By Nathan Sparks, CEcD
Executive Director of One Okaloosa EDC
“Expect the unexpected.” If the recent, record-breaking Florida snowfall taught us anything, it is certainly that! Perhaps it is the “newness” of the year and the anticipation of all the still-to-be-revealed opportunities our community and its businesses will discover over the next 11+ months that have me feeling incredibly optimistic for 2025. I sincerely hope that you share that optimism with me!
One thing that we know for certain is this – the uncertainty that comes with an election year is now officially in the rearview mirror. Historically, election years tend to be a very tenuous time for businesses in general. Business leaders are typically extra cautious in engaging in long range planning (to include facility expansion or relocation decisions) during Presidential election cycles as they don’t have the certainly of knowing which party will be in power (and what policies they may or may not be pursuing). At One Okaloosa, we certainly experienced this firsthand over the past 12-18 months as many of the businesses we are working to assist in their expansion decisions opted for a “strategic pause”.
Thankfully, the all-clear has now been signaled and most businesses appear to be moving forward with long-planned projects. That said, one area where we are still seeing some softness is with certain military/defense related projects – with many still plagued by the inability of Congress to finalize a FY 2025 budget deal. (As was widely reported, a second Continuing Resolution to extend federal spending to March 25 was passed on Dec. 20). Of course, efforts pertaining to the FY 2026 budget – which begins on Oct. 1, 2025 – are already well underway. With the Trump Administration focused on fiscal responsibility and government efficiency, many Federal contractors are also anxiously awaiting changes to the operational landscape. Personally, I see great potential for industry and government to collaborate and innovate like never before in response to the new administration’s objectives.
Speaking of innovation, we were thrilled to see Okaloosa County receive recent recognition as the 17th best southern metro area for technology. CommercialCafé, a commercial real estate news blog, evaluated markets on a range of metrics including density of tech establishments, tech employment density, tech employment growth and median tech earnings among others. Notably, we ranked 8th overall for technology employment growth, trailing much larger markets like Dallas, Austin, Tampa and Orlando. One area where we currently fall short is in the issuance of patents – with only 3 patents granted locally over the past five years, compared with Huntsville, where 211 patents were issued during the same timeframe. If you have interest in digging deeper into our thriving technology community, please consider joining us for the 8th annual TeCMEN Industry Day on May 14. General registration is now officially open at www.tecmenindustryday.com.
