INNOVATE® Nashville

Innovations of the World

INNOVATE® Nashville

Nashville – Music City, the capital city of the state of Tennessee is rightfully known as the hometown of country music, the birthplace of bluegrass, and the city with the highest concentration of music industry establishments in the nation, celebrating four times more music industry employment than any other US city.

But it’s that and MUCH more! Recently voted as the 11th best place to start a business in the USA, Nashville is a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. It has a thriving retail, automotive, and healthcare industry, and a growing tech hub, with notable organizations like Amazon, Oracle, and Facebook investing in the city.

This city, rich in history, culture, and entertainment just topped the list of the Wall Street Journal’s 2022 hottest job markets. Developments in connectivity, infrastructure and transportation will ensure that Nashville remains one of the best cities in the US to live, work, and play.

INNOVATE® Nashville showcases and profiles the innovators and innovation enablers that are contributing to the dynamic innovation ecosystem drawing talent, industry and investment to the city.

Featured Thought Leaders

Featured Thought Leaders

Featured Innovators

Featured Innovators

KENNIE PLAYHOUSE THEATRE

IMPACTING THE COMMUNITY ONE PLAY AT A TIME

Let a theatrical play be the way that immerses you in storytelling so powerful, it will live with you forever. Kennie Playhouse Theatre (KPT) is one of the city’s hidden jewels, a thriving artistic hub that brings dynamic, thought-provoking, and spirit-lifting stories to the stage for everyone to enjoy. From...

Global Health Connector

Nashville Becomes U.S. Hub for Global Health Innovation: Global Health Connector Expands to Accelerate Change

Nashville, Tennessee – a city once known primarily for country music – is now becoming synonymous with health innovation. With the establishment of its U.S. Operations Hub, Global Health Connector has solidified its presence in a city poised to lead a new era of healthcare transformation. As a global nonprofit...

ALTO

Making alternative investments and portfolio diversification accessible for everyone, not just the ultra-wealthy

Alto, a self-directed IRA custodian, is on a mission to provide everyday Americans the same investment opportunities long favored by wealthy and institutional investors...

MINDFUL

MINDFUL-Add kindness to your tech stack

Add kindness to your tech stack.

Revitalizing a 25-year-old software company is no small task, but can be a pathway towards innovation and compelling value creation for employees, customers, and investors. That’s the story of Mindful, a contact center software company that relocated to Nashville in 2018, which was acquired by Medallia in 2022 after an...

Polsinelli

What a law firm should be

Companies in Nashville and across the country turn to Polsinelli for more than skilled legal representation. With Polsinelli by their side, they have a strategic partner who brings business-first solutions. Shaped by executive perspective, Polsinelli – a national law firm with over 1,200 attorneys across 25 offices – provides commercially...

EVIDENCECARE

EVIDENCECARE

INEFFICIENT WORKFLOWS PLAGUE CLINICIANS. EVIDENCECARE HAS A CURE

The genesis of EvidenceCare came one night while Dr. Brian Fengler was working in the emergency room of Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville, and a young woman presented with extreme shortness of breath and fast heart rate. She had a massive blood clot between her heart and lungs. She...

GEEQ

FROM THE VULNERABLE ECONOMY TO THE VERIFIED ECONOMY

It’s Time for a Major Change For two decades, the digital economy has been driven by growth at any cost. Platforms built fortunes by selling data first and asking forgiveness later. Success was measured by clicks and likes – often at the expense of genuine value. That playbook is collapsing....

LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY

INSPIRING INNOVATION AROUND AN ENDURING PURPOSE

What never changes: Christ-centeredness and transformative experiences.What drives change: Curiosity and courage. For more than 134 years, Lipscomb University has been a Christ-centered academic institution rooted in purpose-driven education. Located in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee, Lipscomb is one of the few institutions in the nation offering educational pathways from...

SwitchPoint Ventures

We build companies around pioneering technologies.

Our journey began a decade ago, here in Nashville – a city known for creativity and reinvention. That same spirit shaped how we approach innovation: with collaboration, grit, and a builder’s mindset. At SwitchPoint Ventures, we build companies around pioneering technologies – particularly in AI, data science, and digital innovation...

NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER

NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER-The Hub

The Hub, the Heart, the Front Door - Nashville Entrepreneur Center is the City’s Home to Entrepreneurship

At the heart of innovation lies a problem and entrepreneurs are the needed visionaries that see a better way to live, work, or play. At the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, commonly known as “the EC,” we help entrepreneurs develop and build upon their business with an organizational vision to make our...

HCA HEALTHCARE

How HCA healthcare uses data science to learn, test and deploy solutions to improve patient care

When HCA Healthcare was founded in 1968, we set out to be a different kind of healthcare system. We strived to harness the combined expertise and resources of multiple hospitals to help our frontline caregivers provide high-quality, patient-focused care in a way no single hospital could do alone. Today, that...

MOTUS DRIVE

PRACTICAL MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

Motus Drive was founded by Ferhan Jemal after seeing firsthand the challenges his uncle faced due to limited mobility and the high costs associated with powered wheelchairs. Motivated by this experience, Ferhan spent eight years studying the wheelchair market, talking with industry experts, prototyping, and gathering direct feedback from wheelchair...

