Meet Miami's Most Innovative and Successful Companies

Entrepreneurship
EcoTech is among the Miami’s first co-working space combined with green business incubator. The company supports 24 growing ecopreneur-driven Miami companies. EcoTech Visions is merging sustainability and tech by creating jobs, sustaining communities and protecting the planet. The company’s philosophy is that the solution for climate change is economic. The company is working to achieve its vision of an oxygen-surplus planet through sustainable companies and, at the same time, cross train the urban Miami workforce into green economy careers. The company is currently expanding to more shared and dedicated office space and a vertical farm. 
http://www.ecotechvisions.com

Hospitality & Tourism
ACCOR North Americas is a French hotel group which operates in 92 countries. Headquartered in Paris, the group owns, operates and franchises 3,600 hotels on five continents representing several diverse brands such as the Sofitel and Novotel, from budget and economy lodgings to luxurious accommodations in exotic locales. The company is consolidating existing offices in New York City and Dallas into a new 14,513 square foot office in Doral adding 60 new direct jobs. http://www.accorhotels-group.com

Life Sciences & Healthcare
FIU’s Center for Children and Families (CCF) is an international leader in developing and delivering treatment for child mental health disorders, serving approximately 3,000 children and families annually. This includes 1,600 children currently registered in a community of clinic-based summer readiness programs. The CCF partners with more than 300 Miami-Dade County Public Schools to provide effective care for children and adolescents struggling with mental health issues. The have expanded recently, more than doubling their job-numbers since 2013.
http://ccf.fiu.edu/

Trade & Logistics
PortMiami is Miami-Dade County’s second most important economic engine, contributing $28 billion annually to the local economy and supporting more than 207,000 jobs in South Florida. It is recognized as the Global Gateway. Miami’s unique geographic position makes the Port easily accessible to Caribbean and Latin American markets, as well as those of Asia and Europe by way of the Panama Canal. PortMiami is also known worldwide as the Cruise Capital of the World, welcoming more cruise passengers to its terminals than any other port in the world.

TOPP Solutions was established in 1995 as a high-level certified repair facility servicing manufacturers, insurance providers, and mobile network operators. Based in Miami, the company is a founding member of the West End Innovation Center, a technology hub for research and development, internships and job creation boosting the economy in the west end of Miami Dade County. The company is committed to bridging the “Digital Divide” with The Leon Project, where they take donated/used/broken tablets and E-condition them back to working order. The tablets are then distributed to autistic children from low-income families throughout Miami-Dade County. The company has also developed a strategic alliance with Florida International University School of Engineering in order to create green jobs and internships.

 

Easy Solutions is a security provider focused on the comprehensive detection and prevention of electronic fraud across all devices, channels and clouds. Last year, the company opened a new US Anti-Fraud Response Operation Center, known as the ROCK, in Miami. The facility houses the company’s fraud and threat intelligence team that provides round-the-clock proactive detection, analysis, mitigation and shutdown of attacks targeting the company’s more than 320 customers. The company nearly doubled its Miami staff since 2013.

The company’s products range from fraud intelligence and secure browsing to multi-factor authentication and transaction anomaly detection, offering a one-stop shop for end-to-end fraud protection.  https://www.easysol.net/

 

 

I grew up in Miami and absent my undergraduate years in Boston, have lived in Miami continuously. My wife (Luly) and I have 2 amazing kids (Matias and Emma) and we all thoroughly enjoy travel and tennis and even better travel with tennis. We have commenced a bucket list of tournaments in great cities that we want to visit.  

As Miami grows and diversifies it must establish the key components to a healthy business ecosystem. Among those key components are viable sources of capital, viable housing and a transportation system that functions. Miami has come a long way and recently we have seen key venture capital firms establish offices in Miami investing in growth companies. We have also seen a focus on workforce and affordable housing and believe we will see continued focus on Miami-Dade County housing. With respect to transportation we will see continued efforts to improve on various modes of transportation including Trolley systems, Metrorail and Metromover. In addition, we will continue to see growth of alternatives to owning vehicles like Uber, Lyft, as well as increased bicycle ownership. Developers in the urban core areas are also looking to reduce parking requirements and provide mechanical and robotic parking in order to minimize the bulk and scale of high-rise developments.  

Miami will continue to see an increased growth in mixed use developments where people will live, work, and socialize within the same general areas, without the need of driving long distances. There will be an increase in workforce housing and more transportation oriented developments around major transportation hubs. Miami will also see more creative design solutions within the urban core with less dependency on cars. Specifically, we will continue to see the rise of development in the urban core with rental housing that will specifically attract millennials and the desire to be in City Center with core services. 

 

Mario J. Sacasa, Senior Vice President, International Economic Development at The Beacon Council, is joining members of the Miami-Dade County Economic Development & International Trade Unit on April 11 on a mission to China with stops in Shaghai, Hangtzhou, Guangzhou and Taipei. Sacasa discussed the business development mission on April 4 during his radio interview on the Pete De La Torre Business Hour  www.petebizradio.com.

 

China is the third largest trading partner for the Miami Customs District (which runs from Fort Piers to Key West and MIA, PortMiami, Port Everglades and Fort Lauderdale International Airport are the most important points of entry). Total trade in 2014 was about $6.6 billion. The Miami Customs District imported about $6.2 billion in goods from China and exported about $445 million to China. There are six multinational in South Florida from China, as well as four from Hong Kong. In South Florida there are approximately 15,726 foreign born individuals from China and Hong Kong – 7,337 in Miami-Dade; 5,627 in Broward and 2,763 in Palm Beach County. 

 

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) is a classroom-based practical business education program that gives entrepreneurs several benefits including valuable skills for growing their businesses, the opportunity to access financial capital and powerful networking opportunities at no cost to participants.
 

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