BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Innovate Orlando - ECPv6.15.15//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Innovate Orlando
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://innovateorlando.io
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Innovate Orlando
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:UTC
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:UTC
DTSTART:20250101T000000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:-04:00
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260429
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260503
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260210T060716Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T081741Z
UID:10000144-1777420800-1777766399@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:2026 TEA INSPIRE & 32nd Annual Thea Awards Gala
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/2026-tea-inspire-32nd-annual-thea-awards-gala/
LOCATION:JW Marriott Orlando\, 2701 Grandola Dr\, Orlando\, FL\, United States
ORGANIZER;CN="Christine Rogers":MAILTO:christine@teaconnect.org
GEO:28.513721;-81.43715
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=JW Marriott Orlando 2701 Grandola Dr Orlando FL United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=2701 Grandola Dr:geo:-81.43715,28.513721
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260501T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260501T223000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260421T164359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T180320Z
UID:10000284-1777663800-1777674600@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Latinos in Tech - Orlando Meetup (@ Hourglass Brewing 2500 Curry Ford)
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/latinos-in-tech-orlando-meetup-may-1st/
LOCATION:Hourglass Brewing at Hourglass District\, 2500 Curry Ford Road\, ##4\, Orlando\, FL\, 32806\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ffcdd7909a82fe2da7d14f1e0562662d-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260505T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260505T130000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260113T022701Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093002Z
UID:10000099-1777982400-1777986000@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - New Member Orientation
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-new-member-orientation-8/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/c607faab8efc872a8f617bf64b39187f-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260506T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260506T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20251211T042215Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T080030Z
UID:10000057-1778090400-1778097600@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:IxDF Orlando May Meetup
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/ixdf-orlando-may-meetup/
LOCATION:Tech Hub Orlando\, 36 West Pine Street\, Orlando\, FL\, 32801\, United States
GEO:28.54121;-81.380876
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Tech Hub Orlando 36 West Pine Street Orlando FL 32801 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=36 West Pine Street:geo:-81.380876,28.54121
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260507T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260507T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260414T145703Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T172952Z
UID:10000278-1778176800-1778182200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Founder-led Sales:  Win Customers\, Drive Revenue (without a sales team)
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/founder-led-sales-win-customers-drive-revenue-without-a-sales-team/
LOCATION:Tech Hub Orlando\, 36 West Pine Street\, Orlando\, FL\, 32801\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/787f39b35f03c00493e93c884562c82d.jpg
GEO:28.54121;-81.380876
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Tech Hub Orlando 36 West Pine Street Orlando FL 32801 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=36 West Pine Street:geo:-81.380876,28.54121
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=-04:00:20260511T190000
DTEND;TZID=-04:00:20260511T210000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260304T054335Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260415T071603Z
UID:10000223-1778526000-1778533200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:DevOps Storytime Social
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/devops-storytime-social-2/
LOCATION:Gnarly Barley\, 1407 N Orange Ave\, Orlando\, FL\, 32804\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/1024x576-YbZXwd.jpg
GEO:28.564516;-81.37264
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Gnarly Barley 1407 N Orange Ave Orlando FL 32804 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=1407 N Orange Ave:geo:-81.37264,28.564516
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260512T113000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260512T123000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20251121T185655Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T082056Z
UID:10000038-1778585400-1778589000@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Rally Living Lab Showcase
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/rally-living-lab-showcase/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-3.19.35-AM.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260405T055731Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093002Z
UID:10000264-1778607000-1778614200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - May Palm Beach Chapter Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-may-palm-beach-chapter-happy-hour/
LOCATION:Garden District Taproom\, 410 Evernia Street\, #STE 119\, West Palm Beach\, FL\, 33401\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1bfd8663e34ad9c2a298347d56d0bc17.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260409T061233Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000271-1778607000-1778614200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - May Ft Myers Chapter Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-may-ft-myers-chapter-happy-hour/
