Competitive Assets
With a highly educated workforce, thriving high-tech presence and world-renowned research institutions, Tallahassee and the surrounding region offer unique advantages that accommodate and encourage long-term business growth. The benefits inherent in being the capital city of the country’s fourth most-populous state serve as a springboard for collaborations between education, government and business that turn good ideas into profitable ventures.
Workers for Today and Tomorrow
Great companies need great people, and Tallahassee boasts a highly educated workforce that is evolving with the changing needs within its targeted industry sectors. From our “A” rated public school system to our high-tech training centers and university-based research institutes, this region is equipping the workforce of tomorrow through innovative programs designed specifically to provide skills that give our people high-wage jobs and give businesses the workers they need to thrive and grow.
To help facilitate that process, the EDC, in cooperation with our regional workforce board, WORKFORCE plus, and the Center for Economic & Workforce Development at Tallahassee Community College (TCC), proactively engages local businesses to customize workforce training solutions.
Tallahassee Community College has taken a leadership role in this area with the opening of its Advanced Manufacturing Training Center, a 16,000-square-foot facility geared toward high tech and precision manufacturing training, and the Ghazvini Center for Healthcare Education, an 85,000-square-foot facility that houses programs in diagnostic medical sonography, emergency medical services, nursing, radiologic technology and respiratory care.
Tallahassee’s other postsecondary options are exceptional, with Florida State University and Florida A&M University leading a list of institutions evolving to meet changing education needs.
Area Institutions of Higher Learning
- Barry University
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- Flagler College
- Florida A&M University
- Florida State University
- Keiser University
- Lively Technical College
- Tallahassee Community College
In addition to training workers, Tallahassee is home to a thriving research community that is creating jobs by commercializing university research and developing new companies — or in some cases inventing new industries. The work done at these facilities also creates opportunities for spin-off business, which results in more local, high-wage jobs.
University-based Research Institutions
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
- Advanced Manufacturing Training Center (AMTC)
- Institute for Energy Systems Economics and Sustainably (IESES)
- Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion (FCAAP)
- Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS)
- High Performance Materials Institute (HPMI)
- FSU College of Medicine
- FAMU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- FAMU – FSU College of Engineering
High-Tech Finds Tallahassee Home
Companies do not have to be born in Tallahassee to take advantage of the intellectual capital found here. The engagement of our high-tech companies has become a defining element of our community.
- Bing Energy moved to Tallahassee in 2011 because of its collaboration with FSU’s Jim Zheng, who is planning to turn revolutionary nanotechnology pioneered at FSU into a better and commercially viable fuel cell.
- High-Performance Magnetics (HPM), formerly known as Cable in Conduit Engineering Fabrication & Test (CICEFT), landed a large federal contract in 2010 to supply the government with specialized high-field magnet components.
- The Tai-Yang Research Company, a Tallahassee-based developer of military, space and commercial applications of high temperature superconductor (HTS) materials, has been awarded new funding that could reach $1.4 million.
- SunnyLand Solar, in collaboration with FSU’s Ian Winger, is planning to develop a crucial element of a solar power generation system. Another company, SolarSink, is proposing a recycling process in support of SunnyLand’s system.