RESEARCH COAST
COAST HISTORY
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The college has spent millions on new buildings that align
with those needs. Among them are the Kight Center and the
newly opened Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math) building is planned for the St. Lucie West campus.
Next in Dr. Massey’s sights is a business center “to teach
the business aspects of research and how to operate the businesses
that might start up — to wrap it all together,” he says.
Here, students will be prepared to own or be employed by
the spinoff businesses expected to develop throughout the
Research Coast.
“Indian River State College played a big role in our decision
to come here,” Pam Houghten says. “It was the end of
a long day when we met with Dr. Massey. He showed us the
Kight Center (for Emerging Technologies) and what we saw
was a community college (now a state college) on steroids.”
Indian River State College will be adding more four-year
degrees, as needed, Massey says.
“We have to live at least five years into the future to anticipate
future business needs,” he says. Although some joke that
he has a crystal ball, he uses state and local data and stays in
close touch with businesses and economic developers to help
plan the college’s direction. Additional land has been purchased
in Vero Beach and Fort Pierce for expansions.
“If you look at what they are working on and what we are
building, you see we are working in partnership to build
programs that will create the work-force that will be needed,”
Massey says.
Says Mel Rothberg from VGTI about the Research Coast’s
future: “If we put the right combination of great facilities,
people, and community support together, we have a great
combination and we can look forward to and hope for a
bright future.”
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: WHO’S DOING IT?
Florida’s Research Coast Economic Development
Coalition (4 counties+Workforce Solutions) —
www.floridarc.com
Workforce Solutions — Provides assistance to job–seekers
and employers in a variety of ways.
www.yourworkforcesolutions.com
Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County —
www.youredc.com
Florida Innovation Partners LLC — A marketing and
promotion group formed by the businesses in the Tradition
Center for Innovation to promote the 150-acre research
park. www.tciflorida.com
Treasure Coast Education, Research and Development
Authority (TCERDA) — The authority’s priority is to attract
research institutions to the Treasure Coast Research Park in
Fort Pierce and to recruit a network of service providers.
www.treasurecoastresearchpark.com
Martin County Business Development Board —
www.bdmc.org
Economic Council of Martin County —
www.mceconomy.org
Indian River County Chamber of Commerce Economic
Development Division — www.indianriverchamber.com
Chamber of Commerce of Okeechobee County, Business
Development Board of Okeechobee —
http://okeechobeebusiness.com
Economic Council of Okeechobee — www.ecok.org
Enterprise Florida — the state’s economic development
organization, promoting Florida as the “innovation hub of
the Americas.” www.eflorida.com
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
In Vero Beach, the Florida Entomology Medical Lab has made the lives of Floridians better with its solid research on mosquito and sandfly control since
1956. INEOS New Planet BioEnergy is constructing a plant, shown in the inset, demonstrating its innovative discovery of a method to create third generation
bioethanol from carbon-based recycled waste as an alternative fuel and it will also sell power to the Florida market. Indian River County is also home
to Parabel (formerly PetroAlgae) and Syngenta.
/www.floridarc.com
/www.yourworkforcesolutions.com
/www.youredc.com
/www.tciflorida.com
/www.treasurecoastresearchpark.com
/www.bdmc.org
/www.mceconomy.org
/www.indianriverchamber.com
/okeechobeebusiness.com
/www.ecok.org
/www.eflorida.com
