INNOVATE® Nashville

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...

It was late 2011 when Nashville Software School (NSS) Founder and CEO, John Wark set out to find a solution to a challenge he frequently heard about in Nashville’s business community – the persistent shortage of trained tech talent such as software developers. The tech skills gap was (and is)...

“The leader of this team has been skeptical all day, they’re pretty much afraid of him and they do whatever he says. Oh, and before this job he was a prison warden for almost twenty years.” That was the last thing my liaison said to me before she introduced me...

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...

Our Founder Brian Fox’s focus was always to “help the good guys catch the bad guys” through the use of the Confirmation.com service which garnered 7 patents and throughout the years caught billions in financial fraud while processing more than a trillion dollars in confirmation data every year. Suresh, Chris,...

In the transportation industry every extra minute and every extra mile eats away at a fleet’s profit. MobiusAI is helping fleets operate at their best. The industry struggles with inefficient planning, outdated software, and razor-thin margins, but Mobius is using AI to empower fleets for excellence. From Research to Real-World...

A National Movement to Expand Educational Opportunity This year, Teach For America marks its 35th anniversary – a milestone that celebrates a movement of leaders working alongside communities to expand opportunity for all children. Since its founding in 1990, Teach For America has recruited, developed, and supported a diverse network...

In 2011, VendEngine started as a simple concept — digitizing financial transactions for law enforcement, jails and prisons while providing easy, safe, and secure methods to transmit money between family members and inmates. Once the company got going however, this simple concept, something that had been done in nearly every...

You know when you shop for clothes online, but you don’t know which size to buy or if an item will look good on your body? Couture Technologies helps apparel brands solve this massive financial and sustainability challenge by seamlessly integrating its patent-pending virtual try on technology with a brand’s...

Frost Brown Todd isn’t just a law firm—we’re a strategic collaborator and advisor to businesses nationwide. With more than 600 attorneys in key markets across the U.S., we bring solution-driven legal insight to every corner of commerce. Our firm is especially known for its strength in the middle market and...

Gresham Smith, a leading architecture, engineering, design and consulting firm that has called Nashville home for more than 50 years, is an industry leader in innovation. At Gresham Smith, innovation is not just about adopting emerging technologies—it’s about transforming the design and planning process to create healthier, more connected communities....

Baker Donelson’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Practice Fuels the Future of Emerging Companies. With a deep bench of attorneys who understand the unique challenges and opportunities faced by early-stage companies and rapid-growth ventures, Baker Donelson’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital (ECVC) team is a trusted partner for entrepreneurs and...

Next Health, the most advanced and comprehensive brand of health optimization and longevity centers in the world, empowers individuals with the tools, data, and personalized healthcare to potentially live healthier for longer. With 70+ locations open or in development worldwide, the company is bringing cutting-edge services – such as biomarker...

Adventure Science Center connects learners of all ages to the science that surrounds them every day, fostering enthusiasm for discovery and exploration. This year Adventure Science Center marks 80 years of serving the Nashville community, all 95 counties of Tennessee, together with visitors from around the nation and the globe....

The Rise of Adaptive Manufacturing Systems The future of mobility isn’t on the horizon. It’s unfolding around us, reshaping how vehicles are designed, powered, and produced. Electric vehicles are gaining market share, autonomous technology is being deployed, supply chains are being rebuilt, and new technologies are reshaping manufacturing. In this...

In an era dominated by likes, follows, and infinite scrolls, Justin Gray, founder of Potluck, is betting on a different future—one where social technology isn’t about building an audience, but about deepening real-life connections with the people we actually see: our friends, families, neighbors, and coworkers. Potluck is more than...

What exactly is innovation? It’s more than a brand new way of thinking, though that is definitely a key part of the equation. Genuine innovation also must have a practical application; that is, be impactfully useful. Sometimes the combination of novel idea and usefulness reach the summit and forge a...

Public-private partnership Launch Tennessee has spent more than a decade creating a unique statewide startup ecosystem, supporting entrepreneurs in all 95 counties across the Volunteer State by providing capital, commercialization support, and connections. “It’s a great privilege to work on behalf of the entire state to boost innovation and entrepreneurship,”...

Current methods of managing healthcare are unsustainable, with chronic disease treatment alone putting a $4 trillion annual strain on the U.S. economy. Healthcare professionals across the board agree that earlier diagnosis, better preventative care, and improved disease management will significantly reduce those costs while improving the lives of millions of...

SUPERWISE® is leading the next evolution in AI – making intelligent technology work for real-world industries, not just research labs. With practical, scalable, and low-friction tools, SUPERWISE empowers organizations to use AI to increase efficiency, improve decision-making, and transform how work gets done – from the executive suite to the...

Schneider Electric is a global industrial energy technology leader bringing world-leading expertise in electrification, automation and digitalization to smart industries, resilient infrastructure, future-proof data centers, intelligent buildings, and intuitive homes. Anchored by deep domain expertise, the company provides integrated end-to-end lifecycle AI-enabled Industrial IoT solutions with connected products, automation, software,...

A construction supervisor reviews jobsite footage delivered remotely by an onsite robot. In a rural hospital, a patient’s MRI is uploaded to an online portal, where a specialist on the other side of the country reviews it. An aviation breakthrough gains patent protection to power the next generation of supersonic...

THE QUESTIONHave you ever had to throw your best work away? I have. It’s demoralizing, but sometimes things you can’t control go wrong and there’s nothing to do but let it go. You can start to think, “why bother?” I’ve seen it happen to our clients too. As a device...

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...