
Sheena Fowler
CEO
OUR GOAL
UNITE. INNOVATE. ILLUMINATE.
Our goal is to unite the community, accelerate innovation, and illuminate the story of Central Florida as the next great American center for technology and creativity.
BECOME A SPONSOR
Join the movement accelerating Central Florida’s innovation economy. As a sponsor, your investment helps build the infrastructure, community, and narrative that will make Orlando an undeniable force in technology and creativity.
ORLANDO BY THE NUMBERS
expected to increase
by 27% by 2030
a Business
Fastest-growing
Tech Hubs
Program in the World,
FIEA (UCF)
Latest News
GET THE LATEST ON CENTRAL FLORIDA'S TECH SCENE
Stay informed and engaged with our handpicked selection of featured news articles. Explore the latest insights, trends, and breakthroughs that shape our landscape, and dive deeper into the stories that matter most to you.
OUR SPONSORS
LEVERAGING PARTNERSHIPS ACTIVATING LEADERS
Through the strength of partnerships and the guidance of tech leadership, we are profoundly grateful for the sponsorship that propels our mission to cultivate a flourishing tech scene in our city. As we stride forward, we warmly welcome the support of new sponsors to join us in this transformative journey
UPCOMING EVENTS
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS CONNECTING COMMUNITY
Join leaders, builders, and innovators shaping Central Florida’s technology future. Connect, learn, and contribute to the momentum driving our region forward. Be part of the movement.
Events
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Central Florida Academic Lab Showcase
Central Florida Academic Lab Showcase https://forms.monday.com/forms/9ab861e8dee1f2cab9e1a10910eb5a7b?r=use1&utm_academic=&utm_source= This curated showcase highlights Florida-based academic labs conducting applied modeling, simulation, and digital engineering research relevant to Department of Defense missions. Participating labs will engage […]
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Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship – March Tampa Chapter Happy Hour
Bahama Breeze 3045 North Rocky Point Drive East, Tampa, FL, United Statesa casual gathering of high-performing, non-conforming women founders, tech workers, VCs, and hype girlsJoin the Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship (WTE) Tampa Chapter for a laid-back Monthly Happy Hour at […]
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Orlando Devs social & Orlando Tech and Beer in March!
Twelve Talons Beerworks 2807 E South Street, Orlando, FL, United StatesJoin the Orlando Devs network for the monthly Orlando Tech and Beer - a monthly networking and social event hosted by the team that leads Accelerate Orlando. All OTAB events […]
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1 Million Cups – Orlando Weekly Meetup
1 Million Cups - Orlando If you love and support entrepreneurship and small business, there's no better place to be on Wednesday mornings! We meet every week to support and […]
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AWS Lightning Talks!
Dr. Phillips Academic Commons 528 W Livingston St, Orlando, FL, United StatesJoin us for our first Orlando AWS User Group Lightning talks session! Want to share something you’ve built, learned, broken, or optimized in AWS? This is your chance. Our Lightning […]
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CitrusSec Meetup
Central Florida CitySec CitrusSec is a Central Florida CitySec group located in the Orlando area. CitrusSec's goal is to discuss topics of interest in a non-work, non-vendor setting; preferably while […]
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reFOCUS with Mariana Martinez | The Pillars of Creative Fulfillment
Full Sail Building 3 Auditorium 175 University Park Dr, Winter Park, FL, United StatesMariana will share lessons & insights that help shape her career.Join us for the first event of AIGA Orlando’s 2026 reFOCUS Series: The Pillars of Creative Fulfillment with Mariana MartinezAn […]
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March Virtual “Show and Tell” of Projects by the Community
Online eventReady to showcase your creativity and ingenuity? Want to see what fun, cool, and innovative projects community members are working on? Then get ready for our March Creative Exchange! This […]
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Dive into Virtual Worlds: Intro to AndroidXR & WebXR Tools
Online eventJoin us for an exciting virtual community event where we'll be introducing AndroidXR and exploring the latest WebXR tools designed specifically for web developers eager to venture into the world […]
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Founder Intelligence: Building In The Era Of Ai
CREDO Conduit 1001 North Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL, United StatesBOT x SWORL x OIL are partnering up for an enlightening panel discussion surrounding how founders can build faster with Ai.Join us for Founder Intelligence: Building in the Era of […]
FEATURED NEWS
ORLANDO TECHNOLOGY
Stay informed and engaged with our handpicked selection of featured news articles. Explore the latest insights, trends, and breakthroughs that shape our landscape, and dive deeper into the stories that matter most to you.

