Projects like these are part of Enterprise Florida's strategy for giving the Sunshine State an extreme makeover. Last year, EFI won approval from the state to fund $30 million worth of Centers of Excellence to foster and commercialize high-tech research.
   New or expanded Centers of Excellence in Florida this year include programs for Biomolecular Identification and Targeted Therapeutics at USF; Ocean Energy Technology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton; Sustainable Energy at UF; Photonics at UCF; Nano-Bio Sensors at UF; and Advanced Materials at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

AIM Engineering & Surveying is building a $10-million, 60,000-sq.-ft. (5,574-sq.-m.) headquarters on Interstate 75 in Fort Myers.

   EFI secured $200 million for the Florida Innovation Incentive Fund to help close deals last year on the Burnham Institute in Orlando ($155 million in incentives), the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in Port St. Lucie ($25 million) and SRI International in St. Petersburg ($20 million).
   An estimated $43.5 million in state and local incentives are pending on the proposed M2GEN project in Tampa, a joint venture between Merck & Co. and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. The project teams the world's second-largest drugmaker with the renowned cancer hospital to develop customized cancer treatments. M2GEN will create 165 jobs averaging $80,000 in annual wages.
   The state continues to secure its fair share of corporate headquarters facilities. In 2006, Florida landed new headquarters for Office Depot in Palm Beach County ($210 million capital investment and 2,180 jobs); Nokia Corp. Latin American Headquarters in Miami-Dade County ($3.6 million, 100 jobs); and Darden Restaurants in Orange County (1,000 jobs).
   Other growth industries in Florida include aviation/aerospace and financial services. The DayJet Corp. announced that it will invest $96.5 million and create 911 jobs in Palm Beach, Leon, Alachua, Escambia and Polk counties. Fidelity Investments announced a $27-million, 1,200-job investment in Jacksonville, where it was joined by Merrill Lynch ($25 million, 800 jobs).
   Florida officials say those are welcome jobs, no matter which way the wind blows.