Seminole County panel explores Central Florida’s simulation sector impact

Waymon Armstrong, founder and CEO of Engineering & Computer Simulations, helped put a Seminole County face on Central Florida’s simulation economy at the Lake Mary Events Center, where panelists said the sector reaches into local paychecks, contracts and classrooms.

The discussion, part of the Seminole County Chamber of Commerce’s Good Morning Seminole series, brought together Armstrong, Dolly Oberoi, CEO of C2 Technologies, Inc., and George E. Cheros, president and CEO of the National Center for Simulation. Chamber materials said the goal was to focus on one of the region’s largest economic drivers and what it means for Seminole County specifically.

That driver is sizable. Florida High Tech Corridor materials say the modeling, simulation and training cluster contributes $6 billion annually to Florida’s GDP and directly employs more than 30,000 people. Orlando economic development materials put the regional simulation workforce at more than 45,000 and said more than $6 billion in modeling, training and simulation contracts flow through Central Florida each year.

For Seminole County, the numbers land close to home. Team Orlando reporting said about 40% of Orlando’s MS&T workforce resides in Seminole County, a share that helps explain why county officials and business leaders keep returning to the sector when they talk about jobs, internships and long-term competitiveness. The broader ecosystem is anchored by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training and the National Center for Simulation.

County leaders have already moved to underline that connection. On Jan. 13, the Seminole County Board of County Commissioners formally recognized PEO STRI in a proclamation at the Seminole County Government Building. Fred Kittinger of UCF said the region’s simulation presence has been foundational to Central Florida’s growth and reflected decades of partnership among the Army, local government, higher education and industry.

That partnership is now increasingly tied to more than defense work. Regional leaders say simulation has expanded into transportation, healthcare, theme parks and smart-city applications, broadening the industry’s reach beyond military contracts and into sectors that shape everyday life in Seminole County and across Central Florida.