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News, highlights and events throughout the Americas

Turning South Florida Into A Tech and Entrepreneurship Hub

Miami continues to reinvent itself. Now, the "Gateway to Latin America" is transforming into the country’s newest tech hub, as a Wall Street Journal op-ed recently reported. The city is leading the country in exponential tech job migration and tech job growth, creating new entrepreneurial ventures and opportunity. A key in leading this effort is eMerge Americas, a venture-backed platform focused on turning Miami into the technology center of the Americas. The organization’s signature event, a global tech conference held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center, brings in more than 20,000 attendees from 40 countries each year.

 

- Source: Forbes

Modern Love: Taco Bell Takes Wedding Services To The Metaverse

Taco Bell raised a few eyebrows in 2017 when it started offering wedding services through its flagship Las Vegas Cantina location. The brand was able to adeptly capture the ethos of Sin City — infamous for spur-of-the-moment elopements — and has since legally married nearly 800 couples from its “restaurant chapel.”  Now, the Yum Brands chain is attempting to translate the concept to the metaverse amid a rush of brand experimentation on interactive virtual platforms and as more dating takes place online.

 

- Source: Marketing Dive

18-Year Old Miamian Kye Gomez Is Developing AI To Make Like Less Boring

Two years ago, Gomez built a marketing consultancy that ingested its clients data and used AI to unlock insights to help them grow. Managing that growing business clashed with his efforts to complete his high school studies. But it would eventually lead him to his latest business venture, APAC AI. Through APAC AI, Gomez has built an AI-powered, Slack-based assistant called Athena. The idea is that Athena can help users with any monotonous, rote task they deal with on a daily basis. For instance, Athena can enable a CEO to quickly identify key information in their company’s balance sheet. Equally, a marketer can ask Athena for details around the key metrics they are tracking in each campaign. Meanwhile, a journalist can leverage Athena to write parts of their articles by feeding it a series of prompts about the topic.  Once Athena gets to know the needs of its users, it can also begin to proactively provide recommendations. “Athena can unleash a person’s true potential,” asserted Gomez.

 

-Source: Refresh Miami

Meta Now Lets You Post NFTs On Both Facebook And Instagram

Meta announced on Monday that it will now let users post their NFTs across both Instagram and Facebook. Users can connect their wallets like Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet to post digital collectibles minted on Ethereum, Polygon and Flow. “As we continue rolling out digital collectibles on Facebook and Instagram, we’ve started giving people the ability to post digital collectibles that they own across both Facebook and Instagram. This will enable people to connect their digital wallets once to either app in order to share their digital collectibles across both,” the company said in its blog post. The company has been experimenting with NFTs on both its platform since May. Apart from extending support for showcasing different digital collectibles, app sleuths have noted that the company is also working on custom animations for NFT posts and digital collectible collections. Earlier in the year, Zuckerberg had mentioned that Meta will work on displaying NFTs through Instagram Stories and make them Spark AR compatible, too.

 

-Source: TechCrunch

Neurodiversity Is Critical For Innovation In The Workplace

Your organization is “all about” creativity and innovation. You believe that diversity enhances creativity. But does your definition of diversity include embracing neurodiversity? Neurodiversity describes the idea that characteristics associated with developmental differences such as autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, or Tourette’s are not deficits, but differences that benefit larger human systems.  In many workplaces, neurodiversity is still overlooked and misunderstood. Maybe you’ve heard something about hiring autistic programmers or that people with ADHD are less stressed by interruptions, but this view on neurodiversity is incredibly limited. Throughout history, neurodivergent people have been a driving force of creativity and innovation in all fields of thought, from literature to technology. 

 

- Source: Fast Company

Miami's Technology Sector Is Leveling Up. Here's What Could Hold It Back

The growth of Miami-Dade County's tech and financial sectors gave the area's office market a significant boost during the pandemic, according to a new report from Moody's Analytics, a subsidiary of New York-based Moody's Corp. Moody's says Miami has the potential to become the next Silicon Valley. But its rise could be thwarted by housing costs, as well as other mounting burdens on its residents. Despite the challenges, Lu Chen, a senior economist at Moody's and a co-author of "The Growing Power of Tech on Miami's Commercial Real Estate Market," asserts that Miami has the potential to become a successful tech hub. There is reason for optimism, the report stated, since there are local efforts such as Tech Equity Miami that aim to make tech education more accessible for all its residents. Additionally, Miami's strengths include its large concentration of banks and entrepreneurs.

 

- Source: South Florida Business Journal

Tech Tuesdays

August 30th | Miami Marlins

 

Tech Tuesday comes to loanDepot park, every Marlins home game on Tuesday. Join us for a pregame mixer with local tech companies in the new Recess Sports Lounge as the Marlins take on the San Diego Padres.

Miami Moonshot Awards

September 1st Deadline | Algorand + Lab22c

 

Now's your chance to submit your Moonshot Award nomination for exceptional people and organizations that are taking Miami to the moon! We're honored to share the inclusion of The eMerge Americas Convener Award, which recognizes a leader or organization that has convened communities of diverse thought thereby fueling innovation ecosystems and building authentic relationships that lift all proverbial boats. These award winners have consistently, selflessly and relentlessly put the interests of the Miami innovation ecosystem above their own self interest. All award winners will be recognized during the inaugural Miami Moonshot Awards on the evening of September 22nd, 2022 at Bay 13 Brewery presented by Algorand and powered by Lab22c. 

Smart City Expo USA

September 14-15th | Miami Beach Convention Center

 

Smart City Expo USA is the country's leading event for cities. We are solving urgent issues of today while preparing cities for tomorrow. Join us in harnessing $1T of federal funds to build inclusive and resilient cities through electrification, climate resiliency, cybersecurity, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and web3, urban air mobility, AI and edge technology, big data, education equity, the future of work, next-gen infrastructure, and so much more. The first 50 people to use code SMART500 will receive a $500 pass.

AI & Machine Learning in the Enterprise

September 21st | DSS Miami Hybrid

 

Join DSS Miami Hybrid for a day full of knowledge sharing and networking! We’ll gather for an in-person experience in Miami and all sessions will be available for virtual viewing as well. We will also host Miami Machine Learning Week with our South FL partners, don’t miss a whole week of immersive industry talks, workshops, panels and much more only happening the week of September 20-23!

Chamber Connections Happy Hour

September 21st | Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce

 

Join the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce for happy hour on September 21st at CH'I in Brickell City Center from 5:30pm-7:30pm.

Endeavor Masterclass Series

October 11th | Endeavor

 

The Endeavor Masterclasses are a series of sessions specially designed for entrepreneurs that THINK BIG and want to CREATE CHANGE. Do you often ask yourself what you need to take into account when negotiating a term sheet with investors? What mistakes to avoid and the best practices to consider? Then, you must join the Endeavor Masterclass by John Kim, Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Datavest Partners.

South Florida Space Day

October 12th | NSU Broward Levan Center of Innovation

 

The Levan Center of Innovation is planting the Space Flag in South Florida. Join us for our inaugural South Florida Space Day supporting the economy of space entrepreneurship. Connect and network with entrepreneurs, industry professionals, academia, and many more.

eMerge Americas  2222 Ponce de Leon Blvd  Miami  FL 

 

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