Hawaiʻi Innovation
Ecosystem

104 interns placed in 2025 (largest cohort ever) · 27 host companies · Programs span cybersecurity, drone tech, AI, robotics, CAD, clean energy, agriculture, and entrepreneurship

HS students earning provisional patents at NASA Ames internships. One of the strongest K–12 STEM pipelines in the Pacific.

Computer Science (CS) — coding, algorithms, data, AI, cybersecurity, and software design. Taught via Code.org partnership. The most upstream policy investment Hawaii is making in tech talent.

Received federal EDA Build to Scale Venture Challenge grant to build ThriveHI as Hawaii's statewide tech innovation network. Owns Waikalua Loko Iʻa — first ancient Hawaiian fishpond returned to Hawaiian hands since 1848. White House César Chávez Champion of Change (2014). Anchored in Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ) framework.

STEM incentive for afterschool programs statewide. Million Girls Moonshot national partner. Focus on girls, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander youth. Addresses equity gap in STEM access.

NASA-connected robotics and entrepreneurship. HS students earning provisional patents at NASA Ames internships. DECA: statewide business and entrepreneurship competition pipeline preparing students for real-world commerce and innovation.

Job shadowing matching girls with women STEM role models. STEM labs in schools. K–12 curriculum culturally relevant to Hawaii. US State Dept and Office of Naval Research expanded the clean energy curriculum to Thailand and Cambodia — a program that started in Hawaii going global.

XLR8UH: NSF I-Corps Hub (Desert & Pacific Region) + $500K EDA i6 grant winner. HITIDE: 12–24 month deep-tech incubation with seed capital. Good Jobs Hawaii: 230+ partners, 100+ tech and creative enrollments. DOE teacher externships.

First 3-year undergraduate business degree in Hawaii. Students immersed in Kaka'ako business community from day one. CEEE hosts annual Hawaii State Economics Challenge. Direct connection to local entrepreneurs and business community.

230+ industry, education, and community partners. 100+ enrollments in new tech and creative trainings. DOE CTE teacher externship program active. AI workgroup for creative sectors. Bridges workforce, higher ed, and industry in a single program.

100% of alumni are kama'āina or kānaka maoli. Zippy's Cohort 4: 98% reduction in customer support calls · 50 hrs/month staff time saved · 50% faster ordering · 0 critical bugs · on time. CEO Jason Higa: "Truly a game changer." Constraint: 60 of 90 applicants qualified; only 12 spots due to funding.

PAF received EDA grant to build ThriveHI as a statewide network of nonprofits, individuals, and businesses committed to Hawaii's tech economy. Data-driven approach to identify tech niches where Hawaii has greatest potential. Bi-weekly newsletter. Excellent NPS.

Hawaii's top tech, finance, and executive recruiting firm. Commercial layer of talent placement. Connects local professionals with high-impact local roles. Active presence in Honolulu Tech Week ecosystem. The for-profit complement to Pi'ikū's nonprofit model.

90,000+ applications for 50 remote worker spots at launch — proof of demand. HITOP (Hawaii Talent Onboarding Program): 6-week place-based cultural onboarding for relocated or returning professionals. Builds belonging and long-term retention. Brain drain reversal program.

Business accelerator and community for women founders and technologists in Hawaii. Blue Startups targets 50% female-founded companies per cohort. Connected to Women in Tech Hawaii network. Fills a critical equity gap in the ecosystem.

HR platform serving 3,000+ Hawaii employers and 50,000 employees statewide. Payroll, benefits, and compliance. 20× Best Places to Work Hawaii. The operational substrate that keeps Hawaii businesses running. Workforce infrastructure layer of the ecosystem.

Transformed 2022–2024 — near closure to active force. Partners with OHA. Advocates for Native Hawaiian business. 37% of Native Hawaiians are considering leaving Hawaii — NHCC works to reverse this through business support, training, and policy advocacy.

Hawaiʻi Women in Tech (HWIT) is a fast-growing non-profit connecting local talent to skills, networks, and careers to drive statewide economic impact. With a focus on empowering members and the community through AI and technology, HWIT activates the community through events, strategic partnerships, and educational programs.

