South Florida technology companies are hoping for a boost from a $250 million state investment fund designed to spur innovation. The Florida Growth Fund, an arm of the state’s pension fund, is opening its main office in Fort Lauderdale and will be investing in companies throughout the state.

Venture capital – hard to come by, even during good times – has been even harder for growing companies to tap during the recession, said Jane Teague, executive director of the Enterprise Development Corp. of South Florida, a Boca Raton-based nonprofit that assists emerging science and technology companies. That makes the fund important.

“It’s very substantial,” she said. “It’s just a question of who they’re going to invest in.”

While there is no geographical formula for how the fund will be invested, the fact that the first office is in Fort Lauderdale is a sign of South Florida’s likely importance, fund manager Greg Baty said.