Impact MIA had a great piece on Miami's Community of Design, check out Norberto “Tito” Gil, founder of http://mapyourstartup.co/, who was asked: "What are some of the biggest challenges faced when attempting to translate principles of design thinking to a larger scale?"
It’s largely about leadership and accessibility to resources, both of which are strongly present in Miami. One of the problems when I was early on in my career was accessibility to mentors, investors, meet-ups, and so on. Collaboration and accessibility go hand in hand. As people begin working together and identifying ways to build or grow, there is a need for leaders who can walk in and encourage development. These leaders should be members of the community or entrepreneurs who can collaborate and be a part of the solution. The arts and music scenes in Miami had a similar problem until Art Basel arrived. People in those communities wanted to feel empowered and that they could make it and succeed in their respective fields, and Art Basel gave them that. The thing about entrepreneurs is we don’t need a lot of permission, but we do need a platform. In Miami, this platform is currently at its most promising stage. To that point, I think the next step in design thinking in Miami is marketing the resources and accomplishments of our community for everyone to see. We have a long list of major events coming up in Miami— including eMerge in May 2014—and that will be an opportunity to promote everything that is happening in Miami on a global level. What can people do to help? Get active. With so many co-working spaces and accelerators, this city now has the physical places for consistent meet-ups. Not surprisingly, the Miami calendar is now full of workshops and meet-ups, and that’s when the necessary collision of people and ideas occurs.
