Fifty companies have pledged a combined $4.7 million. Another $8.3 million is coming from the city of Orlando, and Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake Counties.

The largest donors are BellSouth Corp., Florida Power Corp., Holland & Knight law firm, SunTrust Bank of Central Florida, Cirent Semiconductor, Siemens Westinghouse Corp., Lockheed-Martin Corp. and Walt Disney World.

The $17.5 million will be spent for additional staff at the EDC, promotional campaigns, industry meetings, outreach contacts, recruitment visits, negotiations and communications.

The payoff is expected to result in 18,000 new jobs; $1.35 billion in new payrolls; $700 million in new purchasing power; and $400 milion in added international trade for the region.

But before those new jobs can be created, companies have to be offered financial or economic incentives to relocate or establish a business in the Orlando area in the first place, says David F. Scott, a finance professor at the University of Central Florida.

Rick Foglesong, a political science professor at Rollins College in Winter Park, agrees. "There has to be some substance behind the message," he says. "Beating the drum alone won't do it."

The $17.5 million represents a 20% increase in the EDC's overall budget. EDC officials say the beefed-up budget will make Orlando more competitive with high-tech centers such as Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham, NC.

Instant Insights /

Area Businesses Kick In $13 Mil. on Innovative High-Tech Development Drive

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