Things at Orlando Sanford International Airport are taking off, in more ways than one.

The Father's Table, a dessert manufacturer based in Sanford, announced that it will expand into an 118,000-square-foot facility near the airport. The growing company will make apple dumplings and swiss cake rolls at this location, while maintaining their cheesecake business in their original location. The expansion will create 30 new full-time and 20 seasonal jobs and is expected to generate over $2.5 million in capital investment. Success for this company is particularly sweet, as they donate a percentage of profits to The Father's Table Foundation, which helps to fund women's & children's charities worldwide.

Miami-based Avocet and sister company Aircraft Parts Sales, Inc. also recently announced that they will relocate their headquarters to OSIA. The company - which provides aviation repair and maintenance, tear down services and sales of aircraft parts - will occupy temporary space on airport property while a new 44,000-square-foot hanger is being built. Avocet's anticipated capital investment is more than $5 million. The EDC and Seminole Community College are currently working to help the company secure a Quick Response Training Grant, which will help them hire and train 150 new employees, primarily mechanics who will earn an average of over $45,000 annually.

Seminole's Board of County Commissioners has focused on the airport as a top economic development priority. That focus appears to be paying dividends. According to Maria Arellano, Avocet general manager: "We were being recruited by other locations in and outside of Florida. Orlando Sanford Airport was extremely accommodating in meeting the needs of our company and this played a big part in why we choose Metro Orlando for our new home."

With warm weather and consistent sunshine, Florida is an ideal location for solar research and application. And with growing awareness of clean technology, Orlando is poised to become a leading force in the solar industry.

The existence of a strong technology cluster and proximity to the University of Central Florida (UCF) - one of the nation's top research universities - help set Orlando apart. In addition to research being conducted by UCF's Florida Solar Energy Center, local companies are working to leave their mark on the industry as well. Lake Mary based Advanced Solar Photonics is poised to become Florida's first photovoltaic solar manufacturer by producing thin-film solar panels. In nearby Longwood, SKYShades is merging shade structures and solar power by harnessing thin-film solar technology atop sidewalk umbrellas dubbed "Powerbrellas" in order to power small electronics.

For more information on the growing clean tech industry in Metro Orlando, click here.

Watch below as Executive Vice President of SKYShades, Joe McKenna, provides more info on the "Powerbrella."

A newly released report by the University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research & Economic Development predicts that 190,000 new and related jobs in the biomedical and defense industries will be created in Florida by 2018. Access MediQuip's recent decision to expand its operations in Lake Mary takes Orlando one step closer to that goal.



Access MediQuip LLC, a $200 million health care firm based in Houston, provides medical implant outsourcing to support surgery centers. The company's specialized and technology-driven services assist manufacturers, payors and providers to manage the acquisition, financing delivery and reimbursement of orthopedic and spinal implants, drug pumps and other medical devices.



Last month, Access moved its 18 Central Florida employees into just under 13,000 sq. ft. in Primera in Lake Mary. That is just the first step. Plans are to grow to a 26,000 sq. ft facility and add 145 new jobs within three years. That translates into over $2.5 million in new capital investment and jobs that pay an average of $60,000 annually.



Other signs of success in Metro Orlando's emerging medical industries include:

• The University of Central Florida's College of Medicine was featured on NBC Nightly News. Click here to watch.

• Orlando was ranked as a top medical meetings destination by the Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association's 2009 State of the Industry Report. Orlando has been the top healthcare meeting location for the last 12 years.

• AARP The Magazine, the voice for Americans age 50 and better and the world's largest circulation magazine, named Orlando Regional Medical Center and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando among the leading hospitals in America. Click here to read.

• Nemours received full accreditation for its human research protection program from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. This recognition places Nemours among the top research institutions in the United States. A few weeks ago, Nemours Childrens Hospital broke ground in Lake Nona's 'medical city' with plans for completion in 2012.

Economic development that results in new job creation is the key to economic recovery. Thus, now more than ever, the EDC is pleased to share two of our most recent economic development success stories resulting in new jobs:

124 New Jobs: Seminole County-headquartered Nomad Aviation Inc., one of the world's best-known avionics specialists for commercial, military and civilian aircraft, has announced that they will double their workforce here, adding 124 new positions over the next 2 years. To accommodate this expanded workforce, the company will add 33,000-square-feet to its existing facility, which is based at Orlando Sanford International Airport. They also anticipate capital investment of $300,000.

The EDC and Seminole Community College assisted Nomad in acquiring a Quick Response Training grant in the amount of $180,579, which will be used to train their new hires. The average salary of these new jobs is in excess of $65,000.

75 New Jobs: FedEx Ground's recent opening of a new 112,734-square-foot operations facility on Monroe Road in Sanford has created 75 new jobs here in Metro Orlando. The Sanford terminal -- one of 500 in the company's nationwide network -- houses operations for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery. This Central Florida expansion is part of the company's national expansion strategy designed to increase package processing capacity to meet customer demand.

The EDC's business development team assisted FedEx in identifying potential sites in accordance with the company's specified parameters.

For more recent EDC announcements, click on the category - Economic Development Projects.

Digimation, a provider of 3D content and related services to the entertainment and defense industries, will relocate their headquarters from St. Rose, Louisiana to Metro Orlando.

The company's headquarters location will result in 30 new jobs; will generate $750,000 in capital investment; and will lease over 4,000 square feet of space on International Parkway in Heathrow/Lake Mary.

Digimation's first two new hires are already operating here and the team will complete their relocation to Metro Orlando in March 2009.

Most of us living in Florida take our comfort for granted. We can even control our own personal environment with the simple flick of a switch -- until we walk outside. But what if there were a way to create a personal air conditioner portable enough to take with you anywhere you went?

This may seem a bit decadent for everyday life, even in our summer heat, but what if your job required you to wear a heavy, barely-breathable suit for safety reasons under harsh environmental conditions? Imagine a solider working in a sealed biohazard suit in a HazMat situation in Iraq, or a firefighter attempting to control an intense chemical blaze.

In these cases a personal air conditioner could actually save lives. The concept of personal climate control, one that has interested the military for decades, caught the attention of Dr. Daniel P. Rini, founder of Oviedo-based Rini Technologies, Inc. (RTI). An expert in cooling technology, Rini's company recently produced the first viable prototype of an ultra-portable personal air-conditioner.

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