MIT Laboratory for Sustainable Business Partners with Destiny, Florida

A team of MIT Sloan School of Management students chose Destiny, Florida from among many other organizations as their project in the MIT Laboratory for Sustainable Business (S-Lab).

Team members from Destiny, Florida will collaborate with a group of MBA students at MIT to complete research and analysis for Destiny’s Gateway area.  The 35-acre parcel is crucial to the sustainable community as it will be the first to be developed and it is located at the intersection of the Florida Turnpike, U.S. Route 441, and State Road 60.

Much of Destiny’s focus is on eco-industrial symbiosis as a key ingredient for sustainability objectives.  The city of the future is working with a variety of renewable energy and clean technology companies to create a high number of jobs for the area.  In the planning phases, Destiny will likely break ground in 2012.

“This is really perfect timing for us,” says Anthony V. Pugliese, Founder and Managing Director of Destiny. “We’re excited to work with this outstanding group of young entrepreneurs and honored to be chosen.

“One of the core areas for Destiny is education.  This includes life-long learning, higher education and job training for the clean technology area,” Pugliese added. “To achieve these goals, we are partnering with Florida Universities, international organizations, and distinctive institutions such as MIT.”

MIT established the S-Lab program in 2007 as an opportunity for students to work on real world projects.

“We plan on doing nothing short of designing and implementing new business models that will help create a more sustainable world not only environmentally, but economically, politically, and socially,” says Professor John Sterman, one of four MIT Sloan faculty teaching S-Lab.

Previous S-Lab project organizations include Nike, Nestle, the Clinton Foundation, General Motors, Mars Snack Food, among others.  Students collaborate with entrepreneurs, sustainability and business leaders from the companies they’ve chosen for each project.  MIT students have completed work on a variety of projects related to sustainability, including:

• Disney World’s environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.
• Market research for GoLoco, a nationwide, by-the-hour, car rental company for city dwellers.
• An analysis of Greenfuel, Inc.’s recycling, sequestration and CO2 capture processes.

Students create case studies, utilize interactive computer-based simulations and learn through hands-on activities, and meeting regularly with corporate partners on how to apply best practices to business operations, and how best to incorporate sustainability objectives.

Destiny and MIT team members will meet regularly over the course of several months and the student participants will complete the program in May with a business plan with related research data, marketing materials and other information for America’s First Eco-Sustainable City.

About Destiny
Destiny, Florida spans 64 square miles, or 41,300-acres, and includes more than 25,000 acres of preserved, open space in southern Osceola County.  Less than one hour from Orlando, Destiny is strategically located at one of Central Florida’s main intersections; consisting of the Florida Turnpike, U.S. Route 441 and State Road 60.  Destiny will provide a variety of industries with a new regional commerce hub located within a day’s drive of 30 million consumers.  As the future home to scientists, engineers, clean-tech innovators and university research centers, Destiny will be a well-balanced mix of new technology, educational excellence, longevity-based lifestyles, and social and cultural centers.  Destiny plans to feature NextGEN aviation, a multi-modal transportation system and a master plan for sustainability by ARUP.  Destiny is situated within Florida’s Clean Tech Corridor, the seventh largest mega-region in the United States.  For more information, please visit www.destinyflorida.com or call 1-888-2DESTINY.