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Since it opened in 2017, BRIDG has partnered with the U.S. Defense Department, large companies such as Seimens and schools such as State of New York Polytechnic Institute. FILE PHOTO
Osceola County commissioners on Monday voted to move forward with plan to replace UCF at the county’s $200 million technological park.
SkyWater Technology Foundry, a private technology firm based in Minnesota, has 60 days to work with the county to meet its criteria for replacing the University of Central Florida at BRIDG, the research, development and manufacturing arm of NeoCity, a commercial development still underway for companies and schools that complement BRIDG.
So far those include iMec, a Belgian nonprofit tech company, and the Osceola County School District, which has built a magnet high school on the NeoCity campus.
School Board Member Clarence Thacker, a former publishing executive, is one of the five members of the BRIDG Board of Directors, along with Osceola County Manager Don Fisher.
Since it opened in 2017, BRIDG has partnered with the U.S. Defense Department, large companies such as Seimens, and schools such as State of New York Polytechnic Institute.
The research labs at BRIDG were built to attract defense contractors and tech companies by saving them from having to invest in expensive infrastructure, such as the facility’s “clean room,” one of the largest in Florida. Much of the work underway at BRIDG is related to semiconductors and sensors.
Local officials have touted the project, saying it is expected to create some 20,000 new higher-wage jobs to the area in the future. Right now, however, Osceola County has one of the highest unemployment rates in Florida.
BRIDG seems to have stalled out on several fronts over the past year, including the March ousting of CEO Chester Kennedy. He was hired in 2015 during the project’s early stages and was replaced by Brian Sapp, who took over on an interim basis. Then came UCF’s announcement that it planned to pull out of the BRIDG, despite its $25 million investment in the project.
Osceola County has so far contributed about $100 million to the project, with other funds coming from the Florida Legislature and the Florida High Tech Corridor.
But in another blow to BRIDG/NeoCity came this summer when Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a $10 million appropriation for BRIDG and UCF began laying off dozens of employees there.
Exactly how SkyWater intends to replace UCF is expected to be worked out in the next two months.
The “memorandum of understanding” between Osceola County and SkyWater includes specific criteria that the company must meet including investing “millions of dollars” in the project. Exactly how much was not outlined in the MOU.
It also requires SkyWater to:
• Take over the lease agreement between Osceola County and UCF.
• Create at least 220 jobs (no timeline in MOU).
• Operate center at full capacity.
• Reinstate BRIDG as a nonprofit entity.
• Have the ability to continue established contracts with the Department of Defense ..
• Apply for the proposed new Federal Advanced Packaging National Manufacturing Institute.
