Central Florida - Economy

Economy

Tourism is a large contributor to Central Florida's economy. However, the area has economically diversified in the past decade. As a high-tech industrial hub, Metro Orlando has the seventh largest research park in the U.S., Central Florida Research Park, the engineering and business school of the University of Central Florida. It has defense companies such as Lockheed Martin and Siemens.

Medical research is conducted in Orlando's Lake Nona area with the University of Central Florida medical school, the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute biomedical research facility and a new Veterans Administration hospital. These facilities, along with several research support companies, have led this research cluster to be referred to as Medical City.

Kennedy Space Center is a NASA facility. Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are military installations located on the Atlantic coast.

Major malls and open-air centers in the area include:

  • Altamonte Mall
  • Downtown Disney
  • The Florida Mall
  • The Mall at Millenia
  • Orlando Fashion Square
  • Oviedo Marketplace
  • Seminole Towne Center
  • Universal CityWalk
  • Volusia Mall
  • Waterford Lakes Town Center
  • West Oaks Mall
  • Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves

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Famous quotes containing the word economy:

    “Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit: but also the other way around. What we experience in dreams, so long as we experience it frequently, is in the end just as much a part of the total economy of our soul as anything we “really” experience: because of it we are richer or poorer, are sensitive to one need more or less, and are eventually guided a little by our dream-habits in broad daylight and even in the most cheerful moments occupying our waking spirit.”
    —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    “War. Fighting. Men ... every man in the whole realm is in the army.... Every man in uniform ... An economy entirely geared to war ... but there is not much war ... hardly any fighting ... yet every man a soldier from birth till death ... Men ... all men for fighting ... but no war, no wars to fight ... what is it, what does it mean?””
    —Doris Lessing (b. 1919)

    “Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
    —Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)