Opportunity Miami

Episode 69: Pricing Risk: The Future of Climate Insurance

Miami is a place where sea-level rise, extreme heat, and storm intensification collide with the realities of a growing, globally connected city. But Miami is emerging not only as the testing ground for climate challenges through innovation but also as the global hub for the solutions that will define how we assess and manage environmental risk. At the center of this is the Environmental Finance and Risk Management program at Florida International University, designed to rethink how we can better quantify and respond to environmental risk.

Episode 68: Restoring the River of Grass: The Business Case for the Everglades

Florida’s economic future flows through the Everglades. It is not only the source of drinking water for nearly eight million residents across the South Florida region, but it also has a direct impact on our tourism, real estate values, and more. The Everglades generates over $1 trillion in value and nearly $31.5 billion in annual economic benefits for the region, according to the central finding of the Everglades Foundation’s recent report, Thriving Everglades, Thriving Economy: Nature’s Value in the Everglades. Dr. Meenakshi Chabba, Ecosystem and Resilience Scientist and one of the report’s authors, puts it plainly: “Miami and South Florida wouldn’t exist without the Everglades.”

Episode 67: Scaling Their Impact: Connecting Tech to Nonprofits

In 1987, long before cloud computing and AI, a small group of technologists in the Bay Area saw how nonprofit organizations wanted to use technology to advance their missions, but lacked access, affordability, and the know-how. That’s when TechSoup was born, first as a matching service between “geeks” with technical expertise and social activists with big ideas but little IT support, explains Rebecca Masisak, Executive Chair at TechSoup Global. Four decades later, TechSoup has evolved into a global marketplace serving 1.4 million nonprofits in over 200 countries, distributing more than $15 billion in technology resources and training to organizations of every size and cause. It also supports almost *all* of the nonprofits in Miami-Dade County.

Episode 66: Small Business Meets Big Defense in Miami

When most entrepreneurs think of government contracts, they picture red tape, slow approvals, and paperwork nightmares. The Rapid Innovation Accelerator is here to help change that. “Our job is to support emerging technology businesses to get access to federal contracting opportunities,” said Solomon Stavis, Director of the RIA in Miami. Based at The LAB Miami in Wynwood, RIA-Miami is on a mission to help small businesses and emerging tech startups access federal government opportunities.

Episode 65: Flying Forward: American Airlines and Miami's Economic Future

Over the past two years, Juan Carlos (JC) Liscano has served as Chair of The Miami-Dade Beacon Council and Co-Chair of Opportunity Miami. During this time, the Vice President of American Airlines’ Miami hub has demonstrated to us what vision and service can accomplish. “Economic development touches many parts of our community, but the success of Miami is predicated on having a really strong economic development agency. The Beacon Council is exactly that.” American Airlines is the largest private employer in Miami-Dade County, employing over 15,000 people with a payroll impact of nearly $2 billion.  “We’ve been a hub at Miami for more than three and a half decades, and we’ve always functioned on the premise that what’s good for Miami is good for American — and not the other way around,” he said. “American Airlines is inextricably linked to this market. I love that we’re Miami’s hometown airline.”