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‘We felt a vibe’: EDC leans into long game for tech growth
“We thought we could help build this community.”
“Going on that bus, down Central [Avenue], we felt what I call a vibe, but we also felt this is where Austin, Texas, was 10 years ago. We thought we could help build this community,” said Cathie Wood of ARK Invest.
Wood delivered one of the opening remarks at the St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corp.’s annual event Wednesday. ARK Invest – which focuses on disruptive technologies – relocated to St. Pete in 2021, a move that helped raise the city’s profile well beyond Florida.
Site selector Sean Ferguson, founder and CEO of FIRETIGER, urged the room to think in longer arcs. Silicon Valley did not start as a software capital, he said. It began with television tube manufacturing. Its evolution took decades. The point was less nostalgia and more pacing – ecosystems develop over time.
Christopher Lloyd, Senior Vice President at McGuireWoods Consulting, shifted to where capital is heading now. Artificial intelligence alone represents roughly $8 trillion in projected spending between now and 2030, he said – a scale he compared to the space race, only larger.
If that level of investment is coming, St. Pete has to be positioned to capture it.
Lloyd pointed to what Tampa Bay already has: MacDill Air Force Base, U.S. Special Operations Command and the University of South Florida’s R1 research designation – one of about 50 institutions nationally at that level. Research capacity and defense infrastructure, already in place.
Florida is also seeing movement in defense-adjacent technology. Palantir recently relocated to Miami, an example Lloyd referenced while discussing how the state can compete as spending in AI and defense expands.
According to its 2025 annual report, the organization helped create 137 target-industry jobs, secured five projects and added 53 new leads to its pipeline. The report describes its mission as helping “out-of-market companies discover, explore and choose St. Pete,” essentially acting as a point of contact for executives and site selectors considering relocation.
One example cited in the report was MADIC Group, a French industrial company that selected St. Petersburg as its North American base after evaluating markets such as Atlanta, Houston, the Washington, D.C. area and Jacksonville.
Looking ahead, the report outlines 2026 priorities that include expanding national outreach, strengthening site selector relationships and continuing coordination with partners such as Pinellas County Economic Development, the St. Pete Chamber and the Innovation District.
Bob Harmon
February 20, 2026at9:53 am
“Austin 10 years ago”…and now Austin is an unaffordable shell of its former culture. Is that what we want in St. Pete? I am all for growth and economic prosperity, but we have to also have a balance with smart planning and cultural preservation.
Mike Kosempa
February 20, 2026at10:41 am
EXACTLY! If this person likes Austin so much THEN GO BACK TO AUSTIN! No one asked for you to come here. No one asked for these changes to our once nice place to live. No one asked for her dystopian tech future. No one wants her substandard investment “advice”.
Just another unwelcome grifter selling snake oil to morons.
We were doing just fine without you ms woods. GO AWAY.
Steven Sullivan
February 20, 2026at11:26 am
It was just a reference point she didn’t say she wanted it to be or look like Austin, not by a long shot and she’s willing to invest while incorporating local institutions like Moffit. ARK, took a look at south Florida and Miami for relocation and passed. Didn’t like the vibe I guess. This coming from someone headquartered in New York.