Water, Land and Air

The last two weeks of November were packed with amazing discussions about how we can design future places and activate existing spaces in the Innovation District.

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‍We began with a workshop of 50+ private industry, academic, government and nonprofit partners who are working in Tampa Bay's Ocean Economy.  They discussed our regional assets and identified several opportunities for innovation.  We will be integrating these discussions into our work with startups in 2025, as well as the development of a Tampa Bay Ocean Economy strategy.

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We also hosted a series of focus groups for our District Master Plan.  These groups explored aspirational ideas for the activation of spaces, multimodal transportation, mixed use development, and the interconnection of the port, airport and arts areas.  Participants shared their hopes for future resilient infrastructure, flood management, enhanced safety, and new support services such as a daycare and workforce housing.  There will be additional focus groups including dedicated neighborhood sessions after the holidays.

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 Finally, we hosted our quarterly Morning Spark breakfast to explore Future Air Mobility - vertical electric flight with pilot and autonomous. The participants heard from experts, discussed the applicability for Albert Whitted Airport and other parts of the City, and created a list of questions that were provided as a suggested starting point to the upcoming City task force on the topic. Our next Morning Spark will be December 11th.

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I am looking forward to using these ideas as a launchpad for 2025!

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‍Alison Barlow‍

‍Executive Director