Innovation Fusion, the signature event for The Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA), is expected to draw 500 people to hear top tech executives and meet representatives of the accelerator’s latest eight-member cohort.
Danny Brigido, Director of Customer Solutions in Miami for the Tel Aviv-based Wix website development platform, will be talking about the challenge of hiring tech employees in Florida. Aron DiCastro, Waze Head of Global Partnerships and Business Development, will be sharing about Waze’s integration into Google and plans for growth.
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Danny Brigido will speak about hiring tech labor.Brigido, who developed Miami’s Wix office, will be speaking about how he hired more than 100 Floridians for the operation, which provides support to users of the platform. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Tampa and a master’s degree in Animation from The Savannah College of Arts and Design.
A GPS navigation app, Waze was built by an Israeli startup acquired by Google for $1.3 billion in 2013. DiCastro, who has relocated from Tel Aviv to Google headquarters in Silicon Valley, has been heading global business development and partnerships at Waze for more than a year. In the past, he led the Google 'Startup Nation' Department involving international business.
The event presented by Valley National Bank culminates the introductory portion of the cohort program for companies interested in doing business in the U.S. market. “The purpose of Innovation Fusion is to bring together the Tampa Bay community around exciting innovation happening in our area,” says Rachel Marks Feinman, FIBA’s Executive Director.
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Rachel Marks Feinman is FIBA's Executive Director.
It attempts to build a bridge between the Israeli innovation ecosystem and what is happening in the Tampa Bay community, she says.
“The companies that we’re serving really have no connection or tie to Tampa Bay other than through FIBA,” she says.
The event, scheduled from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 13, at Bryan Glazer Family JCC, 522 N. Howard Ave., Tampa, is expected to attract about 200 more people than the inaugural Innovation Fusion event last year. At that time a member of the 2017 cohort,
Tomobox, announced it was opening its U.S. headquarters in Tampa.
Another cohort company,
Stemrad, has also chosen to open a U.S. subsidiary in Tampa -- and hired former FIBA Executive Director Jack Ross.
More accomplishments are anticipated through FIBA. “We expect similar successes from our 2018 cohort. It’s a little early to make any announcements,” Feinman says.
Founded by the
Tampa Jewish Community Centers and Federation, in late 2016, FIBA is working closely with community partners such as
Synapse, a Tampa nonprofit working to better connect members of the area’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and
Tampa Bay Wave, a nonprofit accelerator for tech businesses.
It also recently worked with a
University of Tampa public relations class to craft media plans for the organization.
“We’re all working together as a community to make sure that we have all the necessary tools in the toolkit, if you will, for our growing companies to be successful,” Feinman says.
She adds that Tampa Bay has a “well of talent” that may not necessarily be trained, or have experience in tech jobs.
“I think over the next several years we’ll see an influx of that talent grow here,” she says.
Here are the companies in the 2018 cohort:
• BetterCare, which aims to improve nursing home care by enhancing communication between caregivers, nurses and staff;
• ECOncrete, whose goal is to change the way our coastlines look and function through cost-efficient concrete solutions to rising sea levels and superstorms;
• Nucleon, the provider of an innovative cyber threat monitoring system to protect users from professional hackers, governments and other attackers;
• UC-Care, a developer and manufacturer of medical devices for urologists working with prostate cancer;
• GlobeKeeper, an encrypted communication platform designed to keep security personnel safe, saves money and improves decision-making;
• Intervyo, an advanced interview simulation engine able to screen job applicants and accurately gauge their suitability for the position;
• Say, which enables you to wear your display on clothes or accessories and control it with your smartphone; and
• WiseShelf, which offers dynamic inventory management to retailers through low-cost hardware and sophisticated software. It also helps businesses fill online orders.
To register, or get more information about the companies,
visit the FIBA website.