High-tech needs support to grow

'Innovation' study finds state must make changes to compete BY WAYNE T. PRICE • FLORIDA TODAY • July 20, 2008 Silicon Valley is synonymous with high-tech industry. North Carolina's Research Triangle Park and Boston's Route 128 can also legitimately boast about their high-tech chops. What about -- have you even heard of -- Florida's High-Tech Corridor? Is this developing region, which includes Brevard County, on par with those upper-echelon research communities where many of the world's leading-edge technologies were developed? In a word, no. And there are changes large and small that are needed before it will be. But it's getting there, concludes "Florida's Innovation Benchmark Study," an in-depth look at the strengths, weaknesses and future opportunities associated with the state's efforts to build an "innovation-based... [read full story]