technology assistance to the justice, forensic science and military communities. Now, the non-profit organization is expanding with a for-profit spin-off, the Forensic Innovation Center, which will create 40 new jobs. (Read more)

UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science is one of the best 100 in the world, according to The Academic Ranking of World Universities. Considered the most influential international ranking system in the world, the ARWU rates a variety of broad fields at research universities. (Read more)

The University of Central Florida ranks 8th in the nation on the Universities Patent Scorecard, which represents universities and university-based laboratories from around the world in patenting their research in all disciplines within the United States. (Read more)

UCF's College of Engineering and Computer Science is one of the best 100 in the world, according to The Academic Ranking of World Universities. Considered the most influential international ranking system in the world, the ARWU rates a variety of broad fields at research universities. (Read more)