The program is part of an ongoing effort by the Osceola County School District to expand its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum. To create the new initiative, the School District has partnered with the SEMI Foundation, a California-based nonprofit organization that supports education and career awareness in the electronics and high-tech fields.

The result of the partnership is Osceola’s SEMI High Tech University, a three-day workshop for high school students who want to know more about technology careers. Students work directly with industry experts and participate in hands-on workshops. Osceola is the first school district in Florida to adopt the internationally acclaimed program.

BRIDG and the ��AV will take center stage when the first group of rising 11th graders come together June 13-15.

BRIDG is an industry-led consortium focused on the manufacturing development of advanced smart sensors, imagers and microchips. BRIDG, which was founded with support from UCF, Osceola County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, held a ribbon-cutting in April to celebrate the opening of one of the most advanced fabrication labs in the world at NeoCity, located across from Osceola Heritage Park.

“It’s all about creating sustainable economic prosperity for our region and state,” BRIDG CEO Chester Kennedy said. “A critical component of economic transformation is creating job opportunities and having the skilled talent necessary for these jobs. This program is a way to help build the future workforce and spark interest in STEM-based careers early on.”

The NanoScience Technology Center in Central Florida Research Park houses university faculty members who conduct groundbreaking nanotech research in energy, electronics, medicine and other fields.

Students will tour both to investigate how high-tech STEM solutions are used to solve real-world problems, to enhance students’ perceptions about STEM, and to generate excitement for world-class, high-tech jobs in the area. A related program for teachers on June 7-8 is designed to connect the classroom experience to careers in technology for educators.

The program will be available to qualified students and teachers at no cost to them and serve as the pilot program for the Central Florida region.

The BRIDG (Bridging the Innovation to Development Gap) design center at NeoCity, located across from Osceola Heritage Park, offers partners and others the opportunity to share equipment and conduct research needed to profitably access the next-generation sensor economy.

BRIDG, an acronym that captures the central mission of the innovative technology collective – “Bridging the Innovation Development Gap,” is led by Osceola County, the Ů��AV and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council (known as The Corridor.)

Since it launched in 2014, the consortium, formerly known as the International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research (ICAMR),  has provided a platform for advanced manufacturing development to “bridge the gap” between advanced research at Florida’s universities or industry innovators and cost-competitive manufacturing of new products tied to connected devices and the Internet of Things.

“We’re entering a new phase of this project that will transform Osceola County and Florida’s economy, giving us a competitive advantage over advanced, nano-scale manufacturing centers around the globe, and our new identity reflects that,” said Chester Kennedy, CEO for BRIDG.

Its partners now range from a Belgium-based leading international hub in nano-electronics and digital technology to a home-grown photonics and smart sensor developer.

In January, leaders announced the new name for the consortium. On April 13, a ribbon cutting will give guests the opportunity to celebrate what for many represents a bold future for Central Florida with the promise of new clean manufacturing and related jobs.

The 109,000-square-foot facility will be one of the most advanced fabrication labs in the world, where the scale of manufacturing conducted can be described as 1/1000th of the diameter of the average human hair.

The building includes environmental considerations reducing the number of measureable particles in the clean room from one million to one while maintaining absolute temperature and humidity control

In addition to a new name for the consortium, Osceola County has renamed the 500-acre, master planned site where the consortium is headquartered from the Osceola Tech Farm to NeoCity. Osceola County leaders say the name signals a new horizon for the region’s high-tech economy, and the site will be more than a traditional research park with its community connections and surrounding natural landscape.

“The global high-tech spotlight is shining on us as we change the face of Florida’s economy – putting us at the forefront of the next generation of nano-scale, micro-electronics,” said Osceola Commission Chairman Brandon Arrington. “None of this would have been possible without unanimous support of this Osceola County Commission, which has had the vision and foresight to make the commitment to fund this journey.”

The project has garnered widespread support.

State lawmakers approved $15 million toward the project last spring, and, in a major announcement in July, Belgian nanotechnology firm imec announced its partnership and plans to build its research and development design center at NeoCity, in collaboration with BRIDG. The company’s new U.S. headquarters will focus on photonics and high-speed electronics integrated circuits.

