EcoTech Visions

EcoTech Visions, established in 2015, is a smart manufacturing lab for smart cities with an on-demand marketplace.  We have built this model through organic growth to launch and scale circular economy start-ups to use innovation as the means to meet Paris Agreement goals of climate neutrality by 2050. With our business to business white-label SAAS framework, we will leapfrog the supply chain. ETV is an end to end solution for our worlds largest problems. Think of us as a cross between a WeWork and Amway focused on high tech innovation within 4 verticals: Farmtech, GreenTech, EnergyTech, Space/Health tech.  We accomplish this by providing access to leading laboratory and manufacturing facilities to those willing and ready to tackle climate change-- focused on the future of food, the consumer product market, and energy applications using: tech processes; IOT; Blockchain; AI; AR/VR; and, battery innovation.

At ETV, we provide smart manufacturing and distribution for product entrepreneurs to scale by removing the three largest barriers to market entry:

1. Eliminate the need to raise funds to cover cost of advanced equipment and reduce the risk of deployment of sophisticated machinery.

2. Access to and training for use of sophisticated co-shared machinery and robotic production lines to reduce the time and cost for entrepreneurs to get their products to market.

3. As ETV replicates throughout the Southeast and Midwest areas of the United States, our members will decrease their shipping expenses by up to 90% through: access to regional raw materials; use of local manufacturing processes; and, development of regional markets. Our mission is to develop the facilities at a regional, national, and ultimately a global scale for the leading brands who make quality green products. Currently our 52,000 square foot headquarters, located in Miami, Florida houses 26 start-up businesses. By 2020, we plan to open five new facilities in Southeast and Midwestern America. 

EcoTech Visions mission is to foster entrepreneurship and serve green manufacturing start-up businesses to ensure they are investment ready.  We equip resource-limited entrepreneurs with tools to successfully plan, launch, market, and grow green manufacturing businesses that create jobs, sustain communities, and provide solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change and ensure cleaner energy.

• We are targeting 5 million businesses in the U. S. that are designed to attain hyper growth through Smart Manufacturing.

• The Smart Manufacturing industry grossed over 300 Billion Dollars last year and with our small business white label SAAS framework we can leapfrog the supply chain. 

• At the same time, the accelerator is advancing the local ecosystem by providing services to ecopreneurs that engineer resource use efficiency in terms of waste-to-energy, material recovery, energy irrigation systems and sustainable land use practices.

• Cities whose population desires on ramps to high wage job opportunities.

1. FarmTech: Food produced via Aquaponics, Hydroponics, Aquaculture, Aeroponics, Aquaponics, and Blue Tech as well as innovative recipes for large-scale use in zero waste and zero GHG emission communities

2. GreenTech: “Trash to Treasure” for mass distribution using biopolymers, upcycling, material science innovation, pigments, and Blue Tech for consumer products and the necessities of modern life

3. EnergyTech: Renewable energy generated for a microelectromechanical system or for transmission to user via a resilient microgrid with a focus on battery innovation, solar, biomass, hydraulic, nuclear, and Blue Tech for large-scale use in zero waste and zero GHG emissions communities 

4. SpaceTech: Technologies necessary for terraforming with a focus on building materials, conservation innovation, communications tech, and Blue Tech

EcoTech will be attracting companies working on innovation in the above areas and provides for an operations platform and a marketplace to access technology.  We will have the following four labs initially available to ETV tenants so that they can ideate innovation:

• Grow Lab:  Aquaponics, Aeroponics and vertical farming
• Kitchen Lab: food innovation
• Prototyping Lab: Laser Cutter, 3D printer, Sowing Machine, Small Robotics, and other tools and machinery for advanced fabrication and automation technologies
• Machine Lab:  Energy Innovation, Injection Molding Machine, and Forklift.  (sections for woodwork and welding and sections for companies to have workstations)
• Biolabs:  Biotech wet and dry rooms

EcoTech will also sponsor Digital Citizens Boot-Camp that provides education, entertainment, communications, and networking to the public interested in participating in the emerging technologies 

Assistance will be sought from the FIU Robotics and Digital Fabrication Lab (RDF) such that EcoTech Visions can facilitate the training and prototype use of Advanced Robotics and Digital Fabrication technologies.

