Lee’s hosting ‘largest gathering of CEOs.’ Where are 450,000 headed to in SW Florida?

Phil Fernandez | Naples Daily New

Not only will the Edison Awards bring some of the planet’s most innovative and talented minds to downtown Fort Myers this week, it’s also a moneymaker for Southwest Florida.

The economic impact is estimated at about $3 million, according to public records, with the hope that perhaps some of these visiting big dogs could eventually do more business in the area, set up offices or even move corporate headquarters here.

“There’s about 600 CEOs from 24 countries — the largest gathering of CEOs in the state of Florida,” said Lee County Economic Development Director John Talmage, who’s on the executive committee for the Horizon Foundation, an awards sponsor.

Here’s what to know.
Who are among the globe’s brightest minds converging on SW Florida?
The future and the execution of concepts to come are what’s at the heart of the awards, named after local winter resident and global whiz Thomas Alva Edison, who died in 1931. Established in 1987 in New York, the confab of some of Earth’s top business and government executives, academics and inventors comes Wednesday through Friday to the region for the fourth time to share concepts and hand out or receive honors at the Caloosa Sound Convention Center.

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