“With our local and global partners, we will create new solutions and economies of scale to transform the smart sensor industry, while diversifying the economy to lift our community,” said Dale Whittaker, UCF Provost and Executive Vice President. “That’s what happens when you bring together the best minds from the research labs and manufacturing centers with future-focused government leaders.”

Other major partners include Harris Corporation, Argonne National Laboratories, Kissimmee-based Photon-X, Florida International University, University of South Florida and University of Florida among others.

“This project is another demonstration of the power of partnerships, as almost from the start people and organizations have raised their hands and opened their wallets – even before being asked – to join the founders in a venture we all know will create jobs and amazing new technology,” said Randy Berridge, president of The Corridor.

The ribbon cutting will be held at 10 a.m. on April 13 at BRIDG headquarters. For more information, contact the Osceola County Office of Community Outreach and Public Information at 407-742-0100.

ICAMR will use the one-time $10 million appropriation to purchase tools and equipment for manufacturing. The $5 million in continuing funds puts the consortium in a strong strategic position to pursue federal contracts, attract industry, and proceed with plans for a design center that will strengthen consortium’s ability to capitalize on the burgeoning sensor economy for years to come.

ICAMR leaders and partners thanked supporters including the Central Florida legislative delegation, led by Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, Gov. Rick Scott, and the many industry and community leaders who wrote letters and advocated for the project during the past several years.

“We are thankful for all who have so diligently carried the flag for ICAMR and we are looking forward to the returns this investment will bring to the state of Florida,” Chester Kennedy, ICAMR CEO said.

Osceola County, the ��AV, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, Enterprise Florida and others have dedicated more than $162 million to develop the center that will be housed in a 109,000-square-foot advanced-manufacturing facility under construction in Osceola County.

Industry will use the facility to develop the tools and processes to manufacture sensors that connect people and their devices to the Internet of Things and enable devices of all kinds to communicate.

“We’ve assembled a great team that not only understands this project but is very capable of sharing that vision and getting decision-makers excited about the significance of what we are going to accomplish,” said Osceola County Manager Don Fisher. “This funding shows that the state is vested in the success of the project. Its commitment will play a key role in our efforts to continue to build our partnerships by bringing in top-flight companies and research organizations from around the world.”

UCF President John C. Hitt also thanked supporters and said ICAMR is “a game changer” poised to give Florida a global competitive advantage in advanced manufacturing.

“Here, in our nation’s fast-growing, third-largest state, our alliance stands to reinvent the future of nano-electronics research and development in this country and beyond,” Hitt said. “We will position Central Florida to be a high-tech magnet for 21st century international industry.”

Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, said: “The corridor connects 23 counties and their tech clusters to our three great universities (UCF, USF and UF) and ICAMR promises to exponentially expand this technology economy.”

Last June, the ��AV, Osceola County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council committed funding and resources to develop the $61 million state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing research center.

Since then the total commitment for the project has grown to $162 million – still shy of the $195 million needed to build, equip and run the 100,000 square-foot facility for the first several years but enough to propel the center to recognition among semiconductor and other advanced manufacturers around the world.

“We started with the goal of being first out of the gate to build the type of facility industry needs to access the Internet of Things,” said Dan Holladay, executive director, operations and technology programs for ICAMR.

“We have made significant progress in technology development discussions with industry leaders and incorporating those requirements into our completed building plans,” he said.

The 20-acre site, located near the intersection of U.S. Highway 192 and Florida’s Turnpike, has been cleared and supplemented with 30 surrounding acres for development of the FARM – a research park that will house users of the facility.

The first phase of the building has been designed and construction is scheduled for completion by early 2017.

In the meantime ICAMR’s leadership staff have set up shop in offices in the Osceola County Courthouse. They spent part of June creating a comprehensive workshop for attendees of the Semicon West semiconductor conference, which begins Monday. The conference attracts more than 650 international exhibitors and ICAMR will lead the section on “Manufacturing Scale-up of Advanced Materials (III-Vs and other novel materials) for Next Generation Devices.”

The center is also making Central Florida a viable contender in federal awards competitions, playing a role in three major grants for a total of $500 million, Holladay said.

Because of the investment in ICAMR, Central Florida is in a stronger position to compete for the jobs of the future, he said.

The smart sensors industry is expected to be worth more than $154 billion by 2020.