Synapse Co-Founder and CEO, Brian Kornfeld is one of the masterminds behind Florida’s premiere innovation ecosystem event, Synapse Summit. He is confident that connecting and supporting the region’s innovators will elevate Florida as a leader in high tech industry. Creating a community for the state’s brightest minds to share their latest advancements is central to Kornfeld’s vision for the future.   

A rocket scientist and entrepreneur, Kornfeld initially struggled with finding the resources he needed to get his tech start-up business off the ground in Florida. Seeing a lack of available information and connections to draw on, Kornfeld started Synapse with fellow tech innovators that were experiencing similar difficulties. The group created a repository of resources for businesses to share what they need, what they have, and how they can help elevate one another. 

Now, after years of building connections, holding events, and networking throughout Florida, Synapse is facilitating connections and driving involvement that have lifted Florida’s innovation ecosystem to new heights.

Learn more about Synapse and how your company could benefit from attending its programs in this episode of Tech’s Potential. 

 As CEO of StarterStudio, Dawn Haynes capitalizes on decades of experience, both domestically and internationally, in strategic business management and leadership to educate and accelerate startups. In this episode of Tech’s Potential, Haynes discusses how her work helps founders and drives Central Florida’s entrepreneurial spirit forward. Her passion for assisting up-and-coming businesses evolved from the lack of support she received while attempting to launch her own technology company. Haynes now takes pride in having supported many startups through their earliest stages, including Stax and Home Lending Pal. 

Military service members transitioning from active duty to the civilian workforce face unique challenges. As a military spouse, Aleksandra Johnston knows firsthand how lonely it can be to leave a tight-knit community for new professional network or geographic location where you’re an unknown entity.

Johnston is a deputy director for Hiring Our Heroes’ Corporate Fellowship Program, Skill Bridge, for which she leads efforts to help veterans find new opportunities – including many in Florida, where there is a high concentration of companies interested in employing veterans with tech skills. Through a fellowship program and relationship-building with roughly 300 employers nationwide, Johnston’s team at Skill Bridge helps veterans identify their ideal civilian career path and facilitate a smooth transition. 

Learn more about Skill Bridge and how your company can get involved in this episode of Tech’s Potential. 

We’re celebrating STEM with Desh Bagley, the founder and CEO of TechPlayzone, director of the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota coding academy and FIRST LEGO League 2020 Global Volunteer of the Year. Desh founded TechPlayzone over 17 years ago to bring STEM programs to students in the Tampa Bay area and has hosted a range of hands-on and virtual workshops.
 
The STEM visionary and mother of five computer science grads shares her secrets for getting kids comfortable and confident with technology. 

On this episode of Tech’s Potential, we’re celebrating National Women’s Small Business Month with Kathryn Rudloff, executive director of the weVENTURE Women's Business Center at Florida Institute of Technology.

As one of only four Women’s Business Centers in Florida, weVENTURE helps remove obstacles for women entrepreneurs and provides expert guidance and mentorship to help their businesses succeed.

Sharon and Marc Hagle joined the New Shepard NS-20 Crew of Blue Origin Astronauts and became two of about 600 individuals in history who have crossed the Kármán Line, which is the boundary between our atmosphere and outer space. Today, they are breaking boundaries in the world of STEAM by introducing elementary students to the diversity of careers in space exploration and technology through Sharon’s nonprofit, SpaceKids Global. 

In this episode, hear how their lifelong fascination with space led to two trips
out of this world, and SpaceKids Global’s mission to bring space to kids everywhere.  

The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention is more than a museum – it’s a haven for innovation, a community-building resource and an institution with a passion for invention at its core. The Cade’s story begins with Dr. James Robert Cade, lead inventor of Gatorade. He instilled his drive for innovation in his children at an early age and that everyone has the innate ability to create. With this foundation, the Cade Museum teaches STEAM through the lens of invention to kids and adults alike.  

In this episode, Stephanie Bailes, president and CEO of the Cade in Gainesville, Florida, shares how the Cade’s mission to transform communities starts with fostering an inventive mindset. 

You can’t build a diverse innovation community without fostering inclusive entrepreneurship. Underserved and underestimated groups across Florida often lack the resources and tools to get involved and grow their ideas into successful businesses. Dr. Wanda Eugene, director for the Collaboratory for Inclusive Entrepreneurship, has made it her mission to fix this. 

In this episode of Tech’s Potential, Dr. Eugene discusses how innovation lives in underserved communities, and how entrepreneurs and ideas can be developed by leveraging relationships and meeting people where they are. Plus, learn more about the 10in5 program through the Collaboratory, which serves women and minority entrepreneurs by providing them with access to resources, training and mentorship.