I believe that most conflict and misunderstanding stem from a lack of perspective not bad behavior. Over the last twenty years, I've had the incredible opportunity to work in and with the tech industry at companies all over the country. It's been exciting and inspiring to witness the progress. 

My name is Kai Isaac and I'm the Founder of Filmscape and I'll be narrating this episode around my experience and that of other blacks in the tech ecosystem. I and all of the guests on this episode are proud to call Orlando home and we'll be sharing how Orlando has grown as a hub for black innovation.

Rose Lejiste - the Executive Director of Black Orlando Tech

Jordan Walker - the Co-Founder of Yac

Kyle Morand - the Founder of 302 Interactive

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.

The financial technology industry is one of the hot spots of innovation in Central Florida. Businesses have continued to produce high quality payment tech companies that help businesses around the world, and companies are looking for ways to make the payment experience as easy as possible through tech.

In this episode you will hear from 3 payment industry experts:

Ernest Rolfson - CEO of Finexio

Sal Rehmetullah - President and Cofounder of Stax

Max Eliscu - Founder and CEO of Viewpost

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.

One of the key aspects of Innovation is collaboration, and while Teams and Zoom have been a great tool, one of the best aspects of the tech industry has always been amazing in-person events.

Central Florida is home to some of the best venues for these events and we have missed being able to physically see all of the innovation that happens not just in our region, but around the state.

In this episode, we chat with the CEOs behind the tech and innovation events in Orlando.

Cole NeSmith - Chief Creative Officer of The Creative City Project that produces IMMERSE

Brian Kornfeld - Chief Executive Officer of Synapse that produces Synapse Orlando

Orlando Innovation Week starts this week from October 8th to October 15th. It will feature both IMMERSE and Synapse Orlando and you can learn more about it here!

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.

What is virtual reality? According to Merriam Webster, it is an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (such as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one's actions partially determine what happens in the environment

But again... what is virtual reality?

In this episode, we hear from 2 experts explain what virtual reality is, why it's important, and where the future of vr goes.

Caris Frazier-Baker - Senior Technical Artist at Unity Technologies

Kunal Patel - Cofounder and CTO of BrandXR

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.

With every entrepreneur aiming to become the next unicorn startup, entrepreneurship has never been more popular. But what happens after you start? Startups don't become unicorns because you start a company, there is a lot more work that goes into it.

Thats exactly what we dive into today in our conversation with 3 entrepreneurs.

You will hear from:

Aaron Burnett - CEO of Spaced Ventures

Matt McBride - Founder of Mend VIP

Matt Garrepy - Chief Digital Officer of Solodev

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.

In 2019, the video game industry's revenue was 7x the revenue of the whole music industry and 3x the box office.

The video game industry has been on the rise and continues to grow each and every year. One of the key cornerstones of this industry is Orlando, Florida. In this episode, we dive into how video games have gone mainstream and why Orlando continues to play a large role in this expanding industry.

You will hear from:

Daryl Holt - Vice President / General Manager (EA-Tiburon, EA SPORTS Austin, & EA SPORTS Madrid)

Sean Pinnock - CEO of CyberDream, Creator of Virtual Battlegrounds (#2 on Steam Charts)

Deanna Galbraith - Founder / Creative Director at Captilight

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.

Got Zoom fatigue? Don't worry, we all have it.

But that's one of the main reasons that audio has been on the rise lately. Platforms like Voxtell and Yac are changing the way that not just companies, but teams interact with each other.

Clubhouse is connecting people from around the world.

And the best part about audio is that you can always do things while you're listening. Want to learn while driving? Listen to a podcast. Want to connect with someone while cooking dinner? Jump on Clubhouse. Want to go for a walk while checking in on your team? Send a Yac.

Audio is changing and there is a lot of money pouring into this space right now.

In this episode you will hear from:

Justin Mitchell - CEO/Founder of Yac

Junior Smizmaul - CEO/Founder of Voxtell

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.

O The Innovation brings you the stories behind the innovation happening in Central Florida. Tech cities like Silicon Valley, Austin, and Miami get all the headlines, but Orlando is a city that you want to keep your eye out on.

Each episode will be around 5-15 minutes long, featuring multiple founders and business leaders from throughout Central Florida. Every two weeks we will be releasing an episode focused on a particular tech topic that is growing in Orlando.

This show will be great for any business leader aiming to stay on top of tech trends as well as founders looking for insights on how to grow their business outside of a “tech hot spot”.

Make sure to subscribe or follow to get notifications when each episode releases! You won't want to miss these!

O the Innovation is produced by the Orlando Tech Council, a public-private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization that works to advance Broad-based Prosperity™ by strengthening Orlando’s economy, amplifying Orlando’s story, championing regional priorities, empowering community leaders and building a brilliant region.