News
CFDC Promotes the French Connection With USF Poly
Published: Thursday, July 16, 2009
CFDC plans visits to southern France's technology sector
Published: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 6:12 p.m.
LAKELAND | In an ongoing effort to cement ties with French businesses and polytechnic universities, Central Florida Development Council officials plan additional visits to the section of southern France that transformed itself from an agricultural and mining area into a hotbed of technology.
And some remaining grant money the development council received could let a local business representative go with them at half price.
Tom Patton, CFDC's executive director, said Wednesday he's open to proposals from companies that have a legitimate business interest in linking with the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur (PACA) region. The companies need to show they have a product to sell or technology to incorporate with efforts taking place there, he said in a Wednesday morning talk to members of the Leadership Lakeland Alumni Association.
"Convergence of technologies is really what's driving the economy today," Patton said.
As an example of international business collaboration, he mentioned flavorings and essences produced locally that are shipped to France and combined with flowers there to create perfumes.
Similar collaboration is developing between the University of South Florida Polytechnic in Lakeland and polytechnics already operating in southern France. USF Poly is in the process of establishing a new I-4 campus that will include a business technology incubator.
He and Marshall Goodman, vice president and chief executive officer of USF Poly, say the incubator will nurture fledgling businesses. They envision business technology parks developing around the new USP Poly and its business incubator.
The new campus is expected to open in 2012.
This fall, however, USF Poly is opening smaller-scale incubators in downtown Lakeland and downtown Winter Haven. The one in Lakeland will be above Palace Pizza on South Kentucky Avenue. Winter Haven's will be in the old Verizon building, whose other tenants include Bond Clinic and various software and information technology businesses, Patton said.
"We have a lot of other technology companies over there that can give support to the new businesses," Patton said.
Several people have said they're interested in being part of those incubator models. USF Poly is creating a board to review the different applications to find the most promising proposals, Patton said.
Goodman said USF Poly's initial incubator recruiting will be for information technology companies interested in software, networking and developing specific IT projects. Some could be start-ups and others more advanced companies.
On the educational polytechnic side, USF Poly currently is hosting engineering students from Polytech Marseille.
They've designed a soccer-ball kicking robot. They want to interface it with a camera that will act as "eyes" to let the robot find the ball, but they need interaction with people familiar with the optical systems needed, Patton said.
Solving this type of problem and coming up with new ideas in the process is "the start of an incubator," he said.
Goodman went to southern France last year with CFDC members to meet with faculty and staff at French polytechnics. They hope to develop working relationships that could result in having French professors visit USF Polytechnic.
[ Robin Williams Adams can be reached at robin.adams@theledger.com. ]
Tagged: USF Poly, technology, cfdc