*Photo: UCF
CENTRAL FLORIDA’S MODELING & SIMULATION CAPABILITIES ARE NO LONGER A SUPPORT FUNCTION. THEY ARE NOW THE OPERATING SYSTEM FOR A COMPLETE INNOVATION ECONOMY.
Mass Virtual’s new defense wins, UCF’s evolving industry partnerships, and Orlando Health’s expansion reveal a connected system powered by the same intelligence infrastructure: simulation, spatial computing, human performance, and digital twins. Together, they describe the deep structure of Central Florida’s economy. Technologies once developed for mission readiness now drive breakthroughs in healthcare, transportation, and workforce resiliency. Let’s dig into what happened this past week to better understand how it all connects.
FOUNDER FOCUS: STRUCTURAL PROBLEM SOLVERS
Orlando founder Irina Zakharchenko is gaining national attention in Forbes for exposing a familiar trap. She argues that growth fails when leaders worship data instead of asking sharper questions. Her piece on judgment amid analytics has already circulated among local CEOs navigating scaling decisions.
At the same time, My Second Paycheck’s $1.4 million property giveaway tackles Florida’s housing barrier from the ground up, testing how new forms of creator income can build financial mobility. PureCycle is scaling its advanced recycling technology to supply global manufacturers with sustainable plastics, while Worth is expanding its compensation benchmarking platform to help companies manage pay equity through real market data.
Florida venture activity approached record highs in 2025, but the most consequential founders here are not headline chasers. They are practical system builders: reducing friction in growth, homeownership, materials supply, and pay transparency.
We tend to overvalue disruption and undervalue endurance. What makes Orlando’s founders distinctive is how they repair dysfunction in existing systems rather than chase the next hype cycle.
DEEP TECH AND DEFENSE: THE ENGINE BENEATH EVERYTHING
For decades, Orlando engineers built the software, hardware, and training systems behind America’s space and defense programs while credit accrued elsewhere. The new generation of companies is changing that equation.
Mass Virtual recently secured a position on the Missile Defense Agency’s SHIELD contract, a $151 billion, 10-year vehicle that represents the Department of Defense’s pivot toward fully immersive training environments. Contracts like these mark a shift from regional production to local command. F-35 simulation environments, serious game prototypes unveiled at I/ITSEC, and the growth of companies like Red 6 and Terasynth all point to Florida’s evolution from supplier to systems integrator.
Blue Origin’s inclusion milestone and NASA’s groundbreaking IXPE research underscore a deeper pattern: frontier science and inclusive design now operate inside the same launch schedule.
Defense and space technology are not separate sectors; they are Central Florida’s core infrastructure. The region’s influence is measured not by factory output but by intellectual property and decision authority.
The question isn’t whether we can compete with Silicon Valley in defense tech. The truth is we have been building it for decades. The focus now is capital, not capability.
ECOSYSTEM AND EDUCATION: THE RETENTION EQUATION
UCF produces 18,000 graduates each year and remains the top supplier of aerospace and defense talent in the country. Through the UCF Pegasus Partnership network, students rotate through industry-based labs and internships to align skills with employer demand. Full Sail University’s new Drone Innovation Center and Adaptive Gaming Showcase connect students directly to prototype environments, while Embry-Riddle and NeoCity continue to expand the regional talent ladder from K-12 to high-tech commercialization.
The region’s talent pipeline is strong, but retention remains the pivot point. The same university-industry partnerships that once fed external companies are now anchoring homegrown employers. With headquarters like Mass Virtual, Threat Locker, and Beep expanding, job creation and career longevity are localizing.
Our universities act as applied R&D engines for industry. Now we need to work collectively as an ecosystem to connect that research to the enterprises who can commercialize it fastest.
COMMUNITY AND CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Orlando’s convening rhythm is changing. Black Orlando Tech’s Launchpad is accepting new founders seeking structured accountability and investor readiness. Full Sail’s adaptive gaming events and the I/ITSEC awards cycle continue to merge creative and defense ecosystems. Meanwhile, Amazon’s purchase of 45 acres in Titusville and FanDuel’s absorption of Zynga talent illustrate a regional economy absorbing the narrative from global tech.
“We will be opening a new studio in Orlando…” FanDuel spokeswoman Justine Sacco said in a phone interview for the GamesBeat article. “There is a ton of sports tech talent down there just because of the presence of EA Sports and Zynga. FanDuel is scaling incredibly fast. We’re going to be more than doubling our headcount this year. This gave us an awesome opportunity to scoop up an incredible talent pool that complements our existing product. They’ll really give us the ability to deliver new features at a good pace as we continue to grow.”
Community activity is functioning as capital infrastructure. High-value events are no longer about exposure; they are about transaction.
The most important rooms are not always the largest ones. Deals and collaborations are born in focused environments where capability meets capital.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND SMART CITIES
Florida’s Lake-Orange expressway will soon become one of the first U.S. roadways to test dynamic, in-motion EV charging. Beep’s autonomous shuttle deployments and Duke Energy’s grid modernization program, projecting $1 billion in customer savings, demonstrate how Orlando is integrating energy, transportation, and autonomy into live pilots rather than controlled labs.
Infrastructure innovation is accelerating from planning to deployment cycles measured in years, not decades. As public projects become test sites for private innovation, Central Florida positions itself as the national model for scale testing smart systems.
HEALTHCARE AND LIFE SCIENCES
Orlando Health is expanding high-skill medical capacity on the Space Coast, while Millennium Physician Group grows its partnership network and HCA pilots robotic orthopedic procedures in Marion County. Statewide, a $209 million rural transformation program is modernizing clinics and telehealth infrastructure. Underlying all of it is the same simulation backbone built for defense: digital twins, robotics, and predictive modeling enabling high-precision, team-based care.
Healthcare is the highest-stakes application of Central Florida’s simulation infrastructure. The same digital frameworks that train our armed forces for split-second performance under pressure also prepare surgical teams for high-consequence procedures.
The frameworks were never meant just for national security readiness. They are design systems for every human-critical environment, from emergency rooms to disaster response.
CLOSING PERSPECTIVE
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.
If you want to see where virtual and physical systems collide at real speed and scale, you come here. If you want to build the next generation of those systems, you stay.
On February 20th we are hosting the Orlando Tech Summit & Community Awards at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts. This half day summit will lead directly into the Creative City Project’s Immerse Fest showcasing Central Florida’s intersection of technology and creativity. If you like these weekly digests, you’ll love this summit.