TRACTOR SUPPLY CO

POWERING LIFE OUT HERE

How Tractor Supply Blends Tradition, Technology and Trust to Serve Rural America. Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: TSCO) has quietly become one of the most successful and innovative retailers in the United States, earning a loyal following while staying true to its core mission: serving the needs of rural lifestyles. Since...

MITER HEALTH

INTELLIGENT CARE DELIVERY PLATFORMS

The healthcare industry works towards caring, promoting health, and quality of life. The growing aging population and rise in cost associated with eldercare is a concern to home health care providers. The challenges faced by home health care providers are immeasurable. From rising costs to providing the care, tracking staff...

FreightWise

Bringing transportation technology and supply chain solutions to SMB and midmarket businesses.

FOUNDED IN 2015 IN BRENTWOOD, TN, FREIGHTWISE HAS BECOME A TRUSTED PARTNER FOR ITS CUSTOMERS, PROVIDING TRANSPORTATION EXPERTISE AND TECHNOLOGY TO DRIVE EFFICIENCY AND INNOVATION FOR BUSINESSES. Agile transportation technology and solutions FreightWise offers flexible Transportation Management System (TMS) technology to SMB and mid-market businesses through FreightWise TMS and Kuebix...

PAT SUMMITT

LEADERSHIP IN A TIME OF CHANGE

The workplace is evolving at record speed. Artificial intelligence, hybrid schedules, and multiple generations sharing the same office are reshaping how we work, creating challenges even seasoned leaders haven’t faced before. We all know that “the only constant is change.” During Pat Summitt’s 40 years of championship-level coaching, she worked...

EMIDS

NASHVILLE’S LEADER IN HEALTHCARE INNOVATION FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS

Emids was founded in 1999 and has grown to be the proven leader in digital engineering and transformation innovations to the healthcare and life sciences industry. The company’s evolution has been expertly navigated by Saurabh Sinha, Emids CEO and co founder. And while Emids has experienced tremendous success, its accomplishments...

The Innovation Studio

Building Industrial AI Companies That Solve Real-World Problems

The Innovation Studio is a venture studio based in the Nashville region that exists for a single purpose: to build technology startups that solve pervasive industry problems by developing and using the best artificial intelligence. From the origin of an idea through company exit, the Studio uses a disciplined, repeatable...

CURCIO DERMATOLOGY

CURCIO DERMATOLOGY

A Life-Long Calling To Heal, Cutting-Edge Medical Expertise, And An Entrepreneurship-Mindset Are At The Heart Of Helping Others

ANSWERING THE CALL TO HEALFor as long as I can remember, medicine has been a special calling for me. And nearly as long, I realized my passion for healing was through dermatology. This was a gift that I inherited from my father, Frederick David Curcio, III, M.D. He knew that...

FoxFuel

Reviving the soul of brands with sophistication & rebellion

FoxFuel Creative is a sharp-tongued, no-nonsense agency, built on the tension between sophistication and rebellion. Because brands need an agency that knows the rules and when to break them. That’s where the magic happens. In the friction between polish and punch. Between the curve in a classical column and the...

Compassus

Where Compassion Meets Innovation in Home-Based Health Care

As more patients and families choose care at home, Compassus is redefining what compassionate, high-quality home-based care looks like. Since its founding in 2006, Compassus has grown from a hospice provider into one of the nation’s largest and most trusted home-based health care organizations. Today, Compassus operates in more than...

HeroWear

Evolving work, improving life: HeroWear exosuits help prevent backpain to improve worker quality of life.

Serious back injuries in the workplace are often preventable. The logistics, manufacturing, and construction industries have long struggled to prevent worker injuries, which impact the quality of life for workers and collectively cost companies billions of dollars each year. In fact, workers in warehousing and transportation who are keeping our...

Nxt Level

Is A Recruiting Agency For Some Of The Biggest Names In Gaming And Technology

Nxt Level understands that companies struggle with finding and hiring the right team members to create growth. Our recruiting company views things differently. Our goal is to replace the mountain of resumes with a short list of the right people aligned with your job requirements, culture, and values. The entrepreneurial...

Nashville Entrepreneur Center

Where Bold Ideas Become Businesses

If you’re serious about building a startup in Nashville, meet your secret weapon: the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC). Founded in 2010, EC is a nonprofit built by business leaders to be—literally—Nashville’s “home to entrepreneurship.” What sets it apart? It’s not just talk: EC has helped over 14,000 entrepreneurs, including more...

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The Publisher

Glen Edwards

Glen Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University and served in the United States Marine Corps Services. For the next 10 years, Glen worked as a Juvenile Probation Officer in Philadelphia, counseling underprivileged children in North and West Philadelphia. In 1983, Glen left the court and went to work... click to read more

The Publisher

Glen Edwards

Glen Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University and served in the United States Marine Corps Services. For the next 10 years, Glen worked as a Juvenile Probation Officer in Philadelphia, counseling underprivileged children in North and West Philadelphia. In 1983, Glen left the court and went to work... click to read more

Other Ecosystems