CICEFT Inc. Launches In Tallahassee
Who says Tallahassee doesn’t spawn tech start-ups anymore?Clipped from www.beapartofoursecret.comLatest News
CICEFT Inc. Launches In Tallahassee
The Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County, Inc (EDC) in partnership with the City of Tallahassee is pleased to recognize the launch of CICEFT, Inc. in Tallahassee resulting in the initial creation of five high-wage, high-tech jobs in the emerging sector of magnet and materials sciences, and the opportunity to help launch a new energy project with potential world-wide application. The vision of Magnet Lab engineer Tom Painter, CICEFT is a new small business specializing in the engineering, fabrication and testing of superconducting cable inserted into a conduit. “We are honored to be the US national supplier of cable in conduit jacketing services for the International ITER project and are excited that these components could eventually lead to a solution to the world’s energy problems. We couldn’t have done it without the developed base of intellectual property at FSU’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the assistance of the EDC, the City of Tallahassee, the airport and Flightline Group,” said Tom Painter, President of CICEFT, Inc.
Through the formation of a collaborative team of industry, education and local government leaders, the EDC has assisted CICEFT, Inc. in locating a site and designing facilities to support a recently awarded $5 million federal contract to provide components to the US ITER Magnetic Fusion Energy project. “This is exactly what we need to happen,” said Kim Williams, Chairman of the EDC, “the commercialization of technologies in our research and development facilities by talented engineers like Tom. It takes people and resources to get a business started and we are so fortunate to have such a dedicated group of business leaders to lend their experience to Tom and his team and for the City and Flightline to provide the site at the airport.”
CICEFT offices are located in the newly established Florida State University Entrepreneurial Center in Commonwealth Center business park, but the US ITER contract requires a unique placement of two facilities roughly 3000 feet apart with a flat surface between them to assemble the components for the Magnetically Confined Fusion Energy Experiment being built in Europe by a seven nation consortium including the European Union, the Russian Federation, Japan, China, India, South Korea and the Unites States. Fusion Energy has the potential to provide an essentially unlimited source of clean, carbon-free electricity. If the ITER Experiment is successful, it will be a big step towards developing this technology as a viable commercial energy source. “It’s not everyday that we get to help start a new business in Tallahassee,” said John Marks, Mayor, “but it is great to know that the Tallahassee Regional Airport can play such a vital role in the creation of this new company.”
“We knew from the start that this was the place for CICEFT,” said Danny Langston, President of Flightline Group. “It has been a great journey working with the EDC partners and Tom to provide a creative solution for a unique set of requirements.” CICEFT will lease two aircraft hangars just north of the Compass Pointe development to assemble and test the cable in conduit for the US ITER contract. The initial five jobs pay an average wage $73,200 which is twice that of the Tallahassee MSA at $34,822. The company expects to add three technical positions in the next 12 months.
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