Volusia County Looks to Create Aerospace ‘Cluster’

With the aerospace and aviation sectors growing larger and more important in the local, state and national economies, Volusia County is building on its recent successes in attracting those kinds of high-tech companies.

“We are interested in developing an aerospace and aviation industry cluster in Volusia County and have identified an organization we believe is very capable of doing this,” said Volusia County Economic Development Director Lou Paris at a recent meeting of the Daytona Beach Economic Development Advisory Board.

Paris said the county is working with Cenfluence, an initiative of the Florida High Tech Corridor and Orange County.

“They do this across Central Florida under the umbrella of the Florida High Tech Corridor,” he said. “They have done this multiple times in other industries.”

According to information on the High Tech Corridor website, the name “Cenfluence” combines “confluence” and “Central Florida” and “embodies a mission to unite cluster members and propel them beyond local borders to energize national and international partnerships and commerce.”

Paris said with the growth on the Space Coast of the aerospace and aviation industries – including the move by French aircraft manufacturing Aura Aero to Volusia County and the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the time is ripe for the effort.

“It’s logical for us to pursue this if you look at how things are shaping up in our county in terms of the momentum we have,” he said. “We’re also seeing pressure in the south for companies to expand north.”

Paris also spoke about an upcoming program at the Wayne Sanborn Center in DeLand focused on funding readiness for business.

“This is part of an effort by Volusia Business Resources to help people who want to start a business having access to funding,” he said. “We prepare them to be funding ready for lending institutions in the area.”

Advisory Board members also heard from representatives from Team Volusia, the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce and Katrina Powell, who was recently named the city’s economic and strategic opportunities director.