Although the economic terrain seems bumpy everywhere, Central Floridia and East Orlando residents can rest assured that our economic future has already been set into motion. Even with the national unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, East Orlando in particular is poised to become a major force in the fields of health and life sciences and digital media. Orlando has been named the “top hot spot for professionals” and the “best city for tech jobs”, among others, from magazine greats such as Forbes and Entrepreneur. The City Beautiful is being recognized as the high-tech corridor for which it has been groomed to become over recent years.

The Lake Nona area, home to the highly recognized “medical city”, is setting trends that will be ongoing for at least two more decades. Collaboration and coordination between national medical research facilities, some already in operation and others still in the development stages, has opened up opportunities for partnerships between public and private institutions. For example, new UCF Medical School students will have access to the East Hub of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Institute where actively-occurring research findings promise to change the future of cancer treatments and other life-threatening diseases.

In addition, the Johnson and Johnson Company acquired the Human Performance Institute (HPI). The HPI, a long-time resident of Lake Nona, has now established a partnership that secures the presence of another international corporation in our proverbial back yard. The Human Performance Institute was founded in 1991 and calls itself an energy management technology provider. One may consider this successful enterprise one of the first life-sciences facilities in East Orlando.

The programs offered by HPI co-founders, Jim Loehr and Jack Groppel, earned $13 million in revenue in 2007. The training seminars are attended by executives from such industry giants as Proctor and Gamble and the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico. While in Orlando, these super performers are taught to keep their lives in balance and to manage their energy, rather than their time. Frequent breaks and meals along with regular exercise are some of the basic tenets of one of their programs called the Corporate Athlete. The Institute has worked with executives in the fields of business, sports, medicine and law enforcement.

East Orlando is proud to be the home of the UCF Business Incubation Program. Since opening in 1999 under the direction of Tom O’Neal, it has helped launch more than 130 businesses which created more than $500 million in revenue and around 1,000 jobs. The partnerships and network of professional services and consultants offered to Incubation program clients is unprecedented in our region. One new business that came out of that program includes Plainvue Software, Inc., which has launched a series of video games that make complex math concepts into learning adventures for young students.

Another company from the Incubation program that began production and selling of educational products this summer is GeoMotion. They sell products that encourage Americans to get off the couch and get moving through the use of products including GeoFitness, GeoDance, and Learnercise. These innovative products consist of floor mats that users move on and that track a learner’s performance.

More high-tech companies are calling East Orlando home as well. A booming photonics industry in our community can be attributed in large part to the UCF College of Optics and Photonics. Metro-Orlando has become the nation’s Center for Excellence in Optics & Photonics, with jobs in the photonics industry averaging $57,000 annually. The digital media industry is also growing roots in East Orlando. In addition to the Digital Media Alliance of Florida basing its trade association headquarters in Orlando, Helios Interactive-a full service game development studio and 3D software tech company has recently launched it new gaming platform called GameCore 2.0.

For East Orlando, the future of our job industry is well on its way to building a successful foundation for decades to come.

Article by Evelyn Cichanowski