St. Petersburg Ocean Team impact quantified

Those are the findings of a new economic analysis of what is called the St. Petersburg Ocean Team. It shows the consortium’s 1,622 employees generate an estimated $143 million in annual household earnings.

Indirect jobs created through industry demand and those spawned by household spending related to the consortium total 3,429 jobs, which in turn contribute $251 million annually to Pinellas County’s gross product. Because a significant share of annual household earnings is spent locally, the wages earned at these jobs circulate money through different sectors of the local economy, the analysis shows.

Why now? The city requested the analysis by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council to provide “a snapshot” of the consortium’s current and potential impacts, gearing up marketing of the marine science team formed last year, said Dave Goodwin, St. Petersburg economic development director.

No specific new company was the reason for the city’s focus on the team’s economic impact, he said, but attracting more businesses to join the city’s cluster of marine science organizations is a priority.

“We wanted to measure the business and impact from the team and raise the awareness and profile of the team,” Goodwin said. “It’s not out of the realm of possibility for more businesses to become part of the team. The team’s economic impact is significant.”

The regional planning agency has sophisticated economic modeling tools for analyses that have ranged in the past from specific businesses’ impacts to tax cuts. In-depth detailed analyses cost from $1,500 to $3,000.

The ocean team’s one-page analysis, which was pretty basic, was free to the city, said Patrick O’Neil, senior planner.

What it means for you

Startups looking for a base location to tap into the cluster’s resources and companies on the prowl for expansion sites can use the team’s economic impact information in making decisions.

Spin-offs from the team’s research and technology stay close in the cluster and add to its impact and employment. Bioplex Technologies Inc., a spin-off from research at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science, is building its St. Petersburg presence.

Bioplex, which provides mobile molecular diagnostic and chemical analysis solutions for global markets, hired five employees and has openings for four more, said Carolyn Fries, chief operating officer.

“We represent the economic development from the cluster,” Fries said at a city-sponsored ocean team jobs summit discussion April 20. “We have a lot of fantastic opportunities here.”

Fries noted the marine science business cluster is “much, much more than Free Willy and Flipper” and often requires unique approaches to engineering. Bioplex prefers to keep its employee searches and supplier and vendor business close to home.

“We use the local machine shops,” she said. “The trades also are very important.”

In search of qualified applicants

SRI St. Petersburg, the big kahuna of the ocean team and a facility of Silicon Valley-based SRI International, has a commitment based on funding incentives to hire 200 people by 2017. Currently, the company has 60 employees and sometimes cannot find qualified job applicants, said Walter McCracken, deputy director of maritime technology engineering and systems, at the jobs summit.

The company recently lost two software development related positions to another SRI facility because the St. Petersburg operation could not find qualified people.

“We are very concerned about that,” McCracken said, adding that the company needs to fill a wide gamut of jobs ranging from research proposal writers to all types of engineers.

One of the magnets that attracted SRI to the city’s marine science cluster was technology transfer opportunities.

Goodwin refers to the city’s cluster as the Woods Hole of the Southeast. Woods Hole is the site of a cluster of marine science businesses and organizations that also capitalize on technology transfers in the town of Falmouth, Mass.

“We have a lot of technology transfer occurring,” said Carey M. Murphy, chair of the Falmouth Economic Development and Industrial Corp. “We have businesses that are direct offshoots, and we’ve been very successful in developing technology parks to keep them here. The whole community is very enriched by the cluster’s presence.”