Orlando's Coming-of-Age Tale: How the City's Technology Industry is Garnering National Attention
Monday, January 27, 2014
By: Carmel Delshad

January 27, 2014 | Orlando, WMFE - Orlando is known for its tourism and service industries, but there's another side to "The City Beautiful" that's picking up national attention: the tech industry. CNBC called Orlando a "turnaround town" for its efforts to bounce back after the recession. Now, the city is embarking on a rebranding campaign to bring attention to its business and technology potential. This week, the Orange County Commission is scheduled to vote on funding for that campaign.

An animatronic head, the creation of a FamiLAB member, is on display at FamiLAB's January open house night. Photo: Carmel Delshad | WMFE

It’s open house night at a Longwood based technology club called FamiLAB. Their website openly describes the space as a “club for geeks.”

That idea surprised Lance Vick when he joined a couple years ago.

“The whole idea that, there’s actually a bunch of tech people in Orlando? Really? I didn’t realize there was one place where these all can exist,” says Vick.

While Orlando and Central Florida don’t exactly scream “tech hub”— economists say there’s no denying the fact that it does exist.

Rick Weddle, president of the Orlando Economic Development Commission, is working on a campaign to rebrand Orlando. The new tagline: “Orlando. You don’t know the half of it.”

“When you think of Orlando, you don’t even begin to know the half of it, of how deep and rich the tech sectors are,” Weddle says.

Weddle says the days of Orlando only being associated with the tourism are numbered.

But economist Joel Kotkin of Chapman University offers some tough love for Florida.

“It’s like one of the great underachievers of modern history. In other words, it should be much stronger in these fields than it is,” Kotkin says.

It’s not that Orlando’s tech industry is new—it’s that people really have to look beyond the glitz and glamour of the theme parks to find homegrown tech clubs like FamiLAB.

FamiLAB is nestled in a 4,000 square foot warehouse in a quiet corner of Longwood. The club is surrounded by auto repair shops and carpenters selling custom granite countertops.

Driving out to FamiLAB, I didn’t even know I arrived until a drone flew by my car window. At that point, I knew I got to the hackerspace.

David Sikes, the shop manager for FamiLAB, says all that members have to bring is their creativity.

“The idea is to make a facility where you can come in, have the tools at your disposal ready to go, and whatever you want to make you basically just come in here, make it,” Sikes says.

Places like this are helping to grow the city’s tech sector. But simmering beneath this rapid growth are more well-established tech companies, like NeoMetrix.

NeoMetrix is a 3D printing and scanning company that’s been around for over a decade.

Dan Perreault, president of NeoMetrix, says doing business in Florida makes sense.

The costs of living are lower than most traditional technology hubs. According to Census data, renters pay about $200-$500 less a month compared to those in New York City or San Jose.

And the weather is great, so the company can operate year-round. Perrault thinks the advantages will draw more techies to Florida in the coming years.

“You’re going to see more of the smarter folks, the innovators moving to this area. So you’re going to see more of the technology evolution,” Perreault says.

Economist Joel Kotkin says that eventually, the prices of traditional high tech hubs like Silicon Valley and New York City will drive out the “aging millenials” who want to buy their own houses and cars with enough money left over to live comfortably.

That exodus of smart, young people looking for a more affordable place to live is what Kotkin thinks will really put Orlando’s tech industry on the national radar.

“There’s going to be this huge amount of talent demographically that’s going to begin to look for other places to go,” Kotkin says. “And one of the places they may well go is to a place like Orlando.”

So, if Orlando has great weather, lower rents, and a lower cost of living overall, that begs the question—why aren’t more people flocking here for tech jobs?

Kotkin doesn’t have a definite answer.

“You know, that’s a really good question,” Kotkin says.

Maybe the answer is simply that people aren’t paying attention to the growth of Orlando’s tech sector. But economist Rick Weddle says in a decade’s time, that’ll change.

“People will say ‘This happened overnight.’ But it didn’t. Almost all overnight successes are 20 years in the making,” says Weddle.

Back at the FamiLAB open house, data scientist Kathryn Neel has her own ideas about why more people don’t know about Orlando’s tech industry.

“I’ve worked in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, and Washington D.C.,” Neel says. “All of those areas have really definite personalities and I think Orlando’s hasn’t totally formed yet.”

Neel, like other members of the tech community, says give it a few years, and Orlando will be known for more than just its Mickey ears.