LOCATION:Escondido Lounge\, 1617 Hendry Street\, #102\, Fort Myers\, FL\, 33901\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/b669f762cb13dd9b6b6c25dd149119c1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260416T071238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000282-1778607000-1778614200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - Orlando Chapter Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-orlando-chapter-happy-hour/
LOCATION:Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company\, 1300 Alden Road\, Orlando\, FL\, 32803\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/e3ced7455f1f42fcf673f7287cb90b88.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T210000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260210T061319Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T070454Z
UID:10000149-1778612400-1778619600@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Python Dinner
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/python-dinner-4/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/highres_453002335.avif
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260513T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260513T110000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260210T061606Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T071429Z
UID:10000153-1778664600-1778670000@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Coffee & WordPress at Foxtail Coffee - Howell Branch
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/coffee-wordpress-at-foxtail-coffee-howell-branch-3/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/highres_509649261-scaled.avif
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260513T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260513T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260409T061247Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000272-1778693400-1778700600@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - May Gainesville Chapter Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-may-gainesville-chapter-happy-hour/
LOCATION:THE AUK MARKET\, 2031 Northwest 6th Street\, Gainesville\, FL\, 32609\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/7d93fa13eae0c8e0104c7099103cb3c8.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260513T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260513T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260409T061250Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000273-1778695200-1778702400@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - May Ft. Lauderdale Chapter Meet Up
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-may-ft-lauderdale-chapter-meet-up/
LOCATION:Voodoo Brewing Co.\, 3492 Northeast 12th Avenue\, Oakland Park\, FL\, 33334\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5ca4f7f699f72c78191532b61a8aa977.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T183000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260328T125709Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T154450Z
UID:10000253-1778761800-1778783400@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:VEI Veteran Business Summit 2026
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/vei-veteran-business-summit-2026/
LOCATION:GuideWell Innovation Center\, 6555 Sanger Road\, Orlando\, FL\, 32827\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/f35c225b6abe0c48bfe7e251c5fce33b.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260409T061252Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000274-1778781600-1778788800@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - Miami Chapter May Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-miami-chapter-may-happy-hour/
LOCATION:Sixty Vines\, 150 Northeast 8th Street\, #SUITE 135 |\, Miami\, FL\, 33132\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/8cbbc3824cba25c696b2a7121213f4dc.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T213000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260415T175846Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T210057Z
UID:10000281-1778781600-1778794200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:2nd Annual Data in Motion: A Hands-On Experience
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/2nd-annual-data-in-motion-a-hands-on-experience/
LOCATION:The Conduit\, 1001 North Orange Avenue\, Orlando\, FL\, 32801\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/4031727ae4eb0ff581201d5e4aa7192f.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260515T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260515T223000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260421T164359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T180320Z
UID:10000285-1778873400-1778884200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Latinos in Tech - Orlando Meetup (May 15th)
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/latinos-in-tech-orlando-meetup-may-15th/
LOCATION:TBD\, TBD\, TBD\, Orlando\, FL\, 32801\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/25cd7771b2a01d29deb9d93827b3b2ae.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260422T144249Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T154450Z
UID:10000286-1779123600-1779134400@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:AI for Veteran Entrepreneurs
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/ai-for-veteran-entrepreneurs/
LOCATION:National Entrepreneur Center\, 3201 East Colonial Drive\, Orlando\, FL\, 32803\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1d183bea140117b36245972019331bc9.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20251215T194452Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T072100Z
UID:10000071-1779125400-1779134400@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:OrlandoPreneur Monthly Startup Happy Hour!