Public-private partnership: State of Hawaii + HTDC + Tetris Company + private investors. Focus on scalable tech bridging Asia and North America. BlueVentures fund for follow-on capital. Most connected organization in the ecosystem — appears in 5 layers.

Co-founded Blue Startups (Chenoa Farnsworth). Monthly forum connecting founders and early-stage investors from Hawaii and beyond. Seed-stage capital + coaching for the venture fundraising process. Hawaii's oldest and most consistent capital source.

Global climate tech reputation. Hawaii's isolated grid, ocean access, and renewable mandate make it a real-world lab. GP of Earthshot Ventures (Dawn Lippert). Companies HQ'd elsewhere test solutions here first — the "solve here, license worldwide" model in action.

American Rescue Plan funds deployed through HTDC + Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority. Collateral support + venture loans + VC fund-of-funds co-investment. Named recipients: Reef AI, Mālama Mushrooms, Farm Link Hawaii, others. The primary government-capital bridge.

Mission to increase economic opportunity and jobs for the people of Hawaii through product companies with global potential. Largest portfolio of Hawaii-based product companies. Community-grounded model with strong local business ties.

Honolulu micro-fund backing Hawaii-headquartered pre-seed startups. 6 Hawaii startups funded in 2025 ($100K–$250K each). Focus on software and local marketplaces. Fills the critical gap below Blue Startups' typical check size. New fund launched 2024.

Early-stage ecosystem building and long-term conviction investing. Runs preX accelerator (XLR8HI). Tarik Sultan is a consistent ecosystem connector. Active mentor network across multiple organizations and cohorts.

Co-managed by Donavan Kealoha — licensed attorney, UH Manoa BA+JD/MBA, product of Hawaii public educational system, community organizer. Co-leads early-stage investments. Active at Pacific Blockchain Summit and HTDC office hours. One of the ecosystem's rising key connectors.

First institutional investor in several West Coast crypto/blockchain funds. Investment Manager Shayne Wolfe (former KS analyst, former Trust beneficiary) manages blockchain fund allocation. Quietly one of Hawaii's most sophisticated institutional investors — almost entirely unknown in mainstream ecosystem conversation.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs business loan program for Native Hawaiian-owned businesses. $2,500–$149,999. All members of business must be of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Most popular: Mālama Business loan for establishing or growing a small business. A funding source most people in the ecosystem don't know exists.

Co-funds Blue Startups. Manages HI-CAP with HGIA. Runs Entrepreneurs Sandbox — Hawaii's front door to innovation. Hawaii Wave by PICHTR helps small businesses enter commercial and defense markets. Most active government player in the ecosystem.

Act 139 (2024) made things worse — restored federal IRC §41 base amount, cutting credits in half for established R&D companies. Corteva testified this threatens high-paying jobs. SB3217 (2026 session) attempts reversal. Cap exhausted within hours of opening each March — strongest evidence that the cap is structurally wrong.

Funds Workforce Development Council for IT, cybersecurity, intelligence, data science, and advanced manufacturing tied to the defense sector. Chamber of Commerce 2026 priority bill. Directly aligned with INDOPACOM's presence in Hawaii. High bipartisan support. The near-term policy win most likely to pass.

7th-generation Hawaii resident. His committee is the gateway for crypto/Web3 regulation, banking modernization, and telecom policy. His presence at the Pacific Blockchain Summit signals genuine legislative openness to digital assets — a significant shift from prior legislative posture on crypto.

One of the earliest crypto regulatory sandboxes in the US. Created by Commissioner Iris Ikeda (DFI). Allowed crypto exchanges to operate under a temporary framework while studying consumer protection needs. Ran 2020–2022, now sunset. Stand With Crypto Hawaii (Ellen Ng, Chapter President) advocates for a permanent framework.

Grid modernization, EV strategy, 100% renewables mandate by 2045. Major customer and partner for clean energy startups. Elemental Excelerator portfolio companies test here because of HEI's mandate. Creating new tech roles in EV strategy, policy, and grid intelligence that didn't exist 5 years ago.

