INNOVATE® Nashville

Founded in 1889, Holland & Knight is a global law firm with more than 2,200 lawyers and other professionals in 35 offices throughout the world. The Firm’s lawyers provide representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law. Interdisciplinary practice groups and industry-based teams provide clients with efficient access to...

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...

How Finwell Innovates Finwell has reimagined financial advice by removing the traditional barriers that prevent most people from accessing professional, unbiased wealth management and comprehensive financial planning. Unlike firms driven by product sales, Finwell focuses on serving individuals and families often overlooked by traditional wealth managers. By prioritizing education, planning,...

Where AI and Automation Driven Software Development Delivers Predictable Modernization Outcomes: Fast, Secure, Simple Business-Led Modernization (Why + What) | Framework-Driven Delivery (How) Every tech-enabled business reaches a point where technology can no longer keep pace with its ambition. Systems once built to accelerate growth start creating friction, rigidity, and...

A new membership organization started in Nashville is growing rapidly. The Table is resonating with the business community because the goal is bold – to make Nashville the model city for equity and inclusiveness by taking action to create opportunities to grow prosperity for people of color. Started in October...

“Relationship-centered real estate, valuing people over profit, and inspiring others to do the same” – this was the vision of Founder and CEO Charlie Peterson when launching Tyler York Real Estate Brokers at the beginning of 2018. After a meteoric rise in Nashville real estate beginning in 2013, Charlie quickly...

When I started college in 2005 at Indiana University, if you would have told me I’d be opening the first black owned dental practice in the North Gulch in Nashville by 2025, I would have been totally shocked. I would be trying to figure out how a musician studying classical...

Momentum University offers in-person and virtual sessions to over 1200 corporate leaders in over 60 companies around the globe. Whether it’s experiencing high-energy keynote speeches, training, or group coaching, the business is one of the fastest growing minority owned leadership and development companies in the state of Tennessee. The mission...

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...

Circa helps organizations in vital growth periods uncover who they are, connect with who they serve, and build brands that last. In 2015, founders Tori Thomas and Laura Deleot set out with a clear vision: create what matters. They built Circa to not only deliver value for clients, but also...

If you woke up with the opportunity to help empower the next generation of change makers, how would you maximize that opportunity? That’s the question we have the privilege of answering every day for our students. In the 150 years since Vanderbilt University’s founding, we’ve grown from a regional university into...

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...

A bank for creators…A Studio is a place where creators do their thing. Studio Bank exists to empower creators. Whether you’re designing a company or creating a better life for your family, crafting a song or writing code, orchestrating social change or enhancing the quality of care, we launched Studio...

Modern transportation systems were not designed for how people actually live today. Cities have grown denser, work has become more flexible, schedules more fragmented, and travel patterns more complex. Yet mobility is still largely governed by static infrastructure and blunt policy tools. The result is familiar and costly: congestion that...

The Future of Healthcare is Here At Members Health Co, we believe the future of healthcare looks a lot like its past — when your neighborhood doctor truly knew you, advocated for you, and focused on prevention, not billing codes. By removing the middlemen and restoring direct doctor-patient relationships, we...

In 2018, Build In SE was launched with a mission to increase the number of startup success stories in the Southeastern U.S. by leveraging a collaborative, cross-regional network. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Build In SE defines the Southeast as a collection of 10 states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi,...

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...

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....

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...

If 2020 proved anything, it’s that change is inevitable, whether that is decided on internally or not. “The ability to be resilient lies within confidently understanding where your organization is today, where it desires to be, the team that makes it up, and the processes that support it, fast,” says...

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...

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...

The Wond’ry, Vanderbilt University’s center for innovation, serves as a catalyst for efforts to build and strengthen innovation capacity in the region. The Wond’ry provides space, mentorship, programming and other resources designed to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration among students, faculty, staff, and alumni from across all parts of Vanderbilt and from...

McVantage Packaging stands as a testament to resilience and forward-thinking in the wood pallet, crate, industrial lumber, and supply chain industry. Founded nearly 75 years ago in Tuscumbia, Alabama, the company has evolved from a family-run lumber operation into a regional powerhouse serving the Central-Southeastern United States. With plants in...