EcoTech Visions is the culmination of my research put into practice.

I chose Peter Drucker School of Management based on the experience I had meeting Mr. Drucker and studying his work as an undergraduate student. ETV is also the outcome of my research and studies under Simon Johnson at MIT and aligns with his new book Jump Starting America (2019) which argues innovations hubs are the only way to secure economic prosperity and environmental awareness for America and the world.  ETV is an effective profitable business case for developing innovation hubs focused on growth and high-yield production.

We believe design leads so when you visit ETV offices, you will:

• Be greeted by 23 murals, all AR coded and designed to connect buyers and visitor directly to the products to stem climate change through the market 
• Be able to attend a bimonthly event Artisans in the Gardens that connects entrepreneurs directly to procurement offices and retail buyers to support market saturation of our products 
• See desks, conference rooms and event spaces, a restaurant and four lab spaces where entrepreneurs are, for example, building: electric bike prototypes, Aeroponic systems, or AI sensors 
• See a computer lab where community members of all ages are being instructed on AI, AR and Blockchain code 
• Notice the offices and personnel of Intouch Logistic, our inhouse trucking and logistics company who distributes to the ports and rail-lines

ETV is a vibrant Think Tank/Do Tank for R&D, mass production, and distribution. 

ETV has four labs all focused on product development and distribution.  Labs and products require technology to operate.  One example is the Greentech Lab which includes 3D printing for prototyping and Injection molding and robotic packaging for mass production.  All equipment is also outfitted with sensors for energy use and data collection. Our physical space is matched by our digital marketplace platform that allows our start-up businesses to market and develop SAAS revenue streams while stores all energy consumption, product creation, and user experience data for supply chain efficacy and future product development. Working with FIU RDF, ETV hopes to expand the advanced technology available to start-up businesses at ETV. 

We house 26 start-ups-- All circular economy opportunities. One Example:  Earthware is a compostable cutlery product. Our resin is being developed from waste stock of sugar, corn and potato to complete the supply chain as we expand.  In America, we currently discard over 50% of our yield due to blemishing or frostbite. In Florida, this waste stock has been linked directly to red tide which killing millions of fish annually and pollutes our fresh drinking water for months. 

Instead of allowing waste stock to threaten the environment, Earthware is using waste crop in a manufacturing process where it becomes a green consumer cutlery product. These products once produced and used-- degrade in 90-100 days unlike plastic disposable products that take between 200-300 years to degrade, if at all. This solution and lab have endless applications and benefit to the world; however, it can only exist due to our business model of co-sharing equipment-- like the co-work models. The introduction of technology to network locations allows our entrepreneurs to secure business-to-business contracts at a 20-30% cost saving to insure market saturation. Just as the cost of renewable energy has decreased over the past decade, at scale our model will insure locally sourced product hit and saturate the market.  Consumers want better green products that are regionally sourced and locally available.  ETV provides a streamlined framework for manufacturing of such products that are to locally access within the context of high-quality walkable communities (a better circular recycle-to-market process).

Currently service 26 start-up business founder though our space which sees about 300 visitors weekly about 16,000 annually.

In the next five years, we will have spawned over 20 facilities; at capacity we expect to serve 300,000 to 500,000 entrepreneurs. This will bring us closer to our goals aligned with the SDG’s to drive innovation that saturate energy markets, consumer product markets, and other markets within the context of a circular economy model. ETV will aid in seeding the innovation that leads to a clear path for the future with sustainable food and water supplies and the manufactured goods for daily modern life in the context of an advanced human society, a sustainable natural world, and a diverse ecosystem.

By 2020, we plan to open two new facilities, five additional by 2021 and over 20 by 2023.  Our growth model is designed to fit with the well researched 102 potential innovation hubs identified by Simon Johnson in Jump Starting America.

