At the Technology Foundation of the Americas launch, Foundation CEO Diane Sanchez, center, introduces four South Florida startups. They are, from left: Roberto Gluck of The Social Radio, Alejandro Muther of Kimetric, Sabrina Scandar of Sew Love and Jose Pimienta and Osniel Gonzalez of Vinylfy. Below is Foundation Chairman and founder Manny Medina. Photos by Gort Productions.
By Nancy Dahlberg, [email protected]
Earlier this week, the business community was celebrating how far the South Florida tech community has come while at the same time acknowledging the hard road ahead.
At a Wednesday evening gathering of entrepreneurs, corporate executives, education and government leaders and investors, Manny Medina officially announced the launch of the Technology Foundation of the Americas, which will bring a major tech conference, called eMerge Americas, to South Florida next May. But make no mistake, the greater goal is for Miami to be a tech hub for Latin America. Let’s get this done, said the Foundation’s CEO, Diane Sanchez: “We are not just bringing a tech conference here, we are building a movement.”
As Medina, the Foundation’s chairman and founder, and Sanchez laid out their vision and detailed plans for the year ahead, the general sentiment in the audience was that Miami was in the right place at the right time with the right people to bring the dream of a tech hub to fruition.
Yet, the next morning, at a Greater Miami Chamber event exploring the role of education in building a tech hub, the mood was all business. How does Miami nurture tech talent and stop brain drain?
Albert Santalo, CEO of Miami-based CareCloud, expressed how his fast-growing company has had to recruit and open offices elsewhere to meet his talent needs. Other panelists discussed strategies to fill the pipeline with homegrown engineering talent and make South Florida a place students want to stay after graduation. There has been success with dual-enrollment programs in high schools as well as initiatives such as FIU’s partnership with Ultimate Software in Weston and Miami Dade College’s program for mobile-app development.
“We are asking companies to step up and be more aggressive about internships,” said FIU President Mark Rosenberg. Panelists’ call to action: Offer a meaningful internship to one or more college, high school or middle school students this summer. If you have a tech startup that could take on an intern, that’s even better because you are providing an immersion experience in the startup culture, said Susan Amat, who co-founded The Launch Pad, founded Venture Hive and who chairs the STEM board for Miami-Dade Schools. Want a high school intern? There is a site called getmyinterns.org for a Miami-Dade County Schools program. There is work underway to create a comprehensive community portal for college-level and possibly high school internships in technology.
Coming up
If you missed the talk at The LAB Miami in Wynwood on Friday by Silicon Valley entrepreneur, strategist and speaker Salim Ismail about what the next 15 years of tech will took like, don’t worry, there are other interesting discussions coming up.
Investors and business leaders are gathering next week at a forum hosted by AS/COA and LAVCA to present findings and discuss venture capital in Latin America. The event is private, but you can tune in for the livestream at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18: http://www.as-coa.org /live
On April 29, Brad Feld, venture capitalist, TechStars co-founder and author of Startup Communities, will be giving a presentation/book signing at The LAB Miami at 4 p.m. Register here. He is also helping leaders create a road map for building a community here.
On Sunday, April 21, the Miami Chapter of Awesome Foundation will be holding a launch party and information session at The LAB from 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Awesome Foundation rewards grants, typically $1,000, to entrepreneurial projects through an easy entry process.
Read more startup news on The Starting Gate. Follow me on Twitter @ndahlberg
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/14/v-fullstory/3343445/tech-hub-movement-gains-steam.html#storylink=cpy