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Miami is the new tech-hub in the United States, with millionaire investments, the relocation of technology giants and hosting events such as the 8th America Digital Congress 2023.
Miami stands out as one of the primary tech-hub in the United States and has become a destination for business expansion, growth, and investment. Some even refer to it as the new Silicon Valley.
The Venture Monitor report for the first quarter of 2023 highlights that startups in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area attracted $300 million in venture capital through over 72 deals in that period alone.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Miami has become an attractive location for relocating technology companies from other major cities such as San Francisco or New York.
Companies like Oracle, Palantir, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and many others have moved their offices from other cities to the new tech-hub in the southeastern United States.
Elon Musk is even considering relocating Tesla’s offices to this city.
Smaller startups have also found Miami to be an ideal place to continue developing technology and new solutions.
In this context, the 8th America Digital Congress 2023 twas held in Miami on November 15 and 16 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
This event serves as a meeting point for global technology providers.
During this edition, government representatives from the region explained why Miami and the southern region of Florida are attracting all these companies, and it’s becoming the favorite tech-hub of all of them.
Margaret Brisbane, Director of the Information Technology Department of Miami-Dade County, explained that the county has seen a recovery in the technology and financial sectors, which has strengthened the region’s economy.
“This extraordinary growth in our technology sector is more than just numbers and figures, it represents a critical opportunity for Miami-Dade to transform its economic landscape and foster innovation,” she said in hers keynote.
Raimundo Rudolfo, CIO of the City of Coral Gables, explained how they have transformed their city into a smart city using data, developing tech-enabled infrastructure and working in a sustainable manner.
“That’s why you’ve seen recently a lot of new businesses from all over the country from the West Coast to New York and many other places move to Coral Gables”, Rudolfo expounded during his conference.
In addition to the development of the cities themselves, the entire region offers a business-friendly tax structure, regulatory policies that encourage entrepreneurship, and a supportive network of investors and venture firms.
In Miami, utility costs are 4.5% cheaper than in the rest of the United States. And according to the Florida government, the state has the second lowest per capita tax burden in the country.
During the opening speech, Miami City Commissioner, David Richardson, recalled that Amazon will take advantage of the advantages of the tech-hub and is already planning to return to Miami after 30 years in order to implement the company’s expansion plan.
These decisions demonstrate the potential that Miami has, as recognized by Forbes, which ranked the city as the second most relevant emerging tech-hub in the country, ahead of New York and Austin.
With these growth predictions, other sectors driving Miami’s economy are also betting on digital transformation.
Ron Hecht, Sr. Director Ticket Sales for F1 Grand Prix, recounted the transformation the award is making in Miami to transform the fan experience year after year.
In his conference, Hecht explained how they are using new technologies in ticket sales, the concerts, the race and the management of the entire event.
He added that this is happening in all of Miami’s sports, such as soccer, soccer and basketball.
The explosion of digital transformation
While the term is not new in this city, emerging technologies in this area are taking center stage.
Artificial Intelligence, especially generative AI, is one of the technologies with various applications in different industries and business areas.
Miami Dade College is graduating a large number of specialists in artificial intelligence while establishing industrial relationships with leading companies such as Google, Hootsuite, Facebook, Bloomberg and others.
During the C-Level Digital Transformation Forum program, speakers addressed the various applications of this technology.
Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, Managing Director, Solutions Architecture at AWS, presented the innovations the company is making by applying AI and machine learning in most of its processes.
In his conference on Innovation and the Future of AI, Gutiérrez assured that generative AI is booming at the moment, but it is machine learning that has had the most impact on industries during the 21st century.
Gustavo Boyde, Marketing Director at Twilio, explained in his talk The Future Customer in the Era of Data-Driven Artificial Intelligence that AI is transforming the handling of large volumes of data and automating processes at various levels.
With this, customer service will also be transformed, along with the demand it has on companies.
Meanwhile, representatives from Wolkvox, Cloudhesive, and C3.ai highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence for the development of different areas of companies, emphasizing security, excellence in customer service, and the development of new products using this technology.
But AI is not the only development in Miami. Currently, around two thousand technology companies operate in Miami, and investments in these companies have grown by over 300% between 2020 and 2022 to further develop technological solutions.
