Arizona rapper Mega Ran, who has built a strong following nationwide by creating songs that enhance storylines of popular video games like Mega Man and Final Fantasy VII, credits Orlando with inspiring one of the more energetic portion of his show.
As he raps about the freedom-fighting protagonist group Avalanche of Square Enix’s iconic video game, he asks the crowd to lift their arms in support and pump their fists to the music.
That happened organically at a show in Orlando years ago, said Mega Ran, whose real name is Rahim Jarbo.
“I’m always trying to think of something I can have the crowd do so that they will remember it and do it during that song,” he said. “So when I just saw everybody put their fist up, I thought, ‘Man, that looks awesome. That looks great. That’s the thing I’m going to do now.'”
You can find out more about his Orlando show in January at the YouTube video above!
A crucial deadline for local ecosystem support groups to receive funding from a grant program administered by City of Orlando, Innovate Orlando and Orlando Tech Community is fast approaching.
Applications for the Orlando Technology Support Grant are due at 11:59 p.m., Friday, March 15.
The grant program will make available a total of $65,000 to be split equally among four organizations.
Organizations that are awarded the $16,250 grants would be required to match 10 percent of those funds.
Judges for the effort have not been announced.
The investment in the community represents an investment into the future of Orlando’s innovation community, said David Adelson, Innovate Orlando’s CEO.
“By supporting these ventures, we amplify the heartbeat of progress, ensuring that transformative ideas are not just conceived but cultivated,” he said. “The grant becomes a catalyst, a bridge to possibilities, enabling organizations to push boundaries, enriching our tech landscape and ultimately sculpting a vibrant future for Orlando’s technological evolution. In backing these applicants, we not only endorse innovation but also pave the way for a dynamic ecosystem that thrives on the ingenuity fostered by the Orlando Tech Grant.”
The Orlando Technology Support Grant has been supporting tech-based organizations for five years, having bolstered the efforts of community staples like Black Orlando Tech, Indienomicon, Tech Sassy Girlz and Seed Funders Orlando, among others.
A software engineer with Orlando-based Engineering & Computer Simulations has been promoted into a leadership role for Serious Games Showcase & Challenge at this year’s I/ITSEC.
Matthew Becchio, who first worked with SGS&C as an intern, will now lead the effort to make sure submissions hit milestones and pre-I/ITSEC preparation runs smoothly.
“When you work your way up, you get to see how all the bricks are laid,” Becchio said. “As I go into subcommittees now as the [integrated product team] industry lead, I understand where certain puzzle pieces need to be placed.”
Becchio has been involved in Orlando’s tech and video game development scene for years.
In 2017, he led a team that built a video game for the local group Indienomicon’s game jam called “Tootin’ Pooches.”
The concept was dogs who moved using speed bursts generated by passing gas playing soccer.
The game, while silly in nature, was later awarded best student-developed game at SGS&C that year.
Becchio credits a good portion of his professional success to his involvement with SGS&C.
He had recently graduated college when he met ECS’ current chief technology officer, Shane Taber, who was serving on the same SGS&C committee. While working together, Becchio learned of a vacancy that ECS was looking to fill.
“Shane gave me his card, and within a couple weeks an interview was set up and I was hired,” Becchio said. “I’ve been working at ECS for the past five years.”
Taber, who is ECS’ chief technology officer, said he has seen Becchio evolve in a really short time.
“Matt’s love for serious games is clear in all his work,” said Shane Taber. “We’re really proud of what he’s done and how hard he’s worked to raise the standards and awareness for serious game development in our community.”
Becchio’s noted that his goal as IPT industry lead this year is to get more submissions from beyond the “government bubble.”
“A lot of the most interesting games come from the general public,” Becchio said. “The biggest thing I’d like to see is just getting the word out that if [any organization] has an educational game, then submit it. It could win multiple awards.”
It has been more than a year since longtime Orlando tech figure Rupert Meghnot launched a meetup group that looked to capture and enhance some of the energy surrounding the city’s entrepreneurial scene.
Ever since, Orlandopreneur has seen more than 1,000 people sign up for updates through its meetup page and routinely draws more than 100 to its monthly gatherings.
The timing could not have been more perfect for Orlandopreneur’s emergence, as a post-pandemic buzz about the city’s entrepreneurs has carried for some time now.
Although his realistic outlook stops short of saying that the city’s tech ecosystem sits in a “strong” position, he does admit there has been progress made.
