This Month's Latest Tech News in West Palm Beach, FL - Wednesday April 30th 2025 Edition

April 2025 marks a dynamic month for West Palm Beach's tech sector as the city sees a surge in AI innovation, major investment, and youth-led sustainability initiatives.

The Impact Investing Forum brought together business and civic leaders to discuss investments that generate both financial return and positive local impact, emphasizing West Palm Beach's growing role in values-driven technology growth (Impact Investing Forum).

• AI Innovation & Investment: Local startups like Greenscreens AI and Dono highlight AI-driven and fintech growth, positioning West Palm Beach as a contender for regional tech leadership. For more on this, see the Top startups in West Palm Beach for April 2025.
• Youth-Led Sustainability: Community empowerment is on the rise as the city, with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies microgrants, celebrates the winners of the Youth Climate Action Fund for youth-driven climate projects (West Palm Beach announces Youth Climate Action Fund winners).
• Continued Tech Progress: All these developments set the tone for continued tech-based progress and investment in the coming months throughout West Palm Beach.

“West Palm Beach is emerging as the heart of tech-driven, values-based progress in Florida.”

ZenaTech's recent acquisition of Wallace Surveying Corporation, a West Palm Beach firm with three decades of land survey expertise, marks a pivotal step in accelerating the deployment of Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) throughout the region and nationally.

By integrating Wallace's established client relationships and local knowledge, ZenaTech is poised to disrupt traditional survey models, leveraging AI-powered drones such as the ZenaDrone 1000 and IQ series for tasks ranging from land development and power line inspections to law enforcement and disaster response.

The DaaS model allows developers, agencies, and businesses to access advanced drone technology on a subscription or pay-per-use basis, minimizing the need for costly equipment purchases or specialized training.

• Acquisition strategy: The integration of Wallace Surveying boosts ZenaTech's local expertise and client trust.
• AI-powered disruption: Drones like the ZenaDrone 1000 enable new approaches to surveying, power line checks, and disaster response.
• DaaS model benefits: Businesses benefit from drone access on-demand, without expensive equipment ownership.
• Industry growth: The drone surveying market is projected to exceed $8 billion by 2030, impacting national and West Palm Beach tech landscapes.

This acquisition aligns with industry trends, as drone surveying sees rapid adoption for its speed, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness, fueling a market projected to exceed $8 billion globally by 2030 and driving ZenaTech's strategy to secure a larger share of the estimated $2.5 billion U.S. drone survey market by 2033.

For an in-depth account of the acquisition and its regional significance, visit the official news release, explore analysis on ZenaTech's expanding market role in stock sector coverage, and see broader industry perspectives in this market overview.

BrightNight, based in West Palm Beach, continues to elevate the region's status as a national cleantech leader with its innovative PowerAlpha® AI platform, which was recently named “CleanTech AI Innovation of the Year” at the 2025 CleanTech Breakthrough Awards.

The recognition spotlights PowerAlpha's transformative role in optimizing every stage of large-scale renewable energy projects - from design and financial modeling to operations - helping utilities and commercial clients seamlessly integrate cost-effective, reliable clean power into the grid.

By using advanced machine learning and digital twins, PowerAlpha acts as an intelligent control system that dynamically minimizes downtime, improves asset performance, and ensures dependable power delivery, attributes critical for meeting the area's growing energy demands and supporting decarbonization efforts.

Already deployed across BrightNight's U.S. portfolio, PowerAlpha exemplifies how homegrown innovation is shaping the future of energy right here in West Palm Beach.

Learn more about the technology's capabilities on the official PowerAlpha platform page, see why the platform was honored at this year's CleanTech Breakthrough Awards, and read the full announcement of the award on BrightNight's news site.

This April, National Fentanyl Awareness Day spotlighted an innovative anti-drug campaign that harnesses artificial intelligence to amplify the stories of those lost to opioid overdoses, giving victims a virtual voice in hopes of preventing future tragedies.

The “Unfinished Legacies” initiative uses AI to generate lifelike video avatars of real individuals who died from fentanyl, sharing their stories and cautioning the public - particularly teens and young adults, who are increasingly at risk - about the often-hidden dangers of counterfeit pills and potent synthetic opioids.

• Innovative campaign: AI-driven storytelling gives lost individuals a virtual platform to warn others.
• Focus on youth: Teens and young adults are the primary audience for these cautionary stories.
• Partnerships and outreach: Launched alongside the DEA's memorial, this campaign merges technology and empathy for maximum impact.

These creative, tech-enabled responses mark a critical evolution in education and memorialization, aiming to transform data and statistics into powerful, enduring stories that resonate with families and communities, says Barbara Miller, a local advocate.

With overdose deaths driven by illicit fentanyl continuing to impact communities nationwide, these approaches aim to transform data and statistics into powerful, enduring stories that resonate with families and communities through AI-powered testimony, the Faces of Fentanyl memorial, and DEA's national outreach efforts.

