Gibson: “Innovation facilitates an opportunity to save the planet and all of the planet’s creatures.”

Pandwe Gibson is president of EcoTech Visions. The Miami-based company provides coworking space and equipment to help environmentally friendly technology and manufacturing businesses get started.

Over the past four years, EcoTech Visions has helped launch 26 companies. For example, one converts motorcycles to electric, and another makes compostable silverware out of potatoes. Now, EcoTech Visions is expanding to a new 24,000-square-foot facility.

Gibson: “We will share equipment – access to injection molding machines, access to laser cutters and laser printers – so that entrepreneurs can prototype, push their products out to market, test it and see if consumers really want to buy it.”

She says the approach helps entrepreneurs develop their products more quickly and cheaply, which means that more innovative green businesses can prosper.

Miami is widely recognized as one of the cities most at risk from climate impacts such as sea-level rise and storm surge. EcoTech Visions is helping the city also gain a reputation for innovative and marketable climate solutions.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media.