#MiamiTech The Future is Here Now

Andrew Neale

During #MiamiTech this Friday April 21 at the eMerge Americas conference John Wensveen, Ph.D., NSU’s Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation will be speaking on the Texpert Stage from 11:50 am – 12:20 pm on the subject of ‘The Future is Here Now: A conversation on innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship‘.

John is an applied futurist, entrepreneur, and innovator who will be leading an engaging and intimate discussion on innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship with Lil Roberts, founder of Xendoo and Rise of the Rest past winner, and David S. Rose, founder of New York Angels, Gust, and several other companies.

We are told that the discussion will center around the trends, challenges, opportunities, and strategies of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.

We note also that at eMerge there is an Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation’s (Levan Center of Innovation) booth (#237), which is conveniently located adjacent to the Texpert Stage.

The Levan Center of Innovation is a public-private partnership between Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and Broward County. The Levan Center of Innovation is “The World’s First Theme Park for Entrepreneurs™”, located in a 54,000 sq. ft. purpose-built facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It focuses on three themes (innovation, technology, entrepreneurship) and four pillars known as the Founder’s Journey (Ideate, Incubate, Accelerate, Post-Accelerate). The Levan Center of Innovation serves the NSU and South Florida communities resulting in breakthrough ideation, new technologies, talent skills pipeline, company formation, job creation, and scaling of early-stage and young startup companies. Each of the four pillars is supported by customized programs, events, and wraparound services. The Levan Center of Innovation is an economic and education development engine for linking South Florida with local, regional, national, and international impact. By powering the innovation ecosystem, the Levan Center of Innovation is a major stakeholder in the establishment of an innovation hub for South Florida.

The Levan Center of Innovation’s wide breath of technology is a resource for entrepreneurs at all stages of the Founder’s Journey, training individuals in areas such as AI/machine learning, spatial computing, data analytics, blockchain and UX/UI Design. In March of this year, the Levan Center of Innovation was awarded $1.94 million in National Defense Authorization Act Community Projects Funding to continue their commitment to improve access to and development of emerging technologies.

Some highlights from their in-house technology offerings are the Cybersecurity Range, the LEVL5: Space Dock™, the Technology Makerspace and the North Star Pitch Room. Additionally, the Levan Center of Innovation offers a full-service media production studio, multiple event spaces, huddle rooms and an expansive coworking space. It also provides access to humanoid robots and manufacturing robots, 3D printers, AR/VR headsets, 3D Scanners, high performance computers, and access to the 100 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) Florida LambdaRail network.


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