Each facility will house our four labs and attract regional entrepreneurs to prototype create, launch and scale new business-to-business start-ups. In the next five year we will have spawned the innovation to saturate energy markets, consumer product markets, and other markets within the context of a circular economy model and aided in seeding the innovation that leads to a clear path for the future with sustainable food and water supplies and the manufactured goods for daily modern life in the context of: an advanced human society; a sustainable natural world; and, diverse ecosystems.

We are raising $5 million in capital for expansion in 2020 and ETV will need additional funds to expand for the years thereafter. ETV are currently 50% prescribed for our 2020 raise.  Funding is always a barrier and this model requires a public/private partnership to work.

Regional supply chain expertise will be critical for us and for our companies to scale.  We are looking to grow our advisory board with a specific focus on distribution efficiencies which is one of the reasons why a MIT Solve 2019 Global Challenge award, and the larger network that can thereafter be provided, will be critical.

Cultural and market barriers do exist with the investment community as we work to scale the businesses we house to the hundreds of locations in America and elsewhere.

Huntsville, Alabama has been an engineering and innovation hub since the 1930, hence Boeing and many other aerospace brands have their hubs there. The investment community spends 60-70% of their dollars in the same few hubs; repeatedly investing in the same locations. Pushing money to see this opportunity on the other locations will be a challenge at first as we grow our credibility and expand into new markets.

MIT Solve 2019 Global Challenge support will help with increasing our overall credibility and exposure.  

We are also shifting our raise focus to both cash and coin accredited investor which opens our product to a larger and younger audience.  In the past year, I have had the honor of meeting many millennial millionaires who want a return, want to do good, and are investing with crypto.  We have support two local companies through successful ICO and are excited for this new funding model to support our growth and the growth of our startups.  

As a unique value proposition, EcoTech Vision will suggest is the capacity to produce goods for a modern sustainable communities using only regional resources and raw materials in a circular economy that might eventually need to rely on other forms of compensation to motivate both customer and maker directly engaged in the market of modern life in the 22nd century. See https://shop.ecotechvisions.app 

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3 full time

3 part time

4 contractors

The personnel and affiliated companies working at ETV work well together, have great communication, and a tireless work ethic. They are individually and collectively very imaginative and resourceful.  We are passionate about the mission to create jobs, sustain communities, and protect the life on the planet.  We also understand the regions we are entering and are willing to take risks; when there are setbacks caused by our own mistakes and those of others or simply due to bad breaks that will inevitably occur, we have the skills and full intent to recover.

Cleantech Open, Florida International University, University of Miami, Sustainatopia, MIT Venture Mentoring Service, Incubate Energy, City of Miami Gardens, Miami Dade County, Hacker Dojo, Venture Cafe, CIC, Lab Miami, Aminta Ventures, Venture City, and several other coworking spaces.  We share events, potential customer leads.  In most cases we have MOU or LOI's to formalize training partnerships.

Our mission is to develop the facilities at a global scale for the leading brands who make quality green products for smart cities.  Currently our 52,000 square foot headquarters, located in Miami, Florida houses 26 start-up businesses. By 2020, we plan to open five new facilities in Southeast and Midwestern America. 

Keeping that overarching goal in mind, ETV will strive to achieve the following goals and objectives within the first five years of operation:

• Achieve 1 million members in our virtual community to drive value and adoption for our market place.
• Broaden and diversify the base of entrepreneurs; this includes introducing career paths in engineering and entrepreneurship.
• Increase the number of technicians trained and employed in injection molding, solar technology, wind technology, robotics and digital fabrication techniques and technologies. composting and other innovations necessary to grow green manufacturing.
• Become the first choice for entrepreneurs to start up their manufacturing businesses and for investors looking to investment opportunities in innovative and competitive products.
• Generate living wage-manufacturing jobs in low-income neighborhoods within the investor-ready companies annually.

We have three revenue generating platforms currently deployed with potential for additional profit as we scale: space rental; virtual community and on-demand market place; and, equipment rental.  We also invest in exchange for equity in some of the start-up businesses housed at ETV which will generate future revenues for our investors.

With MMR at 25-30K, ETV is already revenue positive.

