Popular Science Magazine ranks Gainesville the most technologically advanced city in Florida; 30^th in the nation

Gainesville is rapidly becoming a leading technology center in the United States and the word is beginning to spread. Popular Science magazine ranks Gainesville as the 30th most technologically advanced city in the nation and top high-tech hot spot in the State of Florida.

The ranking, found in a February 15 Popular Science article entitled, "Technopolis Found," places Gainesville ahead of other Florida cities such as Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater (ranked 34th) and Jacksonville (ranked 43rd). Magazine researchers graded 127 cities with populations above 25,000 using information obtained from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Transportation, private foundations and medical institutes.

36 technology indicators were selected, weighted and grouped into one of six categories: Transportation, Connected Citizens, Medical, Jobs, Education and Energy. Weighted indicators were summed by category to obtain a category score. Category scores were weighted, summed and converted to a 1-100 scale to obtain an overall "High-Tech" score for each city.

Gainesville was awarded 72 out of 100 possible points, equal to the score received by Los Angeles. A closer look at the statistics reveals that Gainesville ranked 3rd in the category of high-tech jobs per capita, following only San Jose, CA, and Orange, CA, according to Hallie Deaktor, publicity manager at "Popular Science."

"Most of those high-tech jobs are spin-offs from the University of Florida (UF)," explains Erik Bredfeldt, Gainesville economic development director. "New technologies are developed at UF and by graduates that start new businesses. Additionally, Gainesville has Santa Fe Community College, the Chamber of Commerce, the city and county governments, the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center and other organizations working together to stimulate the economy," says Bredfeldt.

According to "Techno-polis Found," Gainesville ranked ninth in connected citizenry, or how city residents use technologies such as cell phones, HDTVs, computers, satellite, cable and wireless Internet hot spots. Gainesville also ranked 37th in medical and emergency response systems, 73rd in smart use of energy and 104th in transportation innovation. Gainesville's comprehensive national rank of 30 is higher than peer cities, Ann Arbor, MI (ranked 32nd) and Austin, TX (ranked 53rd). For more information about Gainesville's "High Tech" ranking, contact the Marketing and Communication Office at 352-334-5017 or by email: gainesvillepio@cityofgainesville.org.

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• Click here (24KB ) to download the alphabetized list with overall rank and 6 subcategories.