Can Florida Become "Silicon Valley of Space"?

Florida is seeking to leverage Obama's space commercialization policies to generate interest in turning the I-4 corridor into the "Silicon Valley of Space."

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100429/OPINION/100428021/1006/NEWS01/Our+views++Space%E2%80%99s+%E2%80%98Silicon+Valley%E2%80%99

As one who has participated in the rise of Silicon Valley and advised a dozen other regions worldwide, here's what I think Florida should do:

- Organize annual conferences focused on commercializing space technologies for space travel as well as sustainable products and products on earth. Invite all space agencies, aerospace and space systems vendors, and companies interested in space technologies. JIBS.se, which is launching a "Down-to-Earth" project for sustainable earth applications, could help organize it through its 170 partner universities.

- Invite investors, both U.S. and foreign, to meet companies opening shop in Florida.

- Involve U.S. and foreign university researchers and students to explore ways to commercialize space technologies. Set up a Space Tech Commercialization business program with the top aerospace and business schools.

- Organize contests to award excellence in space tech commercialization and give out awards. Showcase the winners at the Space Museum in Washington D.C. and other science museums worldwide.

- Partner with other regions worldwide that are developing space industries.

- Organize a Space Technology Commercialization Consortium (STCC) to promote research, investments, and job creation

- Work with venture capital (VC), sovereign funds and other private equity groups to develop Space Technology Funds.

There are many other things that Florida could do to jumpstart its initiative. The key is to partner with investors, universities, industry organizations, and other regions to build a critical mass.

In the mid-1980s, I advised the Indian Consul General and an Indian software group (www.sipa.org) in Silicon Valley to help plan an Indian software industry in Bangalore, which wanted to be another Silicon Valley. I thought it would enjoy modest success, not the boom that resulted. So the morale is to aim high, collaborate and work hard.