Tim Giuliani, President & CEO, Orlando Economic Partnership
In an interview with Invest:, President and CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership, Tim Giuliani, discussed Greater Orlando’s explosive growth in technology and healthcare. He focused on the NeoCity project in Osceola County, with an emphasis on the semiconductor industry.
What are some recent economic development wins for the region?
Our biggest office project since the pandemic was BNY Mellon. The firm added around 300,000 square feet. The number of jobs added is significant, which is an example of another New York company expanding in the market. Another one that’s worth noting is Plug and Play. This is one of the most active VCs in Silicon Valley, which runs the most popular accelerator program and is opening two locations in Central Florida. One was announced in NeoCity and focused on the semiconductor vertical, and one focused on the smart cities vertical hosted in Orange County.
We’ve spent a lot of energy, time, and resources focused on a transformational project in Osceola County known as NeoCity. It’s focused on semiconductors, proving that Orlando is home to magic and microchips. NeoCity is the region’s 500-acre epicenter of semiconductor manufacturing reshoring. The decision by the EDA to invest in Osceola County’s vision for semiconductor manufacturing at NeoCity is a landmark moment for the Orlando Region. The Build Back Better Regional Challenge award was among the first-ever major federal investments in the reshoring of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. The Orlando region has emerged as a national leader in innovation and advanced manufacturing, and over the last 18 months, we’ve helped secure over half a billion dollars in investment for NeoCity. This hits on the larger technology sector, and we expect that in 2024, we will have just as many people employed in tech as we do in the nation’s largest single-site employer, Walt Disney World. The last published number was 75,000 employees here in Central Florida.
What is the future of the tech sector in the region shaping up?
Looking at the Top 30 metros in the United States, we’re the second fastest growing from a tech perspective. People will soon see the Red 6 planes flying out over Orlando. That was a company that we helped secure a couple of years ago. It has received another $60 million contract, and it is revolutionizing military pilot training in that AR technology is built into the helmet’s shield. The pilots can go up in the sky and train in real-life scenarios instead of using old military stock and Russian planes. It’ll give pilots up-to-date experiences and be much cheaper.
How has the Brightline expansion changed the game regarding economic development for Greater Orlando?
Orlando is the fastest-growing region in Florida. Florida is one of the fastest-growing states in the United States. Having that connection has allowed more companies, such as Kaseya and Red 6, to establish operations in Miami and Orlando. It is a much easier connection and is much more reliable and timely. The connection allows people to remain productive instead of being subject to traffic variability on that stretch.
How do population and business growth impact the local market?
We do quarterly economic conditions tracking. We’ve noticed a pickup in business confidence. Data is given to us by about 100 firms locally. Several are small businesses. We added 55,000 new residents last year, which keeps us on trend at about 1,000 a week; however, the other important factor is that we added 42,000 jobs in 2023.
One thing that has happened over the past year is that a little over 35% of our leads now come from non-domestic locations. There’s a lot more interest from international firms. Many parts of the world – Asia, Europe, and South America – are interested in expansion here. The most recent population estimates from the Census Bureau, released in early March, show net migration to the Orlando MSA from overseas was 29,343 in the 12 months ending July 2023, which represented 53.4% of the region’s total population gain, or 62.7% of all net migration.
In what ways do you hope to see the business community improve its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts?
We’ve already become a majority-minority community. We have been working closely with our partners at the Hispanic Chamber and the African American Chamber. They’re on our board of directors. We’ve been the champion of upskilling, and so that equity piece is baked into many of those grants that have been received in NeoCity. Osceola County provides technical college and community college scholarships to every single high school graduate in the county. They’ve had a 40% pickup of that at Valencia College. All those cluster-building activities are meant to be stewards of inclusive growth. At the OEP, we also have programs like the Black Boardroom Leadership Institute (BBLI), award-winner of the 2023 Excellence in Innovation Award from the Association of Leadership Programs and award-winner of the Florida Economic Development Council Innovation in Marketing Pivot & Persist 2023 Award, is designed to ensure that Orlando’s nonprofit leadership reflects the diversity of our community, fostering an inclusive atmosphere where minority leaders have a voice at the table, not just a seat on the roster.
How are public-private partnerships spurring economic growth in the region?
Our partnership with Visit Orlando is incredibly important as our region is obviously well known from a tourism perspective. Expanding people’s perceptions of Orlando in our downtown food scene, we now have a number of Michelin-rated restaurants here in Central Florida. We’re always interested in changing perceptions because it opens up more business opportunities for our market.
How would you describe the region’s progress in workforce development?
Our higher education institutions are young in comparison to most. The University of Central Florida was created to supply talent to the space program. That ethos has been pivotal, and UCF is trying to double the number of graduates in engineering and tech. Its base budget has increased by $70 million over the last several years, all going to those programs. Valencia College and Seminole State College have been very good at figuring out shorter-term training programs, with eight-week programs, 12-week programs, and 16-week programs that take somebody from making $12 to $13 an hour to $20 to $25 an hour. We have aggressive, entrepreneurial higher education institutions here.
What business sectors specifically are you expecting to grow within Greater Orlando?
Most of our industries are growing. We’re getting back to pre-pandemic levels at this point. A major one is healthcare. With the growing population, it’s no surprise that we’ve got hospital systems and specialty pharma companies located here. We’re seeing growth in manufacturing. We are still at the center of the state. From a distribution standpoint, logistics and utilities continue to grow.
Is there any key legislation or regulation being monitored that may impact OEP’s mission directly?
We’ve seen an influx from the CHIPS Act. What we’re watching is those funding streams coming out of Washington to support our semiconductor work here in Central Florida. However, Enterprise Florida has been closed, and economic incentives have been cut at a time when many other states in the Southeast continue to be very aggressive. It’s impacted our pipeline directly.
What is essential for investors and partners to consider about the region when communicating and building relationships within the community?
It comes back to changing perceptions. Everyone thinks they know Orlando, but when you look at us from a different lens from a business standpoint, there’s a change in perspective. Over the last seven years, we’ve worked on around 185 different projects located in Orlando in various industries. As more business leaders understand the opportunities here and the growing market, we’re leading the state in growth. As people learn more and look into the availability of labor, Orlando has ranked much higher over the last few years. We continue our mission to advance Broad-based Prosperity and are very proud that last year, the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) named us the 2023 Chamber of the Year. Chamber of the Year is the most prestigious and competitive award in the chamber industry. It honors exceptional chambers that have demonstrated organizational strength and made an impact on key community priorities such as education, transportation, economic prosperity, and quality of life. It recognizes the importance of our work in advancing the benefits of our region’s growth. This award is a testament to the Partnership’s commitment to seizing the moment to grow and diversify an economy that works for everyone.
