Florida High Tech Corridor
Economic development initiative of USF, UCF & UF
Explore research and commercialization resources, including FL FAST support for eligible Florida small businesses pursuing SBIR/STTR funding.
The Map · Resources
Resources.
Practical support for Tampa Bay founders and small businesses, organized by what you need. Each resource is run by the organization listed with it. We add providers as their details are verified.
Browse by need
- Research & Commercialization
- SBIR/STTR Support
- Talent & Tech Community
- Economic & Market Data
- Defense & Dual-Use Innovation
Category
Research & Commercialization
University-backed research, commercialization, and business development resources for companies turning technology into products.
Category
SBIR/STTR Support
Guidance for small businesses pursuing federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards.
FL FAST Technical Assistance Program
Provided by Florida High Tech Corridor
FL FAST provides free SBIR/STTR guidance and resources to eligible Florida small businesses pursuing federal research and development funding.
Category
Talent & Tech Community
Student and professional tech communities for skills, mentorship, career preparation, and meeting emerging talent.
IEEE Computer Society at USF
Student branch chapter · University of South Florida
13+ professional development events and workshops each semester, industry mentorship, and TechX, the chapter's annual conference. All majors and backgrounds welcome; no membership required for events.
Category
Economic & Market Data
Free, public data on local industries, wages, workforce and population, for business planning, site selection, pitches and grant applications.
Pinellas County Economic Dashboard
Pinellas County Economic Development · Led by Dr. Cynthia Johnson
Thousands of data points on Pinellas County in one public place: employment and industry trends, wages and income, workforce and education, demographics and migration, and housing, broadband and commute data.
Category
Defense & Dual-Use Innovation
Pathways for startups, small businesses, researchers and labs to put their technology in front of defense users, from prize challenges to rapid prototyping and SBIR contracts.
SOFWERX
Tampa nonprofit · Innovation platform for USSOCOM
Brings government, industry, academia and national labs together to solve problems facing Special Operations Forces. Startups and small businesses can join the ecosystem for challenge announcements, compete in prize challenges and assessment events, pitch at Tech Tuesday, and build proofs of concept in The Foundry.
Since 2015, SOFWERX reports more than $642 million in contracted value across 2,089 purchase orders and business-to-business agreements, plus $92 million+ from SBIR and S&T funds. Figures from SOFWERX’s impact page.
Not sure where to start?
The Ecosystem Guide explains how Tampa Bay's support layers fit together. The live Map shows where the activity is.
Run a program Tampa Bay founders should know about? Start the intake and tell us what it offers and who it serves.