Hawaii's most prolific deep tech company. Aerospace, engineering, life sciences, IT, energy. IP spinout model — brings technologies to market through spin-outs, partnerships, and licensing. Multiple SBIR awards. Proof that Hawaii can produce world-class deep tech without leaving.

Hawaii's largest private landowner. Increasingly active in economic development and innovation investment aligned with Native Hawaiian community benefit. Shayne Wolfe (Liliuokalani Trust) is a former KS investment analyst. Connected to Mana Up, OHA, PAF, and multiple ecosystem players. One of the highest-leverage relationships in the ecosystem.

#1 Hawaii company by gross revenue. Covers 750K+ members — more than half of Hawaii's population. Telehealth, digital claims, wellness apps. Major tech employer. Health data, AI diagnostics, and digital health are natural growth areas with a captive market that's impossible to replicate elsewhere.

300+ employees in Hawaii, 500 in Pacific. Downtown Honolulu innovation lab opened 2026. Active local hiring push for AI and cyber roles. CEO stated Hawaii is "a critically important market." AI, cyber, national security, and data analytics for DoD in Indo-Pacific. One of the highest-paying tech employers in the state.

21 consecutive Best Places to Work. Major Honolulu Tech Week sponsor — one of the clearest signals of corporate commitment to the ecosystem. Automotive, mobility, and music. First Hawaii company to introduce profit-sharing. Community investment built into corporate DNA.

Hawaii's premier IT services firm. Only Oracle Platinum Partner in the state. Cloud, cybersecurity, IT modernization. 8× Best Places to Work Hawaii. Intern program for new tech graduates. The operational tech layer connecting Hawaii's large organizations to modern infrastructure.

The proof of concept for everything the ecosystem is trying to build. Pi'ikū Cohort 4 results: 98% reduction in customer support calls · 50 hrs/month staff time saved · 50% faster ordering · 0 critical bugs · on time. CEO Jason Higa: "Truly a game changer for Zippy's internally." This is what local business + local tech talent produces when someone designs the bridge.

First blockchain summit in the Pacific. Organized by Ellen Ng (Inoa, Stand With Crypto Hawaii Chapter President). 28 speakers in 2025. Covers Web3, DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, RWA tokenization, digital identity, and indigenous data sovereignty. Keynoted by Senator Keohokalole — the clearest signal yet of legislative openness to digital assets in Hawaii.

Organized Pacific Blockchain Summit. Former State DCIL program overseer. Hawaii Chapter President, Stand With Crypto. Native of Singapore — direct personal connection to the Singapore model Hawaii benchmarks against. One of the ecosystem's most underrecognized connectors operating across policy, tech, and community.

Former Hawaii State Commissioner of Financial Institutions (until July 2024). Created the Digital Currency Innovation Lab — one of the earliest crypto regulatory sandboxes in the US (2020–2022). Now consults for companies navigating financial regulation. The policy memory of everything that's happened in Hawaii's digital assets space.

Co-founded by Edwin Liava'a (former CEO Tonga Cable Ltd). First Web3 marketplace connecting Pacific Islander creators, farmers, and artisans to the global economy. Chainlink Developer Expert. Hackathon winner. Bridges remote Pacific communities to global digital economy — the Pacific Rim extension of Hawaii's corridor position.

Program Manager: Richard Ng (Kānaka Maoli). Designing economic cooperatives governed and owned by Indigenous communities. Uses blockchain to protect and preserve Indigenous knowledge. Connected to Kaipumakani Project (Alana Kanahele) — helping Pasifika communities ethically manage digital heritage. Hawaii's most globally unique contribution to Web3.

Sean Cover: Head of Finance at Eco (a16z-backed stablecoin). Author of "The Story of Money." Co-creator of Blockchain in Paradise — Honolulu's recurring crypto meetup. Grassroots Web3 community builder connecting locals to the global crypto ecosystem. The on-ramp for Hawaii residents wanting to enter Web3.