This is the last Innovate Orlando newsletter. What comes next is bigger.
Orlando is home to moonshots and magic. A Central Florida AV company is heading to the FIFA World Cup. UCF just launched a $3.5 billion campaign, its largest in history. An Orlando cybersecurity company hosted a national conference in our own backyard. Space Florida opened a $531M call for projects.

Waymo is on I-4. Orlando Tech Summit Recap. Orlando just joined an elite list.
Driverless cars, $3.5B from UCF, the Tech Summit recap, and more.

DEFENSE CONTRACTS, A $160M MOONSHOT, AND THE CAPITAL GAP WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT.
Defense contracts are translating into production jobs, space infrastructure can handle operational cadence, healthcare technology is scaling nationally from Orlando, and founders are building companies that choose to stay here. But momentum without execution is just performance art.

SimSpace just moved to Orlando. Miami still raised 9x more capital. Feb 20 is the plan.
This week Central Florida stacked another cyber HQ, energy hub expansion, and quantum fab growth on top of our simulation-native infrastructure. The wins are real, but so is the 9x capital gap to Miami. We need execution, not just announcements.

WE DON’T FUND VAPORWARE. WE DEPLOY ON TUESDAY.
Central Florida operates an integrated platform, not a “startup scene.” University research feeds sensor hardware. Defense simulation trains space missions and theme parks using the same skillset. Enterprise AI deploys across consulting, healthcare, and government. Talent compounds across applications instead of fragmenting across geographies.

We don’t chase Unicorns. We launch Starships.
The Central Florida secret sauce. We don’t just “exit” companies; we integrate them. We’re an ecosystem where talent compounds across applications instead of fragmenting across geographies.

The Signal: Rockets, Raises, and the “B” Word (Billions)
We often talk about wanting to be a “Tier 1” tech hub. Well, Tier 1 hubs don’t just launch rockets; they launch sustainable businesses. This week, we saw that duality perfectly executed.

CENTRAL FLORIDA’S MODELING & SIMULATION CAPABILITIES ARE NOW THE OPERATING SYSTEM FOR A COMPLETE INNOVATION ECONOMY
For more than 60 years, Central Florida has built the technologies others took credit for. That era is ending. Today, the companies, capital, and narrative authority are converging where the operational advantage has always been.

2025: THE YEAR ORLANDO’S TECH STACK WENT VISIBLE
In 2025, Central Florida finally stopped politely waiting to be discovered and just kept launching rockets, training soldiers, detecting cancer, and building billion-dollar companies, whether anyone was paying attention or not.

Stop Looking for Headquarters. Start Looking at Infrastructure.
Orlando’s advantage is not sector dominance. It is capability convergence.
When physics-based simulation, real-time platforms, human performance systems, and adaptive AI are reused across industries, talent becomes elastic and systems scale faster.
IMPACTFUL TESTIMONIALS
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP CREATION
A visionary partnership between the City of Orlando and the Orlando Economic Partnership, dedicated to fueling the growth and prosperity of our local technology and innovation sector.
BREAKTHROUGH ORLANDO
CATALYZING INNOVATION ELEVATING OUR CITY
We are collaborating with Community Leaders to implement the Top 10 Strategies for elevating our city to Top Tier Status within 5 years.




