By Bob Nagro
A recent flurry of press is starting to attract welcome
attention to the Miami technology community – and that is a great
development. Anything that promotes this
community to the wider world is positive for Miami and for its entire region.
However, the highly Miami-centric view is weakening the argument that Miami is on the road to becoming a world-class tech center. It misses out on the strength of the South Florida region as a whole, so it only tells part of the story and misses some important components that will be critical to success.
Miami is the center of a metropolitan area that has significant high technology assets widely distributed throughout the area. To ignore those assets outside Miami-Dade is to greatly weaken the case. After all, where would the Boston high tech center be if it didn't include Cambridge and Route 128 and where would San Francisco be if it didn't include Palo Alto and San Jose? Although centered on major cities, they have a regional view, and it makes them stronger.
Alan McGlade's very good article in Forbes made the point that the Miami start-up community is vibrant and growing, which is very true. However, he also said, “I met with several seasoned entrepreneurs that recognize Miami’s limitations.… They said that there is every reason to believe that Miami should be a magnet for engineering …. But the engineering infrastructure just hasn’t hit critical mass,“ and that is true, too - but only if you stop looking at the Broward border. His conclusion might have been very different, and much more positive, if he had considered:
- * The South Florida Business Journal recently stated, “Broward County is one of the nation's top global locations for wireless research with Google's Motorola Mobility (NYSE: GOOG), General Dynamics (NSYE: GD), China's Foxconn and Canada's Blackberry (NASDAQ: BBRY) all having engineering centers in the county. “
- * Broward is also the home of Citrix, that brings you GoToMeeting and a host of other products.
- * The EDC Incubator in Boca Raton has 35 companies in residence and a long waiting list, and is working with more than 50 other companies throughout the region.
- * Two of the Forbes “Hot 100” companies are in Palm Beach County – 3Cinteractive and Modernizing Medicine
- * The leading clean energy company in the United States, NextEra, is also in Palm Beach County.
- * Scripps and Max Planck Florida are up and running and are collaborating with FAU on research.
All of those things are happening within commuting range of Brickell Avenue, and all add to the attractiveness of South Florida technology. There is no reason they should be excluded.
Miami and the rest of South Florida are competing with other high technology centers in the United States for attention, investment and jobs. Let's not forget that. Rather, let's look at the region from a competitive standpoint – the way investors and relocation experts do. For example, let's compare this region with the Austin, TX region, which certainly is considered a leading tech center:
The US Economic Census counts:
High-tech jobs Establishments
Miami-Dade 16,778 1708
Broward 21,699 1718
Palm Beach 12,293 1125
Regional Total 50,770 4551
Austin Region Total 48,491 1845
The South Florida region has 5 universities across the three counties vs. 1 in Austin, and 2 ½ times as many students.
It has 10 incubators throughout the geography vs. 12 in Austin, and it has more tech organizations and regular networking meetings but, again, they are spread through the region.
So clearly, this region is competitive with major technology centers around the United States, but only if the entire region is considered. No one of the three counties even comes close by itself.
It is time we overcame our parochial tendencies and started to consider South Florida is a significant region, centered in and based on Miami, but including the surrounding geography. If we do, Miami and South Florida, together, can become a world-class center of excellence.
Bob Nagro is a partner at Next Horizon Communications and an advisor to the South Florida Technology Alliance. He has been involved in high technology for many years, first at IBM and later as part of the executive team of six start-up companies in the life sciences and IT and as an advisor to many entrepreneurs.