“We wouldn’t consider it ‘strong;’ more like ‘inexorable,'” he said. “That, in and of itself, is a good thing. Our goal is to make it strong.”
We talked to Meghnot about entrepreneurship and Orlandopreneur’s role within the community.
AS ALWAYS, EDITED FOR CLARITY AND LENGTH
Where do you see entrepreneurship today vs. 10 years ago?
Honestly, I don’t see much change between today versus 10 years ago concerning entrepreneurship. The failure rate is still appallingly high at 95 percent. Yes, we have new tools, more influencers, and more effort. However, none of them seem to be helping. Of course, anything is better than nothing, but the entrepreneur remains their own biggest obstacle to success.
What do you think when you see young people being familiarized, even generally, with entrepreneurship?
The younger the better. Our world, particularly the United States, suffers from a profound lack of leadership. As a project management professional, I seek out the root causes of problems to solve. I consider deficient parenting (as many studies support) to be a cause. And we know that leadership and entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand.
Both are characterized by four things: initiative, creativity, resilience, and risk tolerance. Those who possess the highest amounts of these things tend to become our greatest leaders and entrepreneurs. Therefore, it behooves all parents – and teachers – to expose their kids to entrepreneurship as early as possible. Even if you as a parent don’t understand entrepreneurship, there are many people and organizations that do. And, they would be delighted to take your children onto a safe and enlightening journey of creativity, cognitive thinking, problem-solving, and calculated risktaking. Once we have a sufficient number of children exposed to entrepreneurship, we will definitely begin to see an increase in the quantity and quality of those willing to serve as our leaders. Make it so.
How does Orlandopreneur contribute to the city’s ecosystem?
We bring new stakeholders to the ecosystem. Nearly 50 percent of our event attendees are new. Ecosystem regulars consistently say that they’re always seeing new people at our events. Of our soon-to-be 2000 members, most aren’t involved in our ecosystem. They will be. We bring people together. Our monthly Startup Happy Hour events see a majority being entrepreneurs and startup founders. The other half are a good mix of small business owners, mentors, professional service providers, and investors. We also address the causes of startup failure like nobody else. As you have seen, every event we hold includes a learning component, in which we present to our attendees an issue that contributes to their failure, and offer a solution (or two, or 10).
The lesson is from a point of view that they haven’t heard before, and it deals with it in a manner that’s supposed to increase their chances of success. When a majority of our attendees say that we “made an impact,” we know we’re fulfilling our purpose. Finally, we practice collaboration in a manner that gives new meaning to the word (well, at least compared to how it’s been practiced). There are 300+ entrepreneurial and business service organizations in the area, all providing various services to help entrepreneurs, startup founders, and small business owners succeed. They all offer value to the ecosystem. Typically, however, they are non-profits, with little to no marketing budget. The result is that precious few of the aforementioned stakeholders even know of their existence. So, our form of collaboration begins with informing our members about these other organizations, and the value they provide. As a for-profit, we have a budget set aside to market for them. We also partner with them, showcasing them directly to the hundreds of people who attend each event. We help them get the word out.
Assess where we are in the city’s entrepreneurial community.
Our tech ecosystem is again seeing some progress, some of which is due to the efforts of other (tech-focused) organizations. We have been seeing some joint (collaborative) events and programs, which is a good sign. Consider what we have on our table: widespread recognition of our startup ecosystem in the press; 12 world-class tech sectors; half a million college students within 100 miles – 150k in Orange County, alone; 300-plus organizations to help startups and small businesses; the list goes on. However, our tech sectors aren’t really collaborating. Are we moving forward? Yes. Though we wouldn’t consider it “strong”. More like “inexorable”, which is a good thing in itself. Our goal is to help make it strong.
A partnership between UCF’s business program and Hungarian innovation hub will bolster the pipeline of firms between the two sites.
The idea is to significantly increase the number of businesses that can expand into Central Florida through the school’s “soft landing program,” an initiative of UCF’s Business Incubation Program. That program, alone, has helped hundreds of businesses relocate to the region.
Carol Ann Logue, director of programs and operations for several business-minded groups at UCF, often hears from international firms about expansion.
“By working with (Hungarian Hub), we will be able to connect with entrepreneurs that are prepared to expand to the US and support them in standing up their US subsidiary the right way,” she said.
Building connections
Moving forward, the goal will be to build connections with emerging markets with rapidly growing clusters of tech companies. In addition, the regions will not have traditionally focused on economic development efforts.
