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A Times Editorial
Florida should create a warmer climate for businesses, particularly those in technology, or the talent and expertise will travel elsewhere.
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 9, 2002
The sunshine that keeps bringing people to Florida can be wonderfully soothing, but it has yet to pay all the bills. In the prosperous decade of the 1990s, the state added 2.9-million people and 1.6-million new jobs, but worker income dropped precipitously. Per capita wages in 2000 were $16,630 -- 18 percent below the national average.
St. Petersburg Times business writer Louis Hau provided a revealing glimpse into that economic climate last week, reporting that entrepreneurs, particularly those in technology, see too many clouds when they peer into Florida's business skies.
Jose Ward, a former consultant for Microsoft Corp. in Tampa, put it this way: "I wanted people who were doing leading-edge work. I'm not going to find someone doing .Net development at Raymond James or Publix or Disney. . . . I wanted someone who graduated from a top school and had five years' experience in a technology company. That's what was missing."
The Florida economy is still largely a service provider, primed by the pension checks of retirees and the open wallets of tourists. It is an adolescent that is confused about its major, uncertain whether it's willing to do the preparation necessary to get the best job.
Statistical measures tell one part of the story. In the emerging area of technology, Florida ranks 48th in the nation in the percentage of scientists and engineers, 45th in university spending on research and development. But Hau also talked with business people, such as Don Rua, who felt they couldn't make their dreams come true in this state. Rua, a University of South Florida graduate, left for the Research Triangle in North Carolina when he decided to start up FullSeven Technologies. "There just didn't seem to be a hotbed of activity in Florida," he said. In the Raleigh-Durham area, "There's incredible engineering talent . . . strong schools cranking out talent and very sharp MBA programs."
That lack of talent, and the absence of a university and business network that is a necessary foundation for recruitment, is known to business and government leaders. Gov. Jeb Bush helped create an "emergency technology" commission this year, along with some seed money, to look at forming centers of excellence at public universities. The Florida Chamber Foundation has been trying to draw attention with its detailed "Cornerstone" economic report.
Those are honest efforts, but only a start. The states creating the warmer business climates are the ones, by and large, with less sunshine. They are not selling their weather or their shoreline or their cheap taxes. They have built their business foundations the old-fashioned way, through a basic work ethic, a willingness to invest and a commitment to the community institutions that matter in the long run.
"I believe it all starts with public education," Maryann Fiala, executive director of the American Electronics Association's Florida Council, told the Times. "Until K-12 is perceived as world class, we are at a severe competitive disadvantage."
She's right. The emerging businesses need a sustained pool of talent and expertise, which seldom comes cheap.