Tech conference brings together talent pool
South Florida has visions of becoming a major tech hub, but it won’t get there without cultivating a sense of regional cooperation, speakers stressed Monday as the giant eMerge Americas conference opened in Miami Beach.
The conference, in its second year, promotes South Florida as the “tech hub of the Americas.” Some 10,000 people from across the region, state, U.S., Latin America and Europe are expected to attend the event through Tuesday at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The debut event last year drew more than 6,000 people. Forty percent were from Florida, with the majority from South Florida.
Many in this year’s crowd are there to make new connections, but the broader theme is filling gaps in South Florida’s “ecosystem.”
Dan Cane, the head of Modernizing Medicine in Boca Raton, an electronic medical records and data company, led a panel of university presidents. He urged them to foster regionalism and “stop the brain drain.”
Instead of focusing simply on attracting talent, South Florida’s universities and entrepreneurs need to retain the software engineers and other professionals who are already here, said Cane, whose company won the Startup Challenge at last year’s eMerge Americas.
George Hanbury II, president of Nova Southeastern University in Davie, said “there’s not a Chinese wall” at the Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade borders. “We need businesses to think regionally and encourage regional participation,” he said.
Event founder and entrepreneur Manny Medina opened the conference, which on Monday included speakers including Maria Confreres-Sweet, administrator the Small Business Administration; Julian Castro, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Martine Rothblatt, founder of Sirius Satellite Radio and United Therapeutics.
Ilene Greenberg, founder of The Shoe Maven in Boca Raton, was at eMerge to pitch her company and product, a high-heeled women’s shoe made comfortable through technology.
Her business belongs at the tech event, she said, because “it’s not that we just sell shoes. We’re a shoe technology company.”
eMerge “is a wonderful network of people in South Florida,” said Greenberg, whose startup is part of the Tech Runway incubator at Florida Atlantic University.
Kim Gramm, co-founder of Tech Runway, said eMerge’s Startup Challenge, where judges review university, early and later-stage companies, was a great opportunity for Tech Runway’s startups. The competition provides credibility, as the local startups have to compete against new businesses from around the world.
Finalists will be announced Tuesday.
David Finkelstein and Michael Aronov, co-founders of Big Data Exchange in Coral Springs, were explaining their business, which provides consumer data information to retailers and other customers, to anyone who would listen.
Big Data began about a year ago and has raised $1.5 million in financing and has seven employees. Finkelstein said he was at eMerge for the competition and to meet
“[eMerge] is a wonderful network of people in South Florida.”
Ilene Greenberg, The Shoe Maven founder
potential investors. “I’ve seen a few, but there’s less than I would have hoped,” he said.
Rhys Williams, who is an investor with New World Angels in Boca Raton and a judge for the startup competition, was making the rounds of startups to decide which startup he would invest $10,000 in, part of a total $50,000 prize.
Williams said he looks for great technology and a management team that is motivated. While groups like New World are willing to take a risk, “we expect to get paid [back] for it,” he said.
At eMerge’s hiring fair, representatives from Broward companies including Ultimate Software, Citrix Systems, Motorola Solutions and Magic Leap were chatting with attendees who would like to work for them.
Lawrence Srail, recruiter for Citrix, said this is Citrix’s first participation in the eMerge hiring fair. Last year, Citrix had a conflicting event.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of good candidates, he said. Srail said Citrix seeks people who have both technical and people skills.
Potential job candidates formed a line at Magic Leap, the Dania Beach company that snagged one of the largest investments in 2014.
Recruiter Amanda Sobus said she had talked with both engineers and students interested in working for the company. Some people were hoping Magic Leap would finally reveal its virtual entertainment product at eMerge, but the company was only recruiting.
Ben Baldanza, CEO of Miramar-based Spirit Airlines, spoke at eMerge about transforming transportation for a growing population.
See more information at emergeamericas.org.