Florida Policy Index

Public skepticism is real. So is the need for digital infrastructure capable of supporting Florida’s next generation of economic growth. Florida’s data center debate underscores the need for a statewide policy framework that protects communities while supporting digital infrastructure and long-term economic growth. Florida’s data center debate has reached a consequential point. Voters are skeptical, communities want answers, and policymakers face difficult questions about ele

Between 2014 and 2024, Florida’s nominal gross domestic product increased from approximately $860 billion to $1.73 trillion. In current-dollar terms, the state economy almost exactly doubled in ten years. The expansion reached well beyond hotels, theme parks and residential development. Professional and technical services, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, aerospace and the broader digital economy all became more consequential parts of Florida’s economic base.

Florida’s economy is increasingly digital. Technology companies, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, telecommunications, financial technology and digital services are becoming more deeply embedded in industries across the state. At the same time, Florida is investing in the physical infrastructure that supports that economy — broadband networks, data centers, power generation and an increasingly sophisticated public-sector technology environment.

Hydrogen may play an important role in transportation, manufacturing, energy storage, and resilient power generation. But the flood of private capital and public funding into the sector has also created opportunities for promoters to sell ambition as achievement. Recent fraud cases reveal a consistent pattern: the technology may be legitimate, while the advertised facilities, customers, production capacity, and commercial milestones are not.

By the early 1950s, the United States produced nearly half of the world's steel. Few industries appeared more secure. Fewer still imagined that America's dominance could ever meaningfully decline. Yet history had other plans. Today, the United States occupies a remarkably similar position in artificial intelligence. America's technology companies lead the development of frontier AI models. Its cloud providers operate much of the world's advanced computing infrastructure.

The global conversation surrounding hydrogen has accelerated dramatically over the past several years. Governments are investing billions of dollars, utilities are evaluating new technologies, and private investors continue searching for the next breakthrough in clean energy. Yet much of the discussion overlooks a fundamental reality: Producing hydrogen is only part of the equation. Moving it safely, reliably, and economically at commercial scale is the far greater challeng

Florida AI policy is emerging at the center of U.S.–China strategic competition, where a fragmented, state-by-state regulatory approach risks constraining American innovation in a critical national security technology.

Florida is emerging as a critical hub in autonomous defense and the energy infrastructure required to sustain it—where megawatts, not just munitions, will define the next phase of national security.

Florida’s 2026 infrastructure and regulatory framework is not designed for incremental growth—it is engineered to attract hyperscale, AI-driven data center development. The shift is deliberate, and it is already reshaping where capital flows.

For years, the digital economy was defined by its lack of physical constraints. Cloud computing, mobile platforms, and software-driven services created the perception of a system that could scale without friction—light, flexible, and largely detached from the physical world. Artificial intelligence is reversing that model.

Today, roughly 9,000 data centers operate worldwide, with the United States hosting the largest share by a wide margin. Despite periodic claims that America is falling behind in digital infrastructure development, the reality is quite the opposite: the United States continues to dominate globally in the deployment and operation of large-scale data center capacity..

President Donald Trump’s sweeping AI executive order marks a decisive shift in who writes the rules for artificial intelligence in the United States. Rather than allowing states to continue experimenting with their own AI frameworks, the order asserts federal primacy—aiming to replace a growing patchwork of state laws with a single national approach.

Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida’s premier National Cancer Institute-designated facility, has expanded its partnership with biotechnology firm RyboDyn, Inc. to accelerate the development of advanced immunotherapies.