Cesar Cea, Senior Manager Product Development at Zebra, discussed how customer demands are changing and the importance of having tools that process information and address these demands.
Meanwhile, Esther Riveroll, CEO of Alldatum; Lino Rivolta Carvallo, Senior Strategy and Innovation Manager at EY; and Wilson Calderón, Technical Manager at ManageEngine, presented the challenges of implementing new technologies within companies.
Innovation in Digital Banking & Fintech
For more than a decade, Miami has become the epicenter of venture capital and fintech, not only in the United States, but also in Latin America.
In addition, cryptocurrencies, tokens and digital money continue to be a relevant topic in the region.
Despite the slowdown in investments, especially in cryptocurrencies, companies dedicated to this sector closed deals for US$965 million in 2023.
This amount represented a growth of $106 million compared to the previous year.
These topics were discussed by the speakers who participated in the C-Level Digital Banking & Fintech Forum of the Congress.
Driss Temsamani, Head of Digital for the Americas at Citi, spoke about these topics at his conference Money and Tokens: The Next Blockchain Economy.
During his presentation, the specialist talked about the outlook for digital money, new currencies and the future of payments, which will be changing in 2030 thanks to the growth of new technologies that will reduce the use of traditional physical money.
Jaime Pradenas, Head of Blockchain Products at the Santiago Stock Exchange, spoke about how startups across the region should take advantage of blockchain technology as a solution for the banking industry.
“Blockchain is a latent technology and these types of marketplace tokens help financial inclusion,” expounded Padrenas.
Nicolás Ibaibarriaga Fontaine, VP Product Manager of City National Bank Of Florida, also spoke about the use of technologies to achieve financial inclusion worldwide.
In his talk, he addressed the different technologies they are using in the banking industry, such as generative AI and decentralized finance, which will soon be used in financial inclusion in the United States and other parts of the world.
In Miami there are 429 fintech startups and the fintech sector is the strongest in terms of venture capital, with 41% of the deals closed in 2022.
Being the capital of investments in this type of companies. the speakers addressed the topics of digital payments and new forms, acquiring, the current situation of Fintech companies and the legislation applied to new technologies.
Sunil Thomas, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of CleverTap, spoke about the reality, data and myths surrounding Fintech.
Meanwhile, Augusto Freire, Account Management Director of Mastercard, and Jimmy Solano Blanco, Country Manager of Evertec, analyzed the situation of digital payments and the growth of fintechs in an increasingly changing industry.
“We see that cross-border payments are evolving at great speed and have no borders, so technology is helping this payments ecosystem evolve rapidly,” said Mastercard’s Freire.
And in this evolution of the industry and the use of new technologies, Miami plays an important role.
Last November, Ken Griffin, founder of fund Citadel, said that Miami will represent the future of the United States.
He also added that Brickell Bay could replace New York as the country’s financial center in the not too distant future.
“The talent density both in financial services and in general in New York City is among the highest in the world. It is a unique and powerful city, both in the United States and around the world,” Griffin said.
Miami, the tech-hub of the future
The region’s ability to attract talent, foster a conducive business environment and capitalize on the opportunities presented by the pandemic has put Miami in the global spotlight.
Projections estimate that by 2030 the region will consolidate its position as one of the main tech-hubs in the United States.
As a result, it will register significant growth in different economic areas:
It is expected that for that year, jobs related to computers and information technologies will grow 13%, which means that there will be 650 thousand vacancies in these areas.
And Florida ranks among the top five states with the most job openings in information technology, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Miami’s startup ecosystem is one of the fastest growing in the United States and, if it maintains the growth recorded over the last decade, could reach a value of $25 billion.
Large companies will continue their move to the Southeast Florida tech-hub, triggering growth in the region.
Brickell is also expected to position itself as one of the country’s main financial centers and the epicenter of this tech-hub.
Governments will maintain their policies of growth and investment in infrastructure, education, human capital development and access to job opportunities.
Miami will remain the meeting point for technology and business events, and the America Digital Congress will return in March 2025 to the Miami Beach Convention Center to connect leading technology providers with decision makers from around the world.
Participate as a Sponsor / Exhibitor / Speaker and/or delegation in the 2025 edition. For more information, please visit https://us.america-digital.com
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Congreso America Digital
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