At the center of the partnership with Hungarian Hub is the USA Accelerator project. For the past few years, the initiative has operated out of Hungary. The effort helped launch the Hungarian Summit in 2020 in Budapest. The event, which has alternated between Daytona Beach and Hungary every year, attracted about 200 attendees in 2022.
It returns to Daytona Beach on May 23.
“We believe bringing the UCF Business Incubation Program into a larger role will only make the summit and the connection between our countries even stronger,” said Piros Pazaurek, Honorary Consul of Hungary in Central Florida, in a press release. “Creating this relationship is more than just the event, however, it’s a long-term effort to build both of our economies.”
Hungary’s location and skilled workforce have helped draw companies like UPS, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and IBM. These giants represent a small portion of the 450 U.S. companies there.
A longtime Valencia College executive with experience at SeaWorld will lead a not-for-profit group at the head of Kissimmee’s push to become a sensor technology hub.
Valencia VP for Public Affairs Jay Galbraith has been named the new president of BRIDG.
The group has been instrumental in helping the region land advanced grants that have it poised to become a national research hub.
BRIDG has also helped lead the development of the 500-acre tech campus NeoCity in Kissimmee.
“Jay brings a wealth of experience and connections in Central Florida and beyond,’ said Clarence Thacker, chairman of the BRIDG board. “His strength in business administration and partnership relations strengthen the sustainability of the organization well into the future.”
Galbraith has been at Valencia since 2014 following a seven-year stint as a corporate vice president at SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.
“The recent successes in (BRIDG’s) key partnership grants will serve as the catalyst to see the vision realized in the near future,” Galbraith said in the release.
Galbraith takes over for John Allgair, who has been with BRIDG since 2016 and most recently served as interim president.
In January, the U.S. National Science Foundation named Central Florida as one of 10 regional innovation engines in the country, with a focus on semiconductors thanks, in part, to BRIDG’s presence and expertise.
A weekend-long game jam at Orange County Library System – more specifically, its state-of-the-art Melrose Center – was not business as usual in the growing world of game jams.
No, this time, there was a “tech for social good” component, as a handful of teams sought to build solutions for a prescribed challenge: creating a solution for the growing number of people in society who suffer from unemployment or homelessness.
The winning team created a shooter that turned the typical weaponry into a care cannon, where you determine what types of resources a pedestrian on the side of the road needs then load up a care cannon to fire.
The event is a great example of how far game jams have come in the decade or so they have been held in Central Florida and hosted by local organizations.
We will have much more in the future but here are a few pictures of the event on Sunday.
Building a tech business with no tech background has been “brutal” for Maryann Kilgallon.
But she says her affiliation with the University of Central Florida’s Business Incubation Program helped her make connections, leading to a meeting with the tech giant Siemens.
It’s a meeting that led to the production of the POMM safety belt clip, the company’s first product, an alert device that notifies others whenever a user feels endangered, whether that’s on the job or in perilous situations.
“This partnership was confirmation that I was on the right track,” she said. “The timing was perfect for Siemens to take this on.”
Now, as a “startup evangelist” who coined and trademarked the term, she advises other startups for several hours a week. The hard work has appeared to pay off. Forbes named Kilgallon as a NEXT1000 CEO and Orlando Business Journal recently named POMM a startup to watch.
The 4Q4 team caught up with her to ask about her journey and the importance of using technology to improve on-the-job safety and other areas.
What has it been like to build POMM and see other perhaps unforeseen applications like the Siemens partnership?
Building any business is touch. Even so, building a technology company with no “tech background” has been brutal. I knew coming in that I needed to have a student mindset and learn all I could about my industry. We started with direct-to-consumer and then expanded to business-to-business. That’s when we were approached by a large Fortune 50 company (Duke Energy) to offer a one-touch SOS solution for their field technicians. We have been in collaboration with them and are in talks with three other firms and finalizing a government contract.
Tell me about the early days of POMM and why you started the company.
I was inspired to start the company after hearing a local news story of a little boy who died from caregiver neglect. It really upset me and changed the course of my life; I dove deep into statistics and research and was determined to create a practical solution to a critical problem. I also knew that I did not want to be a one-product company. I envisioned that I would build a suite of safety solutions for people at home, on the go or at the workplace.
How important is it that we use technology to improve safety?