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/orlandopreneur-monthly-startup-happy-hour-6/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/highres_532210752.avif
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260519T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260519T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260409T061255Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000275-1779211800-1779219000@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - May Tampa Chapter Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-may-tampa-chapter-happy-hour/
LOCATION:BellaBrava Tampa\, 1015 Gramercy Lane\, Tampa\, FL\, 33607\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/c30840b684b69ec8e9f012482254185f.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260519T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260519T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260409T061257Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000276-1779211800-1779219000@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - May Jacksonville Chapter Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-may-jacksonville-chapter-happy-hour/
LOCATION:bb’s restaurant and bar\, 1019 Hendricks Avenue\, Jacksonville\, FL\, 32207\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/948ddb83ded6b97bcde8255fb957cc7c.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260521T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260521T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075058
CREATED:20260409T061259Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093003Z
UID:10000277-1779384600-1779391800@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - May St. Petersburg Chapter Happy Hour
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-may-st-petersburg-chapter-happy-hour/
LOCATION:Luna Lux Restaurant & Lounge\, 950 Lake Carillon Drive\, St. Petersburg\, FL\, 33716\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/8cc1b2ff6c09490ad89cc4dcd95b8907.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260527T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260527T193000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075059
CREATED:20260416T141355Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T154450Z
UID:10000283-1779903000-1779910200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Ivanhoe Park Brewery Networking Event
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/ivanhoe-park-brewery-networking-event-3/
LOCATION:Ivanhoe Park Lager House\, 23 North Orange Blossom Trail\, Orlando\, FL\, 32805\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/89ff4a033f436c8004a7a6b75023f51a.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260527T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260527T210000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075059
CREATED:20260210T064958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T075246Z
UID:10000179-1779908400-1779915600@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:CitrusSec Meetup
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/citrussec-meetup-6/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/highres_450220541-scaled.avif
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260601T083000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260601T123000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075059
CREATED:20260303T084153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260430T193016Z
UID:10000214-1780302600-1780317000@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:GEMS WAITLIST
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/gems-waitlist/
LOCATION:3100 Technology Pkwy\, 3100 Technology Parkway\, Orlando\, FL\, 32826\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/5a56f65e81d48826ffca8183858aa3a8-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260602T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260602T130000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075059
CREATED:20260113T022701Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T093002Z
UID:10000100-1780401600-1780405200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship - New Member Orientation
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/women-in-tech-entrepreneurship-new-member-orientation-9/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/c607faab8efc872a8f617bf64b39187f-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260603T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260603T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075059
CREATED:20251211T042303Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T080121Z
UID:10000058-1780509600-1780516800@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:IxDF Orlando June Meetup
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/ixdf-orlando-june-meetup/
LOCATION:Tech Hub Orlando\, 36 West Pine Street\, Orlando\, FL\, 32801\, United States
GEO:28.54121;-81.380876
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Tech Hub Orlando 36 West Pine Street Orlando FL 32801 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=36 West Pine Street:geo:-81.380876,28.54121
