Miami's Climate Tech Potential (A): The State of Play

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 324-119. Miami-Dade County led the work to get South Florida designated a national climate resilience tech hub, the only one of 31 focused on climate change, an urgent major issue for the region in light of global warming and sea level rise. Venture capitalists saw the potential but not many investable ventures; some entrepreneurs created scalable ventures but without much regional support; economic development agencies were not yet fully building the ecosystem or just getting started. Most wanted more from government, higher education, and others. The label “climate tech hub” had to be backed by specific proposals to attract available funding. What are the gaps and missing ingredients? What actions might fill the gaps?