ALABAMA – Innovation is happening across Alabama, but it is often fragmented across cities, sectors, and networks, making it difficult to see how the pieces fit together. The Innovation Ecosystem Map is a community-driven initiative designed to improve visibility and connectivity across innovation ecosystems - starting in Alabama. By bringing together innovative companies, investors and capital providers, universities, service providers, and community organizations into a single, evolving view of the ecosystem, helping reveal how visibility can support innovation across the state.

Rather than functioning as a static report or one-time study, the Innovation Ecosystem Map is built as living, shared infrastructure. It offers a continuously evolving view of Alabama’s innovation ecosystem, shaped by community input and updated regularly as new organizations emerge and existing ones grow.

“The goal isn’t to define the ecosystem - it’s to make it visible”, said Rochelle Silveira, creator and steward of The Innovation Ecosystem Map. “When people can clearly see what exists, connections form more naturally, gaps become clearer, and collaboration happens more intentionally.”

The map spans activity across Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Dothan, and additional emerging regions, reflecting the diversity and geographic spread of innovation across the state.

“What I kept hearing - over and over - was ‘I had no idea this many companies existed here’,” said Silveira. “That visibility gap is exactly the problem this map is designed to solve. Alabama innovation doesn’t lack activity - it lacks visibility and connective tissue.”

To remain accurate and representative, the Innovation Ecosystem Map is updated monthly on the 25th and incorporates input from the broader community. Organizations and ecosystem participants are encouraged to submit new additions, recommend updates, or flag changes as the ecosystem evolves. 

The latest update includes 445+ innovative companies and organizations, an expanded interactive visual map, a searchable directory, and a refined taxonomy of ecosystem categories - offering the most comprehensive view of Alabama innovation to date.

Explore the map, directory, and submit recommendations:
https://www.innovationmap.us/

About the Alabama Innovation Ecosystem Map

The Innovation Ecosystem Map is a community-driven initiative focused on improving visibility, navigation, and connectivity across innovation ecosystems, starting in Alabama. Designed as shared infrastructure, the project evolves through monthly updates and community contributions to support collaboration, research, and ecosystem development.