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260609T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260609T210000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075059
CREATED:20260210T061337Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T070332Z
UID:10000150-1781031600-1781038800@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Python Dinner
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/python-dinner-5/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/highres_453002335.avif
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260610T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260610T110000
DTSTAMP:20260501T075059
CREATED:20260210T061710Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T071457Z
UID:10000156-1781083800-1781089200@innovateorlando.io
SUMMARY:Coffee & WordPress at Foxtail Coffee - Howell Branch
DESCRIPTION:*Photo: West Orlando News\n \n \nOrlando is home to moonshots and magic. I came up through creative industries\, then spent twelve years at what was the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission\, now the Orlando Economic Partnership\, learning what it actually takes to move a region. The slow\, structural work of building relationships that compound\, aligning incentives across sectors\, and creating the conditions where the private market does things it would not do alone. I have worked alongside many regional leaders over the years. What I know about myself is that I am not done. I have more to give\, more to build\, and a clearer picture than ever of what it is actually going to take. \n\n\n\n\nAnd what it is going to take is not another event. Not another building with innovation in the name. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy across cities and counties that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle. The connective tissue that does not just celebrate the ecosystem but structurally advances it.  \nInnovate Orlando\, as it was\, was not that system. I say that with full ownership. I ran it. And what I learned running it is that this work cannot live outside the larger regional economic development infrastructure. It has to be woven into it\, or it spends all of its energy trying to be heard by the rooms it needs to be inside.  \nThat is why this decision is not hard. It is overdue.  \nI wanted you to hear this directly from me: Innovate Orlando is transitioning its mission and programs back to the Orlando Economic Partnership\, and I am returning with them as Vice President of Innovation\, effective March 9.  \nThis is about finding the right partnerships\, alignments\, and connected momentum to do this work at the scale it deserves. Moving this work inside the Orlando Economic Partnership means the mission is now backed by the full infrastructure of regional government\, industry\, academia\, and community partners working toward the same goal. The platform is bigger. The reach is longer. The mission can have the infrastructure to match its ambition.  \nTech Connect\, the Orlando Tech Summit and Community Awards\, and the Orlando Tech Grant all make the move. What comes next is not another program or another event. It is a repeatable system\, one that connects talent to capital\, research to commercialization\, founders to procurement\, and all of it to a regional strategy that compounds over time instead of resetting every grant cycle.  \nThis is not a step away from the work. It is the work\, finally in the right kitchen. Orlando does not need more cheerleaders. It needs infrastructure that works.  \nNow scroll down. Because this week’s news is exactly the argument I have been making the entire time. 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. And that is just the headline layer. The full picture is below\, and it will remind you why this region is not waiting to be discovered. It never was.  \n  \nSpace Coast and Aerospace  \nRead these four stories as phases of a single capital formation sequence. Public infrastructure investment comes first and de-risks everything that follows. Private real estate comes second\, signaling long-term operational commitment. International capital comes third\, validating that the region can compete globally. NASA is the backdrop that makes all three moves legible.  \nBlue Origin’s $11.5M land acquisition in Cocoa is the kind of move a company makes when it has already decided the Space Coast is a long-term operating address\, not a launch convenience. That decision compounds against Space Florida’s 2026 Spaceport Improvement Program\, which just opened a call for projects backed by $531M in state investment\, essentially a public infrastructure commitment that de-risks the private capital following behind it. EOS-X Space’s acquisition of Space Perspective and its $650M+ combined valuation shows what happens when international aerospace capital looks for a U.S. home and finds that this region has both the infrastructure and the talent density to justify the bet. NASA’s Artemis 2 timeline\, still targeting April\, is the backdrop to all of it. When public investment\, private real estate\, and international capital are all moving in the same direction at the same time\, that is not momentum. That is a thesis becoming infrastructure.  \n\nBlue Origin snags 20-acre Cocoa site for $11.5M as latest Brevard expansion \n\n\nEOS-X Space Expands U.S. Footprint after Space Perspective Deal \n\n\nNASA repairs Artemis 2 moon rocket in hopes of an April lunar launch \n\n\nSpace Florida’s 2026 Call for Spaceport Projects\, $531M in state investment\, April 22 deadline \n\n  \nDefense\, Drones and Cybersecurity  \nRead these five stories as a demand signal map. The government signals what it needs. The private sector builds the product. The universities build the workforce. Then the cycle repeats at a higher level. Every story in this section is a different point on that loop.  \nOrange County’s $7M drone-as-first-responder program is a local government buying what the private market has already proven works\, a direct downstream effect of companies and researchers in this region building real-world drone operations for years. Central Florida’s role in the missile defense planning conversation runs directly through the modeling and simulation corridor\, home to more than 15\,000 simulation professionals working across systems that range from missile guidance and radar tracking to autonomous vehicle training and pilot readiness. That is the digital infrastructure missile defense architecture requires before a physical system is ever built. The golden dome starts with a digital twin\, and this region is where those twins get made.   ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference just made that demand signal visible to thousands of security professionals gathered in Orlando this week\, and Embry-Riddle answered with both a new aviation cybersecurity certification program and a drone-based research deployment on Lake Okeechobee. Those same hyperspectral imaging and autonomous sampling systems being used to study algae blooms can be adapted for border surveillance\, maritime patrol\, and environmental threat detection. Embry-Riddle is not just doing environmental research. It is building the operational proof of concept for a capability the defense community is actively looking for. These stories are not parallel. They are sequential. The research produces the workforce. The workforce builds the products. The products win the contracts. The contracts fund the next round of research.  \n\n$7M approved to fund first responder drones in Orange County \n\n\nCentral Florida’s role in Trump’s missile defense system \n\n\nThreatLocker Zero Trust World 2026\, Orlando\, March 4-6 \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Launches Aviation Cybersecurity Training and Certification \n\n\nEmbry-Riddle Researchers Develop Drone Tech to Study Harmful Blue-Green Algae on Lake Okeechobee \n\n  \nHealth Tech and Life Sciences  \nRead these three stories as a pipeline\, not a cluster. The forum sets the agenda. The research fills it. The talent exports validate it globally and come back. That is how a health tech ecosystem matures.  \nLake Nona’s Impact Forum argument\, that longevity is inseparable from technology\, is easy to endorse on a panel stage. What makes it credible is the research pipeline sitting behind it. A UCF researcher developing a new therapy for diabetic neuropathy is working on a condition that affects more than 50% of people with diabetes and has no FDA-approved cure\, the kind of gap that attracts serious capital once clinical proof of concept exists. A UCF doctoral graduate heading to Harvard Medical School to advance AI-driven clinical tools is exactly the talent export story that benchmarks a region’s research quality on a national stage\, even as it feels like a loss locally. Orlando’s health tech ecosystem is not built on one medical city with good architecture. It is built on a university research pipeline that feeds institutions like Harvard\, and on applied science that is moving toward the clinic. Lake Nona is the platform. UCF is the engine underneath it.  \n\nLake Nona Impact Forum: There can’t be longevity without tech \n\n\nUCF Researcher Developing New Therapy to Treat Diabetic Neuropathy \n\n\nUCF Doctoral Grad Heads to Harvard Medical School to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Tools \n\n  \nResearch\, Talent and University Innovation  \nIf you wanted to design a regional innovation ecosystem from scratch\, you would do something that looks very much like what Central Florida’s universities are doing right now. UCF’s $3.5 billion Go For Launch campaign is the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history and it is essentially a capital formation event for the ecosystem. The proceeds flow into research infrastructure\, scholarships\, and facilities that the private sector will benefit from directly. The $4M electron microscope is a small illustration of the larger logic: UCF is not just training students\, it is building shared research infrastructure that companies in the region can access without owning. Rollins College’s addition of the Rick Goings Institute to its $200M Innovation Triangle takes a different approach\, connecting liberal arts education to entrepreneurship and economic development\, a bet that the skills gap in the innovation economy is not purely technical.   \nAnd at Full Sail University in Winter Park\, my alma mater\, student filmmakers just landed finalist spots in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition\, a precise illustration of what happens when production-focused education puts students on national stages before they graduate. These institutions are not competing. They are covering different parts of the same talent and research formation problem\, and the aggregate investment this week runs well past $3.7 billion. That is not coincidence. That is a coordinated institutional bet on this region’s trajectory.  \n\nUCF Launches $3.5 Billion Go For Launch Campaign \n\n\nUCF’s New $4M Electron Microscope Expands Research Access Across Campus\, Industry \n\n\nUCF Computer Science Professor Recognized for Contributions to Human-Computer Interaction \n\n\nNew institute to join Rollins College’s $200M Innovation Triangle \n\n\nFull Sail Filmmakers Named Finalists in Prestigious Nationwide Film Competition\, Coca-Cola Refreshing Films \n\n  \nStartups\, Capital and Business Growth  \nRead these four stories as a capital stack\, not as isolated company announcements. FirmPilot’s $22M Series A-1 in AI legal marketing is venture capital flowing into vertical SaaS\, a signal that investors see Orlando-area companies as credible bets at growth-stage check sizes\, not just seed experiments. Kore.ai’s strategic growth investment from AllianceBernstein is institutional private credit entering the enterprise AI story through an Orlando-headquartered company\, a different flavor of capital\, from a different part of the market\, validating a different stage of growth. RSG Security’s California expansion and Laser Photonics’ consolidation to Lake Mary are operational scaling stories\, not fundraising announcements. They represent companies that have already raised and are now executing. Together\, the four companies span early growth\, scale-up\, and operational maturity. That is what a functioning startup ecosystem looks like when it is working: multiple companies at multiple stages\, attracting multiple types of capital\, and still calling Central Florida home.  \nOne gap this newsletter never fully closed is the capital formation story itself. Who is writing the checks in Orlando? What does the fund landscape actually look like? Where does a founder go when they need a Series A and do not want to fly to San Francisco to get it? That is the story I am most eager to tell from inside OEP\, where the relationships between capital\, institutions\, and founders can be mapped and connected at regional scale.  \n\nFirmPilot Secures $22 Million Series A-1 \n\n\nKore.ai Secures Strategic Growth Investment from AllianceBernstein \n\n\nMatthew Sierra\, Founder of RSG Security\, Scales Orlando’s Fastest-Growing Private Security Firm as Company Expands Into California \n\n\nLaser Photonics Announces Strategic Consolidation of Manufacturing Footprint to Lake Mary\, Florida \n\n  \nTech Infrastructure and Economic Development  \nRead these three stories as a market validation sequence. First tenant\, first mobility operator\, first AV deployment at global scale. Each one lowers the risk for everything that follows.  \nTerracon signing as the first tenant at the Lake Mary Technology Center is significant not for the lease itself but for what a first tenant signals to every tenant that follows. The anchor has arrived\, the risk has been absorbed\, the address is legitimate. Freebee’s EV rideshare launch in Lake Nona works the same way: it is a Miami company choosing a Central Florida innovation district as its expansion market\, which tells you something about how that district is perceived by operators making real capital allocation decisions outside of Florida. Beep is the furthest along of the three. An Altamonte Springs company that built the first permanent AV deployment by any U.S. city is now carrying 150\,000 kilometers of verified real-world operations into the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta. That is a Central Florida company writing the operational playbook for autonomous mobility on a global stage. The infrastructure layer of this ecosystem is not background. It is the proof of concept that makes everything else fundable.  \n\nLake Mary Technology Center lands engineering firm as first leaseholder \n\n\nMiami rideshare company brings electric vehicles to Lake Nona \n\n\nBeep AV deployments launching in Altamonte Springs and Atlanta World Cup \n\n  \nIn Case You Missed It  \nSpaceX’s March 3 Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral produced a jellyfish atmospheric effect visible across Central Florida\, striking enough that it trended locally\, routine enough that it barely made the business press. That tension is itself a story: Florida’s spaceport is now launching so frequently that rocket plumes have become regional weather. NASA’s separate announcement of a major change to its long-term lunar architecture adds policy context to the Artemis 2 repair timeline. Watch this space as the downstream implications for Kennedy and the Space Coast supply chain come into focus. Team Orlando’s SERDP and ESTCP wildland fire safety tabletop exchange is the quietest story of the week\, but it is exactly the kind of cross-sector defense research collaboration that keeps the connective tissue of this community intact between the larger headlines. And an Orlando-area studio launches Everwind\, a sandbox survival RPG\, on Steam Early Access March 17\, a Central Florida game going live on one of the world’s largest gaming platforms.  \n\nSpaceX ‘jellyfish’ launch recap: Live updates from Florida Starlink mission \n\n\nNASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon \n\n\nSERDP and ESTCP host wildland safety\, fire PPE tabletop exchange \n\n\nSandbox Survival RPG Everwind launches on March 17 via Steam Early Access \n\n  \nThank You  \nThis newsletter was never the point. It was evidence.  \nEvidence that this ecosystem had stories worth telling. Evidence that the founders\, researchers\, operators\, and investors building in Orlando deserved the same attention as the regions that simply had better PR. Evidence that connective tissue\, the unglamorous\, unsponsored\, unsexy work of linking people and ideas and capital across a geography\, is the difference between a collection of companies and an actual ecosystem.  \nThat evidence is now substantial.  \nDavid Adelson built the foundation. Ashley McMullan built it with me week after week. Our sponsors and board made the long bet. This community showed up and proved it was worth making.  \nThe next chapter of this work continues at the Orlando Economic Partnership. Stay connected. Keep submitting. Keep showing up to the summits\, applying for the grants\, and making the introductions that move this ecosystem forward. The connective tissue holds because you hold it.  \nAnd if you have a story worth telling\, you already know where to find me.  \n  \n— Sheena Fowler  \n\n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									\nCheck out upcoming events here\n\n\n  \n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin the movement by becoming an investor in Innovate Orlando to propel Central Florida’s tech and innovation ecosystem \n\n\n\nJoin Now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Investor Highlight\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nFlorida High Tech Corridor is a vital force in Central Florida’s innovation ecosystem\, bringing together world-class research institutions like the University of Central Florida and a collaborative network of industry\, academia\, and economic partners to grow high-tech industries and opportunities across a 23-county region. Anchored by Orlando’s thriving technology community\, \nThe Corridor fuels innovation through strategic research partnerships\, workforce development programs\, and initiatives that help startups and established firms alike advance cutting-edge technologies and talent pipelines. Its dedication to boundary-breaking collaboration and community-driven innovation accelerates economic growth\, strengthens Orlando’s role as a regional tech hub\, and fosters long-term prosperity across sectors from aerospace to life sciences.  \n\n\nLearn more at: Florida High Tech Corridor 								\n				\n				\n				\n									Innovate Orlando News\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \nAMPLIFY CENTRAL FLORIDA CONSORTIUM: VISIBILITY FOR THE REGION’S INNOVATORS\n\n  \nCentral Florida is emerging as a national hub for technology\, simulation\, space\, health innovation\, and cleantech but small and mid-sized enterprises often lack the resources to compete with global brands shaping online narratives. The new Amplify Central Florida Consortium provides shared-investment marketing infrastructure for forward-thinking companies\, delivering enterprise-grade branding\, multimedia production\, and strategic communications.  \nMembership tiers (preferred rates through March 2026):  \n\nVisibility Package: $450 (BlinkCo. Mag feature reaching 1M+ viewers) \n\n\nVideo Essential Kit: $2\,975/mo (monthly production session\, 3-mo commitment) \n\n\nLifestyle Story Kit: $4\,025/mo (30-day content plan + cinematic video) \n\n\nPrestige Feature Kit: $5\,075/mo (8-12 short-form videos + BlinkCo. distribution) \n\nLed by Amóre Marketing & Productions\, the Consortium elevates individual companies while strengthening Central Florida’s competitive profile. Perfect timing ahead of the Orlando Tech Summit\, contact Soyini Chang (soyini@blinkcomedia.com | 646-932-0907) to explore membership. \n  \n\n\n\n\n More Info\n\n\n\n  \n\n  								\n				\n				\n				\n									Orlando’s tech scene\, all in one place.\nFrom meetups to moonshots\, if it’s happening in innovation\, it’s on our calendar. \n \n\n\n\n\nEvents\n\n\n\n \n\n \n 								\n				\n				\n				\n									\n \n\nNeed a venue for your next event or workshop? Host at Tech Hub Orlando!\n \n\n \nConveniently located in Downtown Orlando\, we offer rental spaces including  conference rooms\, breakout rooms\, auditorium\, reception space\, and more!  Tech Hub Orlando is more than just a space\, it’s a home for Central Florida’s tech and innovation community. Designed to foster collaboration\, growth\, and connection\, our hub is here to support startups\, entrepreneurs\, and businesses looking to make an impact. \nContact us for more info!\n \n \n\n\n\nCheck us out!
URL:https://innovateorlando.io/event/coffee-wordpress-at-foxtail-coffee-howell-branch-6/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://innovateorlando.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/highres_509649261-scaled.avif
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR