Growing Orlando’s high-tech sector is critical for the city’s long-term future, Mayor Buddy Dyer told Central Florida News 13 this week.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
To do that, he said investing in Orlando’s amenities and infrastructure is key, including things like SunRail, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and a new stadium for the Orlando City Soccer Club.
Those are all part of the vision of attracting talent, yet the tech scene’s growth has also been less planned and more a product of the right people starting companies at the right time.
“A lot of this has grown organically,” Dyer said. “It’s been nurtured by city government, but it hasn’t had the city government at the lead. It’s been more, we’re helping them.”
Helping them, the mayor explained, by giving them space to thrive.
Now one year old, Canvs is the city’s co-working space at the Church Street Exchange building. It’s the home of the Orlando Tech Association, 3,000 members strong.
“We now do truly have a sense of community, something that we didn’t necessarily have before,” said Orrett Davis, the Orlando Tech Association’s executive director.
Building on Canvs’ success, Dyer now sets his sights on a new project: The billion-dollar Creative Village planned to transform the former site of the old Amway Arena into a 68-acre tech hub for business, transportation and education.
You can read the entire article on Central Florida News 13.