NCS Uncategorized

On a cloudless morning last May, a pilot took off from the Niagara Falls International Airport, heading for restricted military airspace over Lake Ontario. The plane, which bore the insignia of the United States Air Force, was a repurposed Czechoslovak jet, an L-39 Albatros, purchased by a private defense contractor. The bay in front of […]

The University of Central Florida Business Program’s Downtown Innovation District and startup accelerator Starter Studio on Dec. 1 will move into a 3,579-square-foot space at 130 S. Orange Ave — the ground floor of the 85-year-old Kress Building. Downtown Orlando is the site of one of three innovation districts operated by UCF, each with a […]

Before 2020, it wasn’t uncommon for West Coast investors to stop founder Kristen Wiley mid-pitch when she mentioned her startup was based in Orlando. “They said, ‘I don’t want you to waste my time, because you’re in Florida,’” Wiley told Orlando Inno. However, that perception is changing quickly, Wiley added. The Sunshine State, Miami especially, in the past […]

When Luminar Technologies Inc. put down roots in Orlando a decade ago, the company’s leadership was betting that a tech firm partially based in Central Florida could go “toe-to-toe” with companies built entirely in Silicon Valley, founder and CEO Austin Russell told Orlando Inno. So far, the autonomous vehicle sensor firm’s bet has paid off. Last year, the […]

Nestre Health & Performance Inc. was founded in 2018, but it really started 22 years ago when head injuries forced founder Tommy Shavers to quit playing football at the University of Central Florida. Two decades later, Shavers and his startup are ready to go to market with a series of solutions meant to provide customized cognitive training […]

The D.A.S.H. Orlando team: Jack Stubbs, Fluvio Lobo, Jim Inziello, Tres Sims. So far, D.A.S.H. (which stands for digital anatomy simulations for healthcare) has created six fetal models for spina bifida using one of the most advanced Stratasys 3D printers. DA.S.H. has a special partnership with Stratasys to work on the latest advancements in medical […]

Five years ago, Austin Russell knocked on doors in Orlando to ask homeowners if he could buy their house. The CEO of Orlando-based Luminar Technologies Inc. wanted a home as close as possible to the autonomous vehicle sensor firm’s east Orlando facility. However, there were no available homes nearby, Russell told Orlando Inno. “I actually went door-to-door knocking, […]

For the first time, the Special Olympics USA Games will offer an all-in-one fan engagement app for 125,000 spectators, powered by a serverless infrastructure designed by Orlando-based cloud computing solutions firm Solodev. This project got some recent help in the form of an Amazon Web Services Inc. Imagine Grant, an annual grant for nonprofits using […]

A version of this article was published in TIME’s newsletter Into the Metaverse. Subscribe for a weekly guide to the future of the Internet. You can find past issues of the newsletter here. There are two versions of a BMW factory in the medieval town of Regensburg, Germany. One is a physical plant that cranks out hundreds of […]

When California-based jet pilot training startup Red 6 Inc. in July announced its operations would take off for Florida, Orlando-area readers took notice. The news of the augmented-reality (AR) training firm’s plans to open an Orlando tech hub was the most popular story among readers in Orlando Inno‘s first year. Since launching in June, Orlando Inno‘s other most […]

On Sept. 27, the “Kraken” was unleashed in Central Florida. The once-secret initiative — previously known by the code name Project Kraken — of Terran Orbital Corp.’s plan to build a 660,000-square-foot satellite manufacturing facility at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport was unveiled by Gov. Ron DeSantis in September. Terran Orbital — headquartered in Boca Raton and Torino, Italy — […]

Construction of an aerospace manufacturing complex that’ll create 240 jobs will take flight next year. Space Perspective Inc. in the next 24 months will build a 120,000-square-foot facility for the production of its luxury space travel balloons in Brevard County, the company announced Dec. 16. Meanwhile, Cape Canaveral-based Space Perspective’s move to the Space Coast […]

For years, Luminar Technologies Inc.’s Palo Alto, California office was identified as its headquarters, but co-founder Jason Eichenholz says Luminar was always a Florida company. The biggest facility operated by the maker of lidar sensors for autonomous vehicles is in Orlando, where Luminar employs the majority of its 750 workers. In fact, Orlando is becoming an even […]

The future of exercise and nutrition was on display at a Dec. 9 event in Lake Nona. Lead Sports hosted the second demo day for its Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Accelerator since the accelerator launched in 2020. Five startups from around the world showcased their innovative wellness and sports technologies, and also shared […]

Work on aviation training company Simcom International Corp.’s future Orlando headquarters is taking off. The firm hosted a Dec. 8 groundbreaking ceremony on its 90,000-square-foot global headquarters and training center in southeast Orlando’s Lake Nona master-planned community Redwood City, California-based DPR Construction Inc. is the project general contractor; the complex is slated to open on […]

Despite global economic turmoil, 2020 was a big year for farm tech investment, according to a 2021 report by AgFunder. The report estimated $7.9 billion invested in farm tech companies last year, up 41% from the year before. The year started off with a bang for Anuvia, as the company in February unveiled a $103 million […]

An Orlando venture capital firm’s next aerospace-focused investment fund is ready for launch. E2MC LLC will “imminently” begin to invest into startups with money from its second investment fund, Managing Partner Raphael Roettgen told Orlando Inno. After a proof-of-concept fund that deployed money in companies from Barcelona to Cape Canaveral during the past two years, E2MC seeks more […]

The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference came back to Orlando in a big way. More than 16,000 attendees registered for the trade show, held at the Orange County Convention Center from Nov. 29-Dec. 3. The convention, commonly known as I/ITSEC, features speaker panels, networking events and a job fair. However, the centerpiece is the […]

Orlando’s simulation sector is all about creating virtual environments, but the companies that make up the $6 billion industry are ready to get back to an in-person convention. Firms from across Central Florida and the globe will show off the latest in modeling, simulation and training technology in Orlando on Nov. 29-Dec. 3 at the […]