At our Q4 Builder Series, Josh Carpenter, President of SPEROS FL and Chief Integration Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center, joined Ian Anderson, Market President & Publisher of the Tampa Bay Business Journal, for a candid fireside chat on what’s next for health innovation in Florida.

The Builder Series is Embarc Collective’s quarterly program designed to give founders direct access to business icons and thought leaders shaping Florida’s innovation landscape—each sharing the leadership frameworks and decision-making lessons behind their success.

SPEROS is a new life sciences and biotechnology innovation district in Pasco County led by Moffitt Cancer Center. Designed to unite researchers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs, it aims to accelerate discovery, commercialization, and patient care—positioning Florida as a national hub for health innovation.

Building a “Community of Science”

Josh described SPEROS as a bold vision for a “community of science”—a place where research happens with people, not to them. Rather than fitting into legacy silos, SPEROS blends the public, private, academic, and civic sectors into a single ecosystem focused on solving real clinical problems faster.

Two guiding principles drive the project:

• Proximity matters — bringing patients, clinicians, and researchers together to accelerate discovery.
• Focus matters — establishing global leadership in cell therapy and radiopharmaceutical innovation.

At its core, SPEROS is designed to make healthcare breakthroughs more accessible, affordable, and collaborative.

Bridging Research, Industry, and Care

Josh spoke openly about the persistent gap between research, clinical care, and commercialization—and how SPEROS aims to close it.

Innovation, he said, should start with unmet patient needs, then align the right partners and incentives from discovery through delivery.

“It’s not about a single building or policy—it’s about building an operating system for innovation.”

This mindset ensures that science doesn’t stall in translation and that new discoveries reach patients faster.

Leading with Focus, Speed, and Talent

When asked how Florida can compete with established biotech hubs, Josh emphasized that speed and focus are the state’s advantages.

Florida can win, he noted, by:

• Targeting domains where it can be world-class, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
• Attracting outside capital and top talent to fuel growth.
• Moving quickly—because in healthcare innovation, speed can often be more valuable than cost savings.

Takeaway

SPEROS isn’t just a development—it’s a blueprint for how Florida can lead in life sciences and biotech.

By breaking barriers between research, care, and industry, and by focusing on people, speed, and collaboration, Josh Carpenter is showing what it means to turn vision into action.