• According to SBA.org there are approximately 600,000 new businesses created each year in the United States.
• There are just over 32 million total businesses in the United States. Three-quarters of these businesses have no employees and consist of only the owner.
• Of the 5,679,967 businesses categorized in the statistics on the SBA website (as of 2007), approximately 287,654 of them were categorized as "Manufacturing" (approximately 5.06% of total U.S. businesses).  
• ETV is currently cash flow positive only with one of the 3 revenue streams in place (i.e., space rental).  We are just now in 2019 growing our coworking Market share and equipment rental revenue streams which will give us and our investors exponential returns.

1. We are growing rapidly thus access to the latest research and the world’s best minds are imperative for our success. Mentorship and challenging our assumptions to import our product are some of the most important reasons for this application to Solve.  

2. ETV is also seeking legitimacy in the marketplace for ourselves and our start-up businesses.  Solve and MIT will assist in this important goal.  

3. Finally as our success increases access to platforms to share the work is critical.  As laid out by many scholars, Climate Change, sea level rise, and many other related impacts are global urgent issues that will significant effect the habitable conditions of South Florida and many other places in the United States.  When we prove this solution can scale, access to markets through speaking opportunities will be of great value to at risk communities as they seek to adapt and migrate.

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NASA: Tech Transfer

Media Lab: Digital Currency initiative Licensing technology

MIT Fab Lab

Energy department: Solar and renewable tech information

Supply Chain Management:  Advisors and source team members for ETV and our startups.

Aerospace:  Tech Transfer and program design

AI is a critical part of our data warehouse model.  All equipment will be equipped with AI sensors to insure rapid development and iteration. 

One example of an initiative where ETV led efforts with Florida International University, Miami-Dade College, and others was the 2019 ClimateChampions (C2) Hackathon. This event developed ideas and initial conceptualizations/designs for games that would broadly educate game players on climate science and behaviors that need to change to avoid the significant long term consequences of a changing climate, The 2019 C2 Hackathon and ETV follow-up efforts with FIU and Sustainatopia hope to secure funds for a genre of C2 Games development. We are helping to develop six climate games to be AI enabled, with the goal of addressing climate change through game play, induced changes in human behavior, and tools to help change public policy through the exercise of the rights to free speech, assembly, and petitioning governments for the redress of grievances. The developer of this genre of C2 games are to be housed at ETV and will ac academic and modeling support from FIU the University of Maryland.  

To accomplish these goals, we will also be teaching AI and Blockchain code to insure we have developed the human capital to support the scaling of our startups.

ETV facilities will all be net zero waste and GHG emissions and serve as models for retrofitting circular economy communities.  Zero waste and zero GHG are our expressed facility design and operations. 

Our programs and trainings facilitate work force and community development through STEAM education for AR, AI, Blockchain, Design, IOT coding and manufacturing techniques. Our business model of advance manufacturing through AI Robotic supports entrepreneurs in 3 main ways:

1. Eliminate the need to raise funds to cover cost of equipment.

2. Access to co-shared machinery and Robotic production lines to reduce time, cost and training for entrepreneurs.

3. As ETV replicates throughout the Southeast and Midwest areas of the United States, our members will decrease their shipping expenses by up to 90% using local manufacturing processes and regional access to necessary raw materials.

Of our current 26 start-up businesses, 57% are women founded. Our lead engineer is a woman. I am the ETV founder and I am a woman. In our growth plans, the lead for Dallas and Chicago are both women.  Best practice demands we promote who is best for the job and as a woman myself I have had the privilege of meeting and working with some amazing women.  Women and girls need access to technical training and access to engineers and role models. ETV provided both those solutions. Whether it is through our programs generally or our focused efforts to recruit women and girls to work with founders who serve and role models, ETV believes and #BlackGirlMagic and #womenrock.

Confident men are welcome at ETV as well.

We have built a solution for a green economy marketplace that provides products for consumers and businesses where we allow them to purchase and experience green products using an on-demand platform. We source the data directly from consumers and businesses who use the platform and provide insights on rich sources of data governed by our ECOTECH Protocol that provides AI driven insights through blockchain and real time pattern recognition. We are maintaining the data through immutable records on the Ethereum blockchain to share transparency and provenance in our supply chain from vendor to POS to deliverable good/service pipeline.