What’s happened in Orlando over the past few months that is driving economic growth and national business trends? The better question is what hasn’t happened here? Major announcements that have a national impact were made in the alternative energy, digital media, financial/IT and simulation/defense industries. An ex-NBA star committed millions of dollars to revive struggling neighborhoods. The state’s Small Business Person of the Year hails from Orlando. Foreign-based companies established US hubs here. And hundreds of new jobs were announced. Read on for more …

Pure Energy … “We’re doing things right here in Orlando that are going to change America.” So says Jason Sayers, CEO of Orlando-based Xenerga, a local biodiesel plant manufacturer that is building unique facilities throughout the U.S. and has just introduced a patented version of the jatropha plant. Oil pressed from the nut of this newly approved-U.S.–import-Malaysian plant can produce six to eight times the amount of energy extracted from soybeans. In other alternative energy-related news, the state’s first hydrogen energy demonstration station opened in Orlando. The station will fuel eight Ford hydrogen-powered shuttle buses that transport people at Orlando International Airport and the Convention Center and will enable project partners to assess the commercial feasibility of hydrogen as a transportation fuel.

Orlando Makes More Top Lists … within a two-week period, Orlando was top-ranked in five prominent national and international rankings:

• The May issue of Business 2.0 magazine recognized Metro Orlando as the #1 location for “America’s jobs in the hottest markets.”
• In Inc. magazine’s “2007 Boom Towns” issue, Metro Orlando ranks #4 on the list of “Best Cities for Business” in the large cities category.
• For the second consecutive year, Forbes listed Metro Orlando as the fourth best city in the country for jobs.
• fDi magazine ranked Orlando as one of the “North American Cities of the Future.”
• In the annual “Top 10” issue of Southern Business & Development, Metro Orlando ranks as one of the “Top 10 Places in the South for Emerging Industries.”

Digital Media & Film Production Industries Pick Up Major Steam … these corporate announcements, unique partnerships and state support draw national attention to Orlando:

• House of Moves, the world’s largest motion capture studio, is establishing an East Coast operation in Orlando – co-locating at the University of Central Florida’s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy. The company will design and equip the only professional motion capture studio on the East Coast with fully integrated film, video and audio facilities.
• Local companies team to power “serious games.” Sanford-based XOS Technologies, a leader in technology-based athlete training and game analysis, announced it is teaming with video game giant Electronic Arts to develop a training simulator for college and pro football teams. XOS will use the core technology of EA Sports' football video game franchises (including Madden NFL 07 and NCAA Football 07), developed at EA’s Tiburon Studio (based in Metro Orlando), to power its new “PlayAction Simulator.” This advanced simulation system will allow teams to customize their game preparation to replicate the tendencies of their coming week’s opponent.
• Apple pioneers program in Metro Orlando. A first-of-its-kind program for any educational institution in the nation was announced at Full Sail Real World Education (based in Metro Orlando). The renowned media arts college launched a partnership with Apple that will provide all entering students with a complete “studio-to-go”, comprised of a MacBook Pro notebook computer fully loaded with professional application software, such as Apple’s Final Cut Studio video production suite.
• Governor signals his support of industry. Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed into law The Entertainment Incentive Bill, which creates a $25 million incentive for film, entertainment and digital media projects.

Bank of New York, Wells Fargo Adding Hundreds of Jobs

• Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York, opened a new 67,000-square-foot office that will offer customer service, operational support and account management. Three hundred new associates are expected to be hired by year’s end. Pershing provides financial services to more than 1,100 institutional and retail financial organizations and independent investment advisers who collectively represent nearly 6 million individual investors.
• The Wells Fargo Auto Finance Center, which already employs 550 in Central Florida, is expanding its operations here with plans to hire an additional 150 people and add credit analysis and loan underwriting operations. The nation’s fifth largest bank also employs another 200 people here.

New to America, Coming to Orlando

• UK-based Equipe Electronics opened their U.S. base of operations in Orlando. The company produces simulation software for the defense industry.
• Braun International USA LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Braun and Company, Ltd. – a UK medical and security equipment manufacturer and supplier – chose Orlando for its U.S. sales, marketing and distribution office for its airport security equipment line.

Local Manufacturers Expand Operations for High-End Labels and Walls and Flooring Production
• Producing 25 million custom-printed, pressure-sensitive labels and tags per week is big business. And Metro Orlando-based Consolidated Label added 20,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 30 new jobs to do just that.
• With an additional 115,000 square feet of industrial space and 30 new jobs, Maronda Systems now has a fully automated facility to manufacture new wall and flooring product lines.

Orlando’s World Renowned Simulation/Defense Industry Just Keeps on Growing

• San Mateo-based Forterra Systems, which does government and commercial simulation and training work, opened its national security division in Orlando. “This area is widely considered the capital of simulation, and you need to have a presence in Orlando if you want to work in simulation,” said Val Hopkins, Forterra’s site manager. The office will initially have 10 employees, with plans for further hiring.
• Carley Corp., a locally based military-training contractor, plans to open a 10,000-square-foot facility and add 30 engineering jobs to its existing employment base of 120. Carley recent contracts include a $10 million contract with the Navy to develop interactive, computerized training systems; flight training and mission rehearsal software for the Joint Strike Fighter; and tactical training for surface-warfare officers.
• Lockheed’s Orlando missiles unit won a contract to build advanced targeting systems for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jet fleet. The work is part of a larger effort by the U.S. government to equip its allies for the war on terror. Lockheed won recent contracts for this system from Canada, the UK and Belgium.

MISCELLANEOUS: New Security Products Come Online; Orlando Home to State’s Fastest Growing Small Business; Sports Celeb Gives Millions to Boost Orlando Neighborhoods

• New markets are opening up for leading Orlando-based companies involved in biometric identity software and thermal imaging cameras. Four-year-old ID Solutions landed a contract to provide sophisticated fingerprint ID software to the Transportation Security Agency’s 850,000 port workers (with the potential to expand to all of the agency’s 12-14 million workers and further open up doors to larger government contracts). The company has eight employees; 2006 revenue was $5 million. ICx Imgaging Systems’ new product ‘The Illuminator’ combines a low-light camera with a high-powered spotlight that can detect, deter and immobilize intruders. The company, whose primary market has been the military, is marketing the new product to law enforcement. ICx has 48 employees; 2006 revenue was $7 million, and its thermal imaging cameras have been guarding more than 30 U.S. nuclear facilities.
• Rod Vargas is a Venezuelan immigrant whose Orlando engineering firm has grown from a two-person shop into a $5.2 million, 32 employee-based enterprise received Florida’s Small Business Person of the Year Award from the U.S. SBA. Apex Environmental Engineering & Compliance is also one of Florida’s largest minority-owned engineering firms and has been recognized by Inc. as one of the fastest growing, privately held businesses in America.
• Ex-NBA star Magic Johnson and his private equity firm Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund plan to invest $70 million to revitalize minority neighborhoods near the downtown Orlando core, bringing new shops, housing and more.