20 sparks from Ignite Tampa Bay

Ideas ranging from creating more affordable housing to saving whales took center stage at Ignite Tampa Bay.

Nineteen speakers had 20 slides and five minutes each to describe their passion at the Thursday night gathering at the Palladium Theater.

“Tonight you’re going to hear 20 ideas – I call them sparks – that I think are going to help ignite Tampa Bay,” said Mark Sharpe, chief potential officer at !p, and emcee for the event.

!p is a 25,000-acre district in northern Hillsborough County that surrounds the University of South Florida Tampa campus, including the former University Mall. The mall, now renamed Uptown, is being transformed into a research village. The Hillsborough County Commission is putting more than $5 million towards an Institute of Applied Engineering at the site. The nearby Yuengling brewery plans a hotel and conference center.

“We are turning the university area around,” Sharpe said. “As Tampa Bay, if we unite I’m certain there’s no region in this nation that can compete with us.”

Click on the gallery to see the 19 other “sparks” from Ignite Tampa Bay.

Ignite 2019

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Dad’s advice is worth listening to, said Terence Okus. “How are you going to engage with that person who comes with unsolicited advice? Are you going to immediately discount them, or are you going to view them in a new light like you would your dad?”