The Navy has always maintained a presence on Aquidneck Island but when a reorganization in 1973 led to the loss of thousands of jobs, Newport, Portsmouth, and Middletown municipalities came together to attract private sector enterprise through creating Aquidneck Corporate Park.

Newport County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Keith Stokes – who jokingly referred to Aquidneck as “Silicon Island” – said that in the past 25 years the town has been highly successful in attracting defense-related research and development companies. “We swapped swabbies for scientists,” Stokes said.

The combined jobs of the six largest software development firms in Middletown totaled more than 1,100 last year. On a list of the 25 largest software firms published in PBN last month, 10 were based in Middletown – more than any other municipality on the list.

According to David Sanders, a spokesperson for NUWC, the center currently has more than 900 contracts out worth a total of $336 million. Those are primarily awarded to New England companies, with about one-third of the money staying within Rhode Island.

In 2002, a University of Rhode Island analysis of Aquidneck Island’s economic clusters, all 10 respondents to a telephone survey said that their business was predominately military-oriented and that their desire to be close to the center played a role in locating on Aquidneck Island.