INNOVATE® Nashville

Founded in January 2001, Signature Transportation Services – originally known as Nashville Livery, Inc. – has become synonymous with luxury, professionalism, and reliability. From its beginnings on Music Row, the company has grown into Nashville’s premier limousine and chauffeured transportation provider, now operating nationwide through an extensive affiliate network. “We’re...

NashvilleHealth’s story begins with a paradox. In 2015, Nashville was rising rapidly as one of America’s most dynamic economic engines, an “it city” defined by innovation, creativity, and growth. Yet beneath this momentum lay an alarming truth: Nashville’s residents were among the least healthy in the nation. Former U.S. Senate...

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...

Julie Lilliston Communications Shapes the Future of PR. When Julie Lilliston founded Julie Lilliston Communications in 2014, she envisioned more than just another public relations firm. Drawing from more than two decades of corporate communications expertise at global agencies Weber Shandwick and MSL Group, she set out to revolutionize how...

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...

SpykeFire: Pioneering Autonomous Fire Detection in Challenging Environments David Buttrey, a Nashville native, a co-owner of SpykeFire, joined by two other Nashville natives among the company’s leadership and early supporters of founder and Veteran Todd Melcher and 30 year CA Fire Captain Robert Rowe. This connection underscores how Nashville’s burgeoning...

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...

I have lived to work and, believe me, that’s no way to live… or work. This doesn’t mean don’t work hard. I’ve just discovered that when you love where you live you have a longer-term view of how you work. I spend my days supporting people who are in the...

The Story of First South Financial’s Strength, Innovation, and Community Impact. For nearly seven decades, First South Financial has stood as a trusted partner in helping individuals, families, and business owners achieve their financial goals. What began as a modest effort to provide accessible banking services has grown into one...

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...

Catwalk Consulting Group is a strategic marketing and communications firm specializing in the entertainment industry. We are known for innovative, future-focused approaches to positioning artists, executives, brands and organizations for what’s next. Our work centers on customized positioning and intentional audience development designed to elevate visibility, relevance and long-term impact....

Renewal House combines evidence-based treatment with deep compassion, creating innovative paths to recovery that strengthen both mothers and their children. As the only long-term family residential recovery program for women and their children in Middle Tennessee, Renewal House has always been driven by a vision that goes beyond addressing substance...

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....

Since 1989, truly understanding people has been a unique trait of Dalton – a leading advertising, public relations and digital marketing agency with offices across the Southeast, in Nashville, Atlanta and Jacksonville. On every project, Dalton digs deep to uncover the insights and human truths that get to the emotional...

“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...

The Nashville Innovation Alliance aims to make Nashville one of America’s leading centers of technology innovation by bringing the community together to create a shared vision, set ambitious goals and advance strategic initiatives. Established by Mayor Freddie O’Connell and Vanderbilt University in 2024, and anchored by participation from LaunchTN, the...

Guided by real-world feedback, JailCore blends clear logic with human understanding to create technology that truly serves those who serve. When JailCore was founded, it wasn’t built on the old “if you build it, they will come” mindset. The goal wasn’t to create software and hope facilities would adapt to...

It’s all too easy to get swept up in the fervor of “innovation.” In the polished, produced world of prime-time, venture capitalists drop seven figures into start-ups while founders celebrate exits. Like most things that reach a level of celebrity status in our world of “reality” entertainment, the true story...

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,...

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...

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...

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,”...

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...