Designing a Digital Region

Designing a digital city for growth

In Central Florida, positioning the region toward a digital future was a bold undertaking.

Set Up

The Challenge

Aligning diverse initiatives in the region for economic and sustainable growth in a digital era.

The Outcome

A blueprint to engage educators, entrepreneurs, business and public leaders to create a rich community proposition to benefit social and economic growth.

The Project

There is Spiderman and there are Mickey and Minnie. Central Florida has long been a destination for fun and pleasure. It is also a hub for creativity and innovation, not only in entertainment, but in other areas of technology advancement. The city’s leaders wanted to build upon these brands and initiatives and structure the region for the future as a nucleus of digital entrepreneurship and growth.

City governments, tackling regional issues often attempt to go it alone to solve problems or create new opportunities. Bringing outside individuals and organizations together to realize a common vision and own the solution is often too complex to undertake. Yet, this region was able to bring together a diverse set of leaders with a breadth of interests, experiences, and expertise to create a blueprint for digital prominence in the region.

The team was asked to define the challenges associated with the proposed initiative and focus the efforts to define common perspectives along which public, private and academic institutions could align. Providing a platform for idea exploration and a forum to share and openly debate opportunities was an essential element in the design process. The team sought input beyond the regional players and traditional channels to better understand and assess the social, educational and governance challenges associated with the proposed vision. A set of clear initiatives was created to invigorate the stakeholders and help gain commitment to the plan and to take ownership of the development of a program for digital innovation.

Digital Region Media and Technology Designing a digital city for growth.

A Digital Hub was created and included clear goals for economic growth. A set of initiatives was implemented including the creation of specific academic courses at colleges and universities to support the public and private initiatives, job creation programs, an incubator for entrepreneurs, favorable public incentives and a center to showcase the efforts. The plan leveraged existing competencies and focused on areas of excellence such as digital arts, interactive media and entertainment technology. It also incorporated industries that reflect the region’s history and natural resources.

The team identified the key stakeholders within the region who needed to be part of the comprehensive plan. Leaders in all facets of business, academia and local government were enlisted to ensure that there was diversity in thinking with respect to problem definition and formulating solutions. Fostering key stakeholder ownership and commitment was an important step in the development phase. Jointly defining a vision allowed the disparate parties to find common ground. The outlined vision extended beyond any party’s individual strategic and economic goals and included more meaningful aspirations to impact people beyond the individual organizations’ employee base.

The region is recognized as “A City of the Future” and “One of the most promising tech hubs to watch.” The initiatives from the plan have since created a strong hub and integrated ecosystem for digital innovation and attracting students, families, workers and business investments. This has largely been brought about through focused academic programs, business incentives, and prospective career opportunities, but most of all through the combined efforts of a diverse group of people and organizations. The creation of a center for digital arts was an important step for the entire community and represented the uniting symbol of the various constituents. Other attributes of the region are highlighted in the development of a high-tech corridor, incubators, and the development of the agri-technology, aerospace, and nanotechnology industries.