| Pole Star Defense Finds Business is Easy to Navigate in Pinellas County |
| Pinellas County has long been a desirable destination for industries in the sectors of homeland security and national defense thanks to its advantageous concentration of interconnected businesses and suppliers. With a deep labor market of skilled individuals and a culture of innovation, a new business cluster has emerged in St. Petersburg consisting of maritime and defense technology companies like Pole Star Defense. Pole Star Defense was intentional in its site selection search before arriving to the conclusion that Pinellas County was the best fit. President Ben Minichino explains, “We looked at DC, Texas, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, but St. Pete won out. We weren’t coming to Florida to ask for tax benefits, but we knew we wanted to relocate to a state that has an advantageous tax structure for military veterans because our first desire is recruiting prior service military veterans. Many veterans that enlist after graduating high school have an opportunity to retire in their early 40s, and the idea that they can come retire to Florida where their retirement income is not taxed, and start a second career in a business and tax-friendly state, is very desirable. Pinellas County and specifically St. Pete, have the ecosystem already in place for supporting small defense contractor companies like us.” Read more of this story at PCED.org/PoleStar. |
 Ben Minichino, CEO of Pole Star Defense in St. Petersburg, FL, and Scott Talcott, Business Development Manager, Pinellas County Economic Development |
| 2022 Florida Technology & Innovation Solution Summit, Aug. 31 Join the Florida Chamber Foundation for the first annual 2022 Florida Technology & Innovation Solution Summit, August 31, from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. in Tampa. Engage in conversations with some of Florida’s top inventors, leaders in disruptive tech, and legislators on creating the solutions to build an advanced business climate while looking to innovation to secure Florida’s future. Visit www.flchamber.com/tisummit2022 for registration and sponsorship options. |
| New on PCED.org: County and City Demographic & Business Summaries |
| We’ve updated our Data Center with fresh new content, rich in detail. Find Demographic & Business Summaryreports for Pinellas County and 30 individual municipalities/ unincorporated County areas at PCED.org/Data. Also new to our website is a Tampa Bay MSA Monthly Consumer Price Index report. Pinellas Employment UpdatePinellas County’s May 2022 unemployment rate was 2.2%, 1.9 percentage points lower than the region’s rate of 4.1% a year ago. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA had the highest annual job growth compared to all other metro areas in the state in financial activities (+6,900 jobs) and information (+2,000 jobs). |
AmSkills Career Discovery Bootcamp For the past two years, AmSkills has focused the majority of its efforts on providing manufacturing Bootcamps that travel around the Tampa Bay area. The program consists of two steps that lead to guaranteed job interviews with multiple employers. The first step is to attend a 1-day workshop where participants work together as a team to build a hands-on project, while also learning about the many exciting career opportunities in the manufacturing industry in Tampa Bay. After completing the 1-day workshop, participants may be invited to participate in the AmSkills Career Discovery Bootcamp for 2-weeks. The Bootcamp consists of multiple hands-on projects, blueprint and measurement reading, intro to soldering, attending tours of local manufacturers and obtaining an OSHA Safety Certificate. Learn more about the program and opportunities for employers by visiting www.amskills.org, or contact Jim Shedden, Apprenticeship Program Coordinator & Manufacturing Liaison, at jshedden@amskills.org. |
| Help Build America’s Best Workforce In January, the Florida Chamber Foundation launched a two-year research program to inform its next phase of workforce research, the Florida Workforce Needs Study 2.0. This follow-up research effort to the 2021 Florida Workforce Needs Study will provide a deeper analysis of Florida’s workforce skills gaps and the resources available to better equip Florida’s current and future talent. Part Two of the 2.0 Survey Series, “A Deeper Look Into Desired Skillsets and Workforce Development,” further examines workforce skills needs, talent gaps, and the workforce, education and training opportunities available to help win Florida’s talent war. Click here to take part in this survey. |
Discover Global Markets: The Blue EconomySeptember 20 – 22, 2022 Discover Global Markets business development forum is the U.S. Department of Commerce’s flagship event series for U.S. exporters. The forum features a dynamic mix of plenary sessions, topical round-tables, prescheduled one-on-one meetings with U.S. commercial diplomats, buyers and ministry officials from key markets around the globe, and plenty of networking.Learn more and register at https://www.trade.gov/discover-global-markets. |
2022 MakeMore Manufacturing Summit: Oct. 13 MakeMore is a statewide initiative focused on providing a platform to exchange ideas about how our state resources are addressing the impact of market dynamics, economic trends and policies, and new technologies in the manufacturing sector.Join in-depth discussions to build a roadmap to strengthen and advance Florida’s economy through innovation, talent development, and leveraging our resources to accelerate the productivity and technological performance of the manufacturing sector. Learn more and register here. |