Veterans Health Venture Studio has taken center stage in pioneering AI-driven healthcare solutions for Veterans this month, with major initiatives unfolding in Tampa and across Florida.

Spearheaded by Susan Perez at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, the year-long program has shepherded diverse teams through ideation, prototyping, and now into an accelerator phase aimed at solving top challenges like timely care access, suicide prevention, and VA hiring efficiency.

Notably, the 2024 cohort utilized Microsoft AI technology and worked closely with the VHA Innovation Ecosystem to develop practical tools - including the AI Reconciliation Ranger, Guardian Assist, and several other solutions - addressing real-world needs of Veterans and health staff.

• Innovative solutions were developed by diverse teams utilizing Microsoft AI for practical impact.
• Over 300 innovators participated in the initial hackathon, showcasing the importance of collaboration in healthcare.
• Public-private partnerships played a vital role in accelerating healthcare innovation.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the winning teams advancing to pilot projects within the VA system, explore the program's full coverage here.

More insights on the hackathon's collaborative model can be found in this article, and Susan Perez's recognition as a national innovation leader highlights the broader impact of these efforts, as seen in this profile.

This April, apartment marketers in West Palm Beach are rapidly adopting Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) as AI-powered search platforms like Google Gemini and Perplexity are reshaping how renters discover apartment communities online.

Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on improving rankings in search engines, GEO prioritizes optimizing content to appear in AI-generated summaries - concise overviews now featured prominently at the top of search results, often above paid listings.

Industry experts emphasize that maintaining strong SEO fundamentals is vital, but GEO requires marketers to make content more comprehensive and authentic, utilize natural conversational language, and keep Google Business Profiles up to date with reviews and Q&As that AI systems can easily reference.

• Omnichannel approach: Marketers are using an omnichannel strategy by leveraging platforms like TikTok with authentic videos, which has proven effective for communities such as Cottonwood Lighthouse Point, boosting organic visibility and engagement.
• Ranking factors: Understanding the unique ranking factors of leading AI engines - such as authoritative list mentions, online reviews, and local business profiles - is essential to being featured as the authoritative result in AI-driven recommendations.
• Fundamental shift: There is a fundamental shift as marketers must not only keep up strong SEO basics but also adapt to the new requirements of GEO, focusing on natural, comprehensive, and authentic content.

"Staying ahead in digital marketing means adapting quickly to AI-driven changes. Those who invest in relevant, authentic content will win the visibility game."

- Thomas Taylor, Digital Marketing Analyst

Read more about how apartment marketers are responding to AI search in Multi-Housing News' GEO guide, dive deeper into GEO's ranking mechanics with First Page Sage's algorithm breakdown, and explore actionable optimization tips for 2025 in Search Engine Land's SEO priorities report.

West Palm Beach's health tech profile was elevated this month with the emergence of a high-impact AI health startup, often dubbed “Dr. Miami,” that secured major investor attention.

This company's “buy now, pay later” app for healthcare, Kiwi, raised $10 million in seed funding aimed at expanding affordable healthcare financing options throughout Latin America, addressing the critical barrier of out-of-pocket costs for millions of patients (Kiwi raises $10M to expand health care financing).

The broader AI and digital health sector is likewise seeing momentum, with Florida recognized as home to 17 top digital health startups advancing patient-centered innovation and attracting increasing capital (Top Digital Health Companies in Florida).

These local achievements mirror national trends in VC attention to AI healthcare, following on the heels of transformative deals like Superpower's $30 million Series A to bring always-on health management to the mainstream (Superpower Bags $30 Million to Flip Healthcare).

Together, these developments are putting West Palm Beach firmly on the map as a leading destination for AI-powered health innovation and venture investment in 2025.

This month, the Florida Bar's leadership spotlighted the profound changes artificial intelligence is bringing to legal practice, outlining both opportunity and new responsibility for attorneys across the state.

In his recent "President's Page" column, Robert Brown reflected on how AI-powered tools are reshaping everything from legal research and document drafting to client intake, while cautioning that these advances require lawyers to build technological competence and uphold longstanding ethical standards read more in the Florida Bar Journal.

To help attorneys adapt, the Bar has released a comprehensive new guide detailing best practices for using generative AI responsibly, with special emphasis on client confidentiality, data protection, and verification of AI outputs as outlined in Ethics Opinion 24-1 view the new AI guide.

These efforts complement recent updates to bar rules and national ABA ethics opinions, all underscoring that, while AI's potential to boost efficiency and service is real, Lisa Wilson and other Florida lawyers remain ultimately accountable for safeguarding client interests in this evolving digital landscape see the latest ethics guidance.

Billionaire developer Lisa Thompson is spearheading a transformative push to redefine West Palm Beach as a next-generation tech and financial powerhouse, expanding the city's profile far beyond its “Wall Street South” moniker.