Safety should be a priority for all fields of work. We believe that every employee deserves to make it home safe each day to their family. The stats show that on-the-job injuries are on the rise. Unless you’ve seen the data most people have no clue, and why would they?
I can tell you thousands of deaths are occurring, and millions of on-the-job injuries cost companies over $250 Billion annually. Many of these tragedies could be mitigated or even prevented with solutions in place along with training and awareness.
Where did your interest in tech/entrepreneurship come from?
My interest in technology came from the need to solve a problem. Also, I knew that my business would benefit from the use of technology. If I did not use technology, I would be left behind in the competition. I was born to be an entrepreneur. As a child from the age of 8I created or made products to sell to my friends and family.
I used to go to church yard sales and fill a large brown bag to the rim for $2. Then I would set up a table in my front yard and resell the items and make $20-$25. I live and breathe startups and have owned five businesses with one exit. I am on fire to build this company to make a positive impact on lives and create a legacy for my family.
A well-attended and fast-growing Central Florida meetup group connected on Monday with an increasingly popular meetup space, as Orlando’s entrepreneurs met in a space usually devoted to the region’s thriving defense industry.
Orlandopreneur, a roughly one-year-old meetup group that routinely draws hundreds from the region, met for its monthly happy hour.
On the surface, the meetup is typical of its other happy hours.
Food and drink provided.
Collisions happening all over the room.
And a line of sponsors showing off what they are working on or taking care of some business development needs.
However, there was a wrinkle here that could make this the most important Orlandopreneur yet – or at least a blueprint for others in the community to follow.
While most previous Orlandopreneur events have been held at local restaurants, bars or clubs, this one was hosted by an industry-specific location.
The results could be a real momentum boost for Orlando’s tech ecosystem.
Getting industries together at meetups might be the “straw that stirs the drink” in Orlando’s tech community.
At the risk of making this yet another editorial on the community’s growth, collaborations like this could propel the community forward.
It brings one strong sector of the community together with another.
What a random week for Orlando to feel like the center of the technology world.
I mean, it’s only mid-February.
It’s literally just the seventh week out of 52 this year so can we slow down a little bit? Looking at the upcoming calendar, no, we cannot.
I am joking. of course. We won’t slow down and we should not.
Where this feeling comes from
Ever since Wednesday, I have felt a buzz around town over Orlando tech.
It’s a feeling I have been having more frequently than in any of my nearly 10 years covering the community. Side note: Can you believe it? Halloween this year will mark 10 years of covering Orlando tech for me! That’s some historical context, if I do say so myself!
NAWCTSD took students through their simulators at Orlando Science Center’s Spark STEM Fest.
The exciting part is that each of the four events I’m about to highlight have completely different audiences yet all feel part of an overall puzzle or tapestry.
The buzz has not been because of any one specific event or activity.
In fact, I think it was because of all of them.
Let me run through them first.
A quartet of touchpoints for O Tech
On Wednesday, a portion of the defense industry came together at Central Florida Tech Grove. The event allowed small businesses to highlight products and programs to military brass, who happen to have offices in Orlando.
Most who read Orlando Tech News know that Orlando is the center of modeling, simulation and training for the defense industry. Tech Grove’s consistent programming allows more opportunities to showcase that, which is important when it comes to an ecosystem’s perception from afar.
On Thursday, fresh off the Tech Grove event, Innovate Orlando’s TenX Tech returned. The venue this time was downtown’s The Social.
It was great to reconnect with so many of those we have known while also making first connections with several I expect to follow up with in the days and weeks ahead.
Moving into the weekend, Orlando Science Center pulled off its Spark STEM Fest – dba Otronicon. The three-day festival, as usual, showcased Orlando’s general tech community to a unique audience.
It’s one of the rare times giants like Walt Disney World and others show up to a local meetup. Disney folks, don’t sue me, teach me … are there events you attend I’m just not aware of? Would love to know.
Finally, tonight, not only will Otronicon have its third and final day but Orlandopreneur, a meetup of business and tech, will host its monthly meetup.
This group has grown quickly into one of several in the community that keeps the fires of innovation burning through consistent touchpoints.
The fact that Central Florida Tech Grove will host this month’s Orlandopreneur is mere icing on the cake for the point I’m trying to make.
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So, what’s the point?
And what is that point, you ask?
The same point I have made repeatedly on this blog. Orlando has depth and when it hits its groove, it will be a potential powerhouse in the world of technology.
In my view that is, again, informed by nearly 10 years here, we are getting into the early stages of that groove.
