For the fourth consecutive year, the City of Orlando is partnering with the Orlando Tech Community to offer grants via the Orlando Technology Community Support Program (Website).
The program, which is an effort of the Orlando Economic Partnership (Website), provides matching grants to help organizations and companies develop tech-focused events in the amount of $65,000 which will be divided among four winners.
“We are thrilled to partner with the City again on this endeavor. This opportunity provides critical support during an important time for our region’s innovative organizations. While we are selecting fewer winners this year, we wanted to award more money to the winning organizations and companies to provide them with more support and value to help them succeed.”
– DAVID ADELSON, CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER, ORLANDO ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP
Five key goals provide a framework for the grant program:
- Increasing the connection and collaboration among startup and existing tech companies
- Building the tech talent pipeline
- Catalyzing private capital investments
- Increasing Orlando’s reputation as a tech hub
- Supporting diverse representation across the tech ecosystem
The five volunteer judges include industry and community leaders that reflect the breadth of expertise in areas considered critical to assessing the viability of the event:
- Charlie Lewis – CEO, BlueWave Resource Partners & Waterfall Ventures & Chair, Orlando Tech Community
- Paul Sohl – CEO, Florida High Tech Corridor
- Kathy Chiu – Managing Partner, DeepWork Capital
- Elisha Gonzalez – Executive Director, Vice President Community Relations and Government Affairs, FAIRWINDS Credit Union
- Eric Ushkowitz- Business Development Division Manager, City of Orlando
All judges will submit written disclosures of conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from evaluating a specific application for which there is a conflict. Additionally, the Orlando Economic Partnership staff will not serve on the judging panel.
Last year’s grant winners include programs for iBuild Central Florida, Indienomicon, Seed Funders Orlando, Social Employment and Educational Impact, StarterStudio, Tech Forward, and Tech Sassy Girlz. For a full list of winners from previous years and more information on each project, click HERE.
Click HERE for more information or to apply.