Through her firm Related Ross and in partnership with entities like eMerge Americas and the Florida Council of 100, Thompson aims to attract international investors, foster innovation hubs, and drive commercial development that appeals to both global corporations and fast-growing startups.

Announced at the eMerge Americas conference, this initiative commits to accelerating growth across sectors such as finance, health care, medical technology, and clean tech, with over one million square feet of new office space already in development and targeted accelerator programs set to boost entrepreneurship in the region.

Palm Beach County's appeal is underscored by a surge in wealth, a robust talent pipeline, and some of the lowest Class-A office vacancy rates in the country, as tech and investment firms increasingly move in.

This collaborative, billion-dollar investment is positioning West Palm Beach - and the broader South Florida region - as a top destination for venture capital, job creation, and groundbreaking innovation, further detailed in recent coverage by the South Florida Business Journal, Bisnow, and a joint announcement on Florida Trend.

This April, the Wellington Rotary Club hosted a pivotal discussion on how artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping local workplaces and economic prospects in West Palm Beach.

As highlighted by local technologist Richard Davis,

“nearly every job in our community is going to be changed by AI” - with the World Economic Forum projecting 170 million new jobs created globally by 2030, but also 92 million jobs “displaced” by automation advances.

These shifts echo the broader trend identified in workforce studies, which suggest that up to 86% of all businesses will be directly affected by AI, with sectors such as legal, administration, engineering, and financial operations experiencing the greatest disruption according to the local forum's summary. Florida's lawmakers are responding by advancing legislation to study the demographic and economic impacts of AI across the state, with a focus on job displacement, wage trends, and retraining - an effort underscored by recent findings that Florida workers are among the nation's most vulnerable to AI-driven automation as reported by WMNF.

At the national and global level, C-suite executives are ramping up investment in employee upskilling, reflecting the urgency for organizations and individuals to embrace continual learning in response to these rapid technological shifts as detailed by the World Economic Forum.

The consensus from Wellington's forum is clear: the pace of AI change demands adaptability, critical thinking, and a proactive approach to both opportunity and risk in the workplace.

• AI-driven workplace changes: Local experts emphasize that nearly every job in West Palm Beach will be impacted by AI technology.
• Economic outlooks evolve: Projections indicate that millions of jobs will be created and displaced globally due to automation.
• Legislation for adaptation: Florida lawmakers are taking action to study AI's effects on jobs and to support workforce retraining.
• Need for continual learning: Executives stress the value of upskilling employees to remain competitive as AI adoption accelerates.

West Palm Beach's transformation into a smart city is accelerating this spring as large-scale utilities contracts and pioneering technology deployments put artificial intelligence at the heart of local infrastructure.

The city is rolling out AI-powered camera sensors and smart streetscape technologies downtown to analyze movement patterns and optimize traffic, mobility, and public safety - while aiming to address residents' privacy concerns through de-identified avatars and community engagement, as part of a major National Science Foundation-backed initiative involving top universities (AI-powered smart streetscapes).

Alongside this, West Palm Beach's utilities are increasingly adopting advanced platforms like inGeniti's Optima and Sensei, which enable real-time monitoring, adaptive control, and optimization for both energy and water systems - delivering cost savings, reducing emissions, and integrating distributed renewables without the need for costly grid retrofits (AI-powered energy and water optimization).

Industry reports forecast that AI will soon underpin dynamic water management, enabling predictive leak detection, smarter demand forecasting, and enhanced efficiency for treatment plants and utilities across the city (AI transformation in water utilities).

Together, these developments signal a new era of tech-driven resilience for West Palm Beach's infrastructure and community services.

As April 2025 draws to a close, West Palm Beach has made its mark as one of the Southeast's fastest-advancing tech hubs, with AI-driven innovation and investment shaping the city's economic landscape.

Across the region, companies like Vultr, which recently secured $333 million in growth capital to expand high-performance AI cloud infrastructure, are paving the way for local startups to access cutting-edge computing resources and attract top talent with support from industry giants like AMD Ventures.

The momentum isn't isolated - a national trend of substantial venture backing continued throughout the spring, with US AI startups routinely raising $100 million or more, highlighting both West Palm Beach's competitive positioning and the broader appetite for AI solutions as detailed in TechCrunch's latest reporting.

• Corporate investment is fueling growth: Companies like Vultr are securing significant funds, enabling expansion of high-performance AI infrastructure and empowering local startups.
• AI startups are seeing unprecedented capital: Across the US, AI firms frequently raise over $100 million, placing West Palm Beach among competitive, well-supported tech communities.
• Education and upskilling pathways are growing: Richard Lee can benefit from industry-aligned fields such as cybersecurity and web development with Nucamp's flexible scholarships and payment plans, opening doors for more residents to enter high-demand roles.

With robust corporate investment, a surge in AI-powered ventures, and a strong education pipeline, West Palm Beach continues to set the pace for sustainable, tech-driven opportunity.