ORLANDO, Fla. (August 30, 2011) – From a pool of 107 organizations vying for 2011 Governor's Business Diversification Awards, 18 have won the prize. They will be honored on September 14 during a reception in Tallahassee at the Florida Governor's Mansion.

The awards recognize outstanding contributions toward improving and diversifying Florida's economy plus distinctive community investment efforts, particularly relating to industries targeted for economic development and high wage job growth.

"It gives us pride and pleasure to honor these companies for their success in job creation and enhancing Florida's business climate," said Gray Swoope, Enterprise Florida's president & CEO. "We're working tirelessly to move Florida's economy further uphill, so, these contributions from our businesses and economic development partners are highly welcome, encouraged and appreciated."

Enterprise Florida coordinates this program – now the 28th annual -- and the awards presentation is the centerpiece of the state's yearly Industry Appreciation Week (the third week of September). Awards are presented in six categories:

• Business Expansion – companies that expanded operations in 2010, investing capital and creating jobs for Floridians.
  
• Entrepreneurship – start-up companies (less than 5 years old) that have set a standard for entrepreneurship and creativity.
  
• Export Excellence – companies with a significant increase in documented export sales in 2010.
  
• Innovation – companies, organizations or institutions that through product or process best exemplified innovative leadership in 2010.
  
• Newcomer – For new-to-Florida companies that began operating in 2010.
  
• Green-to-Gold – Florida companies, universities or other organizations that through product or process best exemplified "green" leadership as it pertains to the state's goal to become a leader in this emerging field.

Competitors for each category included companies, organizations, universities and colleges in similar sized markets: Mid-Market (county population up to 150,000); Major Market (county population 150,001 to 800,000) and Mega Market (county population 800,001 and higher).

The 2011 winners listed by business category and market size are:

Business Expansion
Mid-Market: Optima Healthcare Solutions (Martin County)
Major Market: Coastal Steel Inc. (Brevard County)
Mega Market: National Forensic Science Technology Center, Inc. (Pinellas County) 

Entrepreneurship
Mid-Market: Keller Medical, Inc. (Martin)
Major Market: Rivian Automotive, Inc. (Brevard County)
Mega Market: CareCloud (Miami-Dade)

Export Excellence
Mid-Market: TurboCombustor Technology, Inc. (Martin County)
Major Market: Marketing Arm International, Inc. (Charlotte County)
Mega Market: United Franchise Group (Palm Beach County)

Green-to-Gold
Mid-Market: Southeastern Printing Company, Inc. (Martin County)
Major Market: Danfoss Turbocor Compressors Inc. (Leon County)
Mega Market: Royal Concrete Concepts (Palm Beach County)

Innovation
Mid-Market: Florida RF Labs (Martin)
Major Market: Banyan Biomarkers, Inc. (Alachua County)
Mega Market: Cross Match Technologies, m Inc. (Palm Beach County)

Newcomer
Mid-Market: NetBoss Technologies Inc. (Indian River County)
Major Market: Bing Energy International LLC (Leon County)
Mega Market: Envoy Therapeutics, Inc. (Palm Beach County)

A breakdown of the winners by county:

The 2011 Governor's Business Diversification Awards are cosponsored by Bank of America, Enterprise Florida and Florida Trend magazine.