What’s Inside: 

• Orlando’s fastest-growing Deep Tech sectors and why they matter 

• The companies redefining simulation, gaming, aerospace, and healthcare 

• Emerging talent and university breakthroughs shaping the next decade 

• Events, resources, and ways to get involved in the region’s innovation movement 

Orlando is racing ahead as one of America’s fastest-growing tech centers, not because it’s chasing trends, but because a deep bench of experienced engineers has spent decades quietly mastering Deep Tech across sectors. From simulation and AI to digital twins and advanced manufacturing, these capabilities are blurring the lines between defense, gaming, aerospace, and healthcare. This past month, a wave of major announcements revealed a region defining not just one industry’s future but the infrastructure behind them all. 

If you’re not paying attention, you will miss it. 

A Booming Workforce and a Diversifying Economy 

New estimates put Orlando’s tech workforce at nearly 80,000 strong, growing at nearly twice the national rate. The region added more tech jobs last year than Houston, Charlotte, and Dallas combined. Median salaries now top $100,000, more than double the local average. 

This is no longer a niche story. Orlando is emerging as Florida’s most dynamic tech economy. 

Simulation and Defense: Core Capabilities That Scale 

Orlando’s unique strength in modeling and simulation is its greatest differentiator. This $6 billion sector powers defense readiness and increasingly drives innovations that cross every industry. 

Red 6, headquartered in Orlando and named one of Built In’s “Top Ten Aerospace Companies You Need to Know,” announced a partnership with Sierra Nevada Corporation to bring outdoor augmented reality flight training to Air Force pilots. Cole Engineering Services secured a $62 million Army contract for AI-enabled Stinger simulators, validating Orlando’s leadership in defense technology with civilian spillover. 

Mass Virtual is moving aircraft training into extended reality. Crews now rehearse missions in multiplayer VR before hardware ever arrives. It’s more than an operational advantage; it’s the same Deep Tech approach fueling Orlando’s impact on gaming, healthcare, and space. 

At the Training and Simulation Industry Symposium, defense leaders sent a clear signal: innovation must accelerate, and Orlando is on the front line. 

Gaming and Immersive Entertainment: Experiences Born From Deep Tech 

EA Sports’ Orlando studio is betting big on authenticity. After breaking records last year, the team is launching College Football 26 and Madden NFL 26, built on a decade of real data. Madden’s new “Coach DNA” and “QB DNA” models recreate how teams actually play. College Football’s dynamic lighting and AI-driven play styles are redefining sports games. (Reporting credit to Marco Santana at Orlando Tech News.) 

RWS Global, with a major Orlando office, is partnering with Snap Inc. to bring augmented reality fan experiences to stadiums worldwide. From Australia to Paris, Orlando’s creative tech fingerprints are shaping the show. 

On International Drive, Activate Orlando is fusing digital gameplay and physical challenges. It’s proof that Deep Tech doesn’t stay in a lab; it shapes how we play. 

Aerospace and Space Innovation: Where Defense, Space, and AI Converge 

Orlando isn’t just watching the space race, it’s building it. Terasynth secured a NASA award for its Lunar Re-Forge system, a digital twin reactor that transforms trash into 3D-printable parts. Imagine astronauts printing tools from yesterday’s waste, a vision born here. 

Space Florida and the Israel Innovation Authority awarded $400,000 to develop autonomous drones, underscoring the region’s global collaborations. Meanwhile, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s safety challenges remind us that innovation demands discipline. 

Veteran entrepreneurs are launching new aerospace and defense ventures, translating military expertise into dual-use technologies that will define the next decade. 

Across Florida, universities are fueling the next wave of discoveries. At EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University, students and faculty are using data from the James Webb Space Telescope to analyze the origins of cosmic dust, key to understanding how stars and planets form. For undergraduates to work on research of this scale underscores the depth of scientific talent emerging across the region. It’s another sign that Deep Tech here isn’t confined to the lab, it’s reaching into space itself. 

Education, Robotics, and the Next Generation of Builders 

The University of Central Florida continues to set the pace in simulation training, becoming Florida’s first program with global accreditation from three simulation bodies. Each year, over 12,000 hours of VR, AI, and hands-on learning fuel Orlando’s medtech and training sectors. 

And today, on Nikola Tesla’s birthday, we’re reminded that innovation is generational. In 1898, Tesla debuted the world’s first radio-controlled boat. This fall, UCF sophomore Kai Li will launch his own: a large 3D-printed, radio-controlled craft designed and built with the Robotics Club inside the Institute for Simulation and Training. In Orlando, the past and future of invention meet every day. 

Junior Achievement’s new experiential learning center will help students role-play running companies in simulated cities. From middle school to graduate school, the next generation is learning that industries are no longer silos. 

The Return to Deep Tech: Orlando’s Next Wave 

Across venture capital, the pendulum is swinging back to Deep Tech. Dennis Pape of Phase Shift Ventures writes: 

“We are now witnessing a broad shift back to Deep Tech, accelerated by COVID, the war in Ukraine, and the urgency to rebuild domestic manufacturing and defense capacity.” 

Florida, and especially the Orlando and Space Coast corridor, are positioned to lead. The same dual-use mindset seeded decades ago is still here, now joined by AI, advanced materials, and founders who see no boundaries between defense, energy, and healthcare. 

Deep Tech requires more than capital. It needs partners who understand the science, the markets, and how to scale breakthrough technologies. That’s why Phase Shift Ventures launched, to keep these companies growing in Florida. 

Orlando’s greatest edge isn’t any single sector. It’s the shared capabilities that unlock them all. 

Voices and Thought Leadership 

While Orlando’s labs build new technologies, its founders are shaping the conversation. Suneera Madhani, CEO of Stax, is championing open banking as a catalyst for small business growth on her national CEO School podcast. She’s urging entrepreneurs to think bigger and build companies ready for a future where industries converge. 

These are the voices putting Orlando on the map as more than a tech city. They are making it a place where ideas become movements. 

Join the Movement Shaping Orlando’s Innovation Economy 

If you’re inspired by what’s happening here, there are plenty of ways to get involved right now. 

Tonight, Innovate Orlando CEO Sheena Fowler will join Orlando Devs, Orlando Innovation League, Accelerate Orlando, and We Are For Good for the Impact Up! event, sharing how technology is driving impact across Central Florida.  Details here. 

Next week, StarterStudio’s Demo Day at the Tech Hub will showcase rising founders and ideas ready for scale. Details here. 

Innovate Orlando is also convening the new Collective Impact Committee, bringing together local nonprofit tech organizations to coordinate events, programs, and resources serving our innovation economy. 

If your organization wants to connect, check out the Tech Connect RFI to help shape the future of our ecosystem’s collaborations. Submit your interest here. 

Ready to make your mark? New Innovate Orlando sponsorship levels are available to help your brand connect with the leaders shaping the next era of growth. Explore sponsorship options here. 

Need space to convene, train, or celebrate? Our training rooms and auditorium at the Tech Hub are available for rent. Whether you’re planning a meetup, workshop, or offsite, we’d love to host you. Sponsorship opportunities are also available to put your brand in front of Central Florida’s innovation community. 

Email techhuborlando36@gmail.com to learn more. 

If this story resonates, share it with your network. The more we shine a light on what’s happening here, the faster the movement grows. 

You’ll find all the original stories featured in this roundup, along with a complete calendar of upcoming events shaping the future of innovation in Central Florida, linked below. 

Want more stories like this? Follow Innovate Orlando on LinkedIn or visit innovateorlando.io to subscribe to our